Friday, January 7, 2011

Dairy-free. Ergh.

As well as a stupid reproductive system, I also happen to have a really stupid gut. It hates me. A lot. This is a relatively common exchange:

Tummy: I need to do something.
Me: Ok, lets go over here and get on with it.
Tummy: Uuuum, no.
Me: You don't want to any more?
Tummy: No, I still want to. I just won't.
Me: Well, we'll just stay here until you do.
Tummy: *is defiant*

Eventually, it does what it needs to do and I go back to my normal life. Occasionally, it decides to be too enthusiastic, causing all sorts of other trouble. Some times it's one, followed directly by the other. I could not pick up any sort of pattern.

The doctor diagnosed it as IBS, as far as any "syndrome" can be "diagnosed". Which, of course, told me nothing. I was told to avoid stress and to take fibre supplements and drink lots of water.

I was also lactose intolerant, or so I thought.  I switched to lactose-free milk, but I still got sick. I'm also anaemic, so it was suggested that I might have coeliac disease, which I was tested for and it came up negative. Recently, friends of mine suggested I try going completley dairy-free. I looked up milk stuff and came across the possibility of caseine intolerance or allergy, and I figured that it couldn't do me any harm to try going dairy-free for a few weeks, particularly when I remembered that protein shakes always made me feel sick and that protein bars also made me unwell, but after a couple of hours.

This doesn't just include milk and cheese and ice cream. Nothing cooked in butter, nothing processed with any milk protein in it at all whih also includes flavoured chips and certain kinds of bread. So, lots and lots of paranoia whenever I eat anything that I didn't prepare myself until I figure out whether this is actually what's causing the problem.

So here I am, dairy-free for a few days. No idea how long it'll be before I can tell whether I'm feeling better, which is when I will also reintroduce a small amount of (lactose-free) milk into my diet to see what happens.

Wish me luck.

4 comments:

  1. I have exactly the same tummy troubles and I totally understand your pain, poor quincy :( I have also gone down the dairy-free route and decided that just limiting my intake was best for me. As I found being off dairy too stressful and I hated not being able to eat the things my friends were eating, or just sounding like I was being fussy (I worry too much about everything as it is)...I also didn't really notice much change but as a precaution I have things like avocado on my toast in the morning instead of margarine and only drink skimmed milk. I have also tried going on a gluten free diet which I actually felt better for but yet again it was too stressful (and my tummy doesn't like stress) and I lost far too much weight to be healthy. Plus gluten free bread tastes horrible and is very expensive!

    I hope you do better than me and if you want to try a nice(ish) tasting soy milk I'd recommend So Good :)

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  2. I have actually noticed quite a change already, and it's only been 3 full days.

    I'm having a lot less discomfort! I need to have more fibre, though.

    It is quite stressful, and I've let pretty much all my friends know that it's because I might have a problem with the protein rather than the lactose, and I've explained that to the waiters at the restaurants I've been to since I started - they were all extremely understanding and happy to oblige me with nutritional info :-)

    So far, I've found ONE thing I can eat at the Pancake parlour :-p

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  3. I'm glad it's working for you :) what is that one thing?

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  4. That one thing just happens to be the tuna salad :-p

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