[Closed] Any Dermatologists in the house? Milk/lactose allergy? Alternative to milk?

Soya milk is bloody awful

goats milk, lovely stuff!

soya is good , you also get lactose free milk which isnt so bad. Lactose free cheese on the other hand- i think its what they did with all the unsold tioga tires across the world.

i too get lactose flatulance - which is a shame for others as i really like milk.

it can also be gluten - im waiting for that part, coeliacs runs in the family.

edit for post above - you say potato - i say potato

I was talking to someone about this the other day, and apparently there is a wide variation in the taste of soya milk - Alpro is definitely "soya" flavoured, but Tesco Value soya milk tastes more like cows' milk, I'm told...
What either of them is like in tea, I wouldn't like to guess, though.

Avoid soya if you have an autoimmune condition. I drink Arla lacto-free milk available in supermarkets. It's really nice.

Thanks ladies and gents, I will try a few variations. I didnt know there was lactose free milk. I also love milk but other than a bit of yoghurt I rarely eat anything dairy based. I eat a reasonable amount of bread and more pasta and noodles. My diet isnt fantastic but I dont live off junk.

Anything else it could be? Gluten or wheat intolerance perhaps? I can live with the wind to a certain degree but as my job is public facing the skin problems are frustrating.

Soya Milk
Almond Milk - lovely
Hazelnut milk - a bit nutty IMHO
Oat Milk - Mleh
Rice milk - WTF this is just white water

Most supermarlets will stock most of them

IMHO almond milk is very nice the others are OK

Soya milk separates in very hot coffee but not tea

Missues is gluten intolerance - it does not cause skin issues but bloating and wind. more likely to be the milk.

Could be gluten, it hides in all sorts of foodstuffs. Be careful with g-f food in supermarkets, it can contain a lot of sugar and some of it is grim.

Have you tried cutting down on the amount of bread you eat? I find I can eat a little of Warburton's, anything else really upsets me. Are you eating excess carbs?

Any problems with an acidic stomach?

i dont know about skin conditions from gluten but it sure as hell causes bad wind.

my dad has been diagnosed a coeliac - aged 48 after a developing problems in the last few years. all manor of testing- which didnt identify anything then dietery exclusion to pin point it.

i guess the easiest thing to do would be to drop dairy from your diet for a bit and see if that helps. if not drop gluten and see if that helps.

Mrs MR is vegan so have been thru a raft of alternatives, now we use Koko (coconut based) - is long-lfe so usually grab a months worth in the specials sales. Works in tea also, but not coffee.

I've been dairy free for 18 months
Soy milk is fine in most guises. Just be aware that IMHO the nicest tasting stuff (sweetened) has a lot of sugar in it.
There is no peer reviewed science which says that soya should be avoided by all with an autoimmune condition.

Daughter has lactose intolerance / lactase deficiency and also suffers with exczma. She has a combination of lactose free products (Arla) and normal dairy products with lactase drops (Colief - a baby colic remedy which is basically lactase enzyme) to counteract the lactose. The original Arla lactose free cheese is as TR says but there is now a cheddar version which is much more palatable.

The missus also seems to be getting some sort of intolerance to dairy/lactose, currently trying some lactase tablets from Holland and Barrett which while not a 100% solution do seem to be helping.

There is some very dubious information floating around about intollerances. If you believe you are intollerant you should seek a proper diagnosis by referal from your GP. This can be tricky. Certainly in the case of coeliacs they can do a test and it is pretty simple - I just asked but then I have family history.

My wife had a similar experience to you while at university. Skin problems and weight loss were the main symtoms. Her gp was useless and prescribed antihistimines which relieved the symptoms but gave a whole other set of issues to deal with. She eventually went private and got a full allergy test (it was expensive around £1000 IIRC 10 years ago).

She was told amongst other things that she was allergic to a protien in milk (which is different from being lactose intollerant - I thought they tested that one at birth?). She changed her diet and cut out certain dairy products. She switched to "Rice Dream" which is not entirely disgusting. Recovered fine.

If it is milk then you may get away with switching to goats milk.

If you aren't prepared to pay or get testing then eliminating all dairy will give you an indication. But you need to consider regression to the mean. So after you have eliminated it you need to reintroduce it to see if the symptoms come back to be sure.

There is no peer reviewed science which says that soya should be avoided by all with an autoimmune condition.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2935336/

There is more.

My Missus can't have dairy , she also uses rice dream which in my opinion is like cloudy water ,sometimes when she can't get rice dream she uses coconut milk which is lovely on my cereal. 🙂

jonba - intollