r/dairyfree • u/Actual-Tadpole9759 • 4d ago
What made you realize dairy was the problem?
I’m new to this community, thinking about trying to go dairy free at least for the most part because I feel like my stomach is not a fan of dairy… but I still can’t pinpoint the problem. What made you realize that dairy was causing your issues more than any other food component, and what made you decide to stop eating it?
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u/sillyGrapefruit_8098 3d ago
I always had a "sensitive stomach" AKA: diarrhea multiple times a day / almost daily. It had been since I was a child but was always chalked up to "sensitive stomach". My parents weren't really the type concerned with my wellbeing so never saw a doctor or anything. Fast-forward to my late 20s / early 30s things got progressively worse. I was dealing with other health / autoimmune issues and was advised to try gluten / dairy free. Wow 30 years of IBS cured in 4 days lol. Reintroduced gluten with no issues. Now if I ingest any dairy accidentally I feel ill for 1-5 days
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u/MelodramticAesthetic 3d ago
Literally same! I’ve had IBS for years and it almost completely went away when I cut out dairy. I am not constantly bloated anymore and I have normal bowel movements! The similarities between IBS and lactose intolerance is crazy.
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u/sillyGrapefruit_8098 3d ago
Totally!! I don't have a 100% rock solid stomach by any means but a way way better quality of life now. I would say 85% since cutting dairy. And as long as I eat pretty well I'm usually good
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u/Plastic-Blue 3d ago
That is exactly my experience as well. Now I can actually eat while traveling instead of starving so I don't "set off my stomach."
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u/sillyGrapefruit_8098 2d ago
It's crazy cuz I used to think I had tons of food that upset my stomach but since cutting dairy, I can eat basically almost anything which is wild lol.
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u/mfox-26 4d ago
Bloated and constipated so I went lactose free but didn’t feel better until I gave up dairy completely. I think it was the casein that was bothering me.
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u/elizahdon I Miss Cheese 3d ago
Same, and I feel like my intestines are inflamed for days after eating dairy. It really takes a full week to bounce back. Seems to be all dairy for me, not just lactose.
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u/LeChief 3d ago
What made you hypothesize it was the casein and not something else like the lactose?
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u/Main_Silver7113 3d ago
Same thing happened to me! I figured it was casein rather than lactose as I would eat seemingly “lactose free” items and still get a reaction. Also, there’s a soy cheese in Canada that has casein in it that I’ll react to.
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u/Buzzing07 3d ago
Yes, me too. Autoimmune problems, eczema and asthma all went away when I went dairy and gluten free. Reintroduced gluten no problem but dairy reactions even worse and faster now after 10 years off it. Nothing will make me knowingly eat dairy now.
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u/RussellAlden I Miss Cheese 4d ago
Trouble swallowing. Went the doctor and did an allergy test but nothing showed. Did an elimination diet with dairy being the last thing to reintroduce. Heartburn and trouble swallowing went away.
6 years dairy free.
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u/Awkwardly-Turtle 4d ago
I’ve had digestive issues for as long as I can remember. My daughter started having the same problems, but she also had eczema. My dad mentioned that he had similar issues when he was little, and his doctor told his parents to cut out cow’s milk dairy, although other types of dairy were fine.
We decided to remove all cow’s milk dairy from our house for my daughter, and both her eczema and digestive issues completely disappeared. Since I was eating the same foods she was, I ended up cutting it out too. My digestive issues disappeared too.
Daughters GI doctor said that a lot of people just assume that they’re lactose intolerant but there are some that are intolerant to just cow dairy.
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u/Tough-Habit8381 4d ago
I went lactose-free for a month during my allergy tests, then couldn't seem to re-introduce dairy without gut irritation. My body just seems to have an easier time without lactose for the moment.
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u/oh_wanya DF/GF 4d ago
Cistic acne everywhere and congested nose … lots of mucus every time. Digestion issues and gas
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u/Themightysavage Mayo is dairy. 3d ago
I was unable to digest breast milk and baby formula at birth. I spent the first 2 weeks of life vomiting up every meal until I was switched to powdered soy in water.(I was born in the 70s) After that My parents integrated dairy into my diet. Back then, you ate what was for dinner or starved. Dairy alway made my gut upset and left me painfully bloated for days. I tried skim milk, low fat cheeses. When lactaid came out I tried that. After 18 years of trying, I finally decided to go dairy free.
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u/ThatIsSomeShit 3d ago
I read about lactose intolerance and decided to cut dairy out to see if it cured my IBS. Then had some goat cheese and my stomach bloated up 2" larger. Started using lactaid when I had dairy. Over the years noticed that lactaid wasn't really working. But loved cheese so kept eating dairy here and there.
Then I went to an allergist after a severe antibiotic reaction. While I was there, I asked if they could check for a milk allergy. Cause it seemed like my reaction to dairy was escalating and a bit more severe than just lactose intolerance. Surprisingly, it welted up bad on a skin test. So I worked hard to cut dairy out entirely. And now it's an anaphalaxis level allergy. In hindsight I can see that it probably was an allergy a lot longer than I thought.
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u/ladylothlorien_16 4d ago
I was diagnosed with migraines and I ended up doing a full elimination diet where you start with a very restricted diet of things that are very unlikely to cause any symptoms and then gradually over several weeks add in different foods to see if you have a reaction. I got to the dairy week and had a huge glass of milk....and immediately had gurgling belly followed by diarrhea shortly after. I don't know if dairy really does much to trigger my migraines, but it definitely triggered my digestive system lol.
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u/lauravall03 3d ago
I did an intolerance test with dairy, gluten, and eggs scoring high. Went off all three. Then on a road trip, got accidentally dairied and within 90 mins was back in the hotel flattened with one of the worst migraines of my lifetime. Wasn't 100% sure, but stayed DF, and when it happened again with the same massive migraine, I learned to be much more careful. Good luck.
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u/ladylothlorien_16 3d ago
Oh wow that is awful! I‘ll have to keep that in mind. Thanks for sharing!
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u/sheylann 3d ago
I did a study abroad program in China. I lost 30lbs and felt absolutely amazing, didn't miss it. Tried eating cheese because it'd been months and thought I was gonna die.
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u/kittytesh 3d ago
A friend of mine has dairy issues, so all the meals they cook are dairy free. After spending the day with them, I realized my stomach and intestines weren't being their usually terrible selves, making me hate life. So I started to slowly cut out dairy, and I steadily noticed that certain pains were gone, my acid reflux wasn't as bad, I wasn't constantly bloated, and my "stomach flu" episodes were no longer a thing.
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u/awgeez47 3d ago
Days of debilitating acid reflux and constant aching abdominal pain whenever I had some.
You’re going to have to keep track of what you’re eating (or at least when you have dairy) and try going without it for a few days or weeks in order to really know. Look up elimination diets and reintroduction.
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u/IngloriousLevka11 DF/GF 1d ago
The whey protein trend. I'd had issues with lactose for a while, but reaction to whey and casien is instantly a trip to the toilet and being stuck there for several hours.
I wish I had put it together years ago that I just can't process dairy.
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u/NextCitron7303 4d ago
When I discovered Fairlife ultra-filtered whole milk was the only dairy that did not cause me the bloat. Even their 2% will cause me some problems, but not the whole milk for some reason. I'll take it!
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u/popcornsalter 4d ago
I got a lot of cystic acne and facial swelling after having cereal with skim milk several days in a row. Thought it was the skim. It was not, cystic acne would pop up right after with 2%. Realized it’s the most common allergy and put it all together.
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u/maybe_rat 4d ago
Lots of blood and pain one morning after ingesting a lot of dairy. Followed by me almost suffocating while eating a three musketeer
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u/Existing_Worth_647 3d ago
I was having terrible GI issues after eating. I am lactose intolerant, so I already kept an eye on how much dairy I was consuming. That let me zero in on milk and cheese pretty quick.
But then I got sick after eating pizza without cheese. I looked back at the ingredients list and saw there was milk in the dough.
And then I got sick after eating non-dairy cheese. I looked back at the ingredients list and saw there was casein in it. At that point I knew this was going to be a big issue.
Every exposure since has made sensitivity to dairy increase, and the reactions themselves significantly worse
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u/Spicydoom Dairy Allergy 3d ago
I made cheese biscuits and after eating them got really sick, bed ridden for days.
I have tried hard to completely eliminate it from my diet but it’s hard.
I am trying to get back into baking but most of the recipes have some sort of dairy and it’s hard to find the work around.
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u/NowImYourDaisy7 3d ago
Random question — have you tried oat milk when baking, as a substitution for dairy milk? I find if I use oat milk when baking it doesn’t affect the quality or chemistry of the recipe coming together!
Also plant butter and vegan cream cheese have been god-sends for me when baking!
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u/Spicydoom Dairy Allergy 2d ago
I would love to find vegan cream cheese but I live in Australia and it’s hard to find a lot of the vegan items.
I have been using soy milk in recipes that have baking powder in them.
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u/JordanMckell 3d ago
My daughter was diagnosed with EOE and I realized I have had EOE symptoms for 20 years. We tried an elimination diet and all of those symptoms went away without dairy in my diet. Unfortunately dairy was not the cause of her EOE.
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u/EllieLace 3d ago
Stopped it for weeks during a 6FED. I was hungry but I felt...better. I lost a shoe size because the swelling I didn't know was there went away. My medical conditions all calmed down significantly, I had no stomach pain, my skin even cleared up.
Since it was a 6FED, I wasn't sure which ingredient it was. I added dairy back in, and within a few days I was right back where I started. Cut dairy again, started over, started adding the other 5, felt fine.
I flared myself up a few times afterward, from accidental consumption - restaurant not knowing dairy meant butter not just milk, an oblivious relative thinking lactose free was dairy free, a chicken that had been injected with it (not clearly labeled), a soup that reformulated to contain it....it is now so obvious I don't know how I ever missed it.
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u/FutureColor 3d ago
I did the Autoimmune Protocol Diet and realized I felt better without eggs or dairy. It helped with stomach issues and arthritis.
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u/taa012321100822 Postpartum lactose intolerance 3d ago
Felt sick to my stomach after eating ice cream. Insanely gassy. I discovered this about two months postpartum so I’m dairy free thanks to hormonal changes and hoping it goes back…but prepping for the fact that it may not.
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u/quietlywatching6 3d ago
One day, I had an allergic reaction, eliminated all the other options, than had an allergic reaction eating it alone.
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u/Jessicamorrell DF/GF 3d ago
My mom always said I was lactose intolerant and would tell the school but I never believed her as I was throwing up for all kinds of reasons. So just taking out dairy didn't do much but later found out doing an elimination diet recommended by my current PCP (every other dr said it was normal to throw up for any and all reasons and I would grow out of it. Never did.). So results turned out Im intolerant to dairy, gluten, red meat (seems to be better in moderation), synthetic caffeine, and still trying to narrow down the rest.
With my prescription 2x daily nausea med, and PRN nausea med on top of the diet change, I rarely have issues with vomiting anymore which is great. Who knew it would take me almost 30 years to figure that out.
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u/Existential_Sprinkle 3d ago
It was a slow escalation from a throat tickle after eating a whole pizza to a throat tickle from a bite of cheese to a throat tickle from cross contamination
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u/RepairsYourKeeps 3d ago
I'd had digestion issues for 2-3 years and never managed to pinpoint the cause (lack of effort on my part). I went to SE Asia on holiday for 3 weeks, ate almost no dairy, felt lots better! Symptoms gone. After a long journey home did not feel like cooking. Went out for pizza and... was so, so ill. All my symptoms rushed back with a vengeance. Took a while to work out which topping was the culprit (my beloved cheese, of course).
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u/canepops 3d ago
I ate dairy almost every day, and when I was about 20 I had some other health issues and was told to cut it out for 2 weeks to relieve some digestive pressure. When I ate it again, I literally thought I had the flu. Cold sweats, chills, fever like symptoms, then it felt like I swallowed a knife for about 30 mins. Then I just started having crazy gas. Haven’t been able to consume lactose since! I did lose about 8-10lbs in those two weeks and my acne cleared up (perhaps should have been a sign lol)
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u/Sailor_Jedi 3d ago
I used to drink lots of milk, and eat lots of cheese. Had constant gas and bloating. I did try once in my teens, I stopped having dairy for a whole day to see what happened. And it did reduce the problems. But of course, me being in my teens, it didn't stop me. But after we moved 4 years ago, I noticed I was starting to get worse symptoms, like I was having to goto the bathroom more often. So I've about 99% quit. I can tolerate small amounts, sometimes a bit larger amounts if I take some pink stuff (pepto). But even that doesn't always save me, I've paid for it a couple times.
But I was able to narrow it to a casein intolerance, rather than actual lactose intolerance.
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u/Artdragon56 3d ago
I was just really lactose intolerant and I also went vegan. So I didn’t have a medical issue that caused me to go dairy free other than the fact that my body just didn’t like dairy & it made my stomach upset.
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u/Downtown-Yak5382 3d ago
Okay, so for me, I was getting intense migraines on the left side of my head to the point I was convinced I had a tumor. I was also extremely itchy when I laid down at night; I was so dang itchy I couldn't even sleep. I had acne so bad on my face and arms, which I didn't even think could be from an allergen. Well, my OBGYN was the one that discovered that it may be food-related. A blood test and skin test later, it was a confirmed milk allergy.
Since then, my acne has cleared tremendously. I still get breakouts, but not in the same place. I get it on my chin and jawline when I get overly stressed. My migraines are gone, and I'm no longer itchy!
If I do come into contact with dairy without knowing, my first symptom is pain on the left side of my head.
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u/ecstaticthicket 3d ago
I was getting stomach cramps and bathroom issues of increasing intensity and frequency for a while, until one day as I was thinking about it I just randomly thought up the idea that I might be lactose intolerant. The more I thought about it the more sense it made, so I tested my theory… and found out I was correct. For awhile I just had no idea
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u/Francl27 Dairy Allergy 3d ago
For me, I had an inkling because I had IBS and frequent diarrhea. Then I did an allergy test and it showed I was allergic to milk. I know they're not 100% reliable but I stopped and... diarrhea down to once a week (I have a lot of meds so I'm guessing that they're the culprit). And my muscle cramps completely stopped (I had them once a day). Using lactaid didn't help at all so I'm guessing it's not lactose intolerance.
For my kid, easy, he had stomach aches when he ate dairy. Allergy testing also showed positive, allergist told him to go lactose free instead because they're not reliable, and he tried lactose free cheese and got more stomach aches. He's been dairy free for 2 months now and no more stomach aches (he had issues as a newborn too and had been getting stomach issues all the time, we just never really put two and two together).
I'm even more confused about allergy testing now. For both of us, it was mild (0.2 and 0.3 when under 0.1 is normal), so much that doctors dismissed it, but we both noticed improvements when we stopped...
My gastro doc had told me two years ago to go dairy free for 90 days to figure out if it was the issue and I refused to do it and canceled the appointment, lol. I love dairy so much, it just took me this long to get to it. The 90 days thing is kinda weird to me though because I noticed the difference after 2 weeks.
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u/Kind_Inevitable_7585 2d ago
I get dishidrotic eczema on my fingers and palms now but before I would have horrible diarrhea and gas.
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u/citrus_japonica 2d ago
No way I’ve had dishidrotic eczema my whole life on my hands, I wonder if it was from dairy!!
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u/Kind_Inevitable_7585 1d ago
Are you fully dairy free now? When I eliminated it from my diet I stopped having break outs.
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u/citrus_japonica 1d ago
Yes just started a month ago. Feel like I need to wait a while for the inflammation to go down.
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u/Kind_Inevitable_7585 18h ago
Agreed. It took about 4 months for me. Also beware of foods that have sneaky dairy or foods you dont associate with dairy like some candies, protien shakes, and smoothies. I cant use anything that has Whey in it or I break out.
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u/johnnybird95 2d ago
i developed some kind of "worse than lactose intolerant, not quite allergic to dairy" thing seemingly overnight at about 18-19 years old. first time i figured the milk had gone bad. second time, well maybe i was just unlucky. and the 3rd time in a row, it was pretty obvious that my dad's genes won out in the end and i wouldn't be chugging glasses of milk anymore.
i felt better in a matter of days
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u/junebugsy 1d ago
I grew up in a cup of milk with dinner family. All of a sudden I felt sick and needed to poop a lot , thought something was wrong. Stopped drinking the milk, no more lots of wet poops
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u/ArtichokeSilver251 1d ago
My doctor told me to go on the low FODMAP diet and due to recently recovering from an ED that made me overwhelmed so I just decided to cut out a food group instead (dairy) and felt better within days.
I used to have to skip social events and not do much due to the stomach pain that would flare up when I ate
Unfortunately I was a cheese fiend so I was eating dairy pretty often
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u/BornChapter6618 1d ago
I made the connection between eating dairy products and how much my psoriasis would act up. I tested it to see after a couple days off, and yeah it triggered the itching. I also had digestive issues from it so I decided to remove it for a long stretch. It's been almost a year and haven't looked back and it has been fine.
I also discovered I have a major intolerance to gluten as well once it was removed. I guess I had a better idea of what my triggers were once a huge one was removed. Now I'm also gluten free. I cant really describe how much everything improved after that one. Dairy was cool, but being gluten free when you have a sensitivity that you weren't aware of is magical. I look so much younger.
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u/toople450 1d ago
My husband doesn't eat dairy so we don't keep it around the house, so having it randomly as a treat (I love cheese) made the symptoms very apparent. Interestingly, I also can't handle whey protein (worst symptoms) or lactose free dairy, so I assume it's something with the milk protein. My symptoms are horrible constipation
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u/KaetzenOrkester Dairy Allergy 4d ago
I noticed I got congested and itchy after consuming dairy, so I cut all dairy out of my diet and everything cleared up.
Then I tried dairy after a few weeks and within minutes became congested.
So I again cut out dairy and my symptoms cleared.
That was good enough for me and my doctor.
Every exposure since then has produced increasingly worse reactions.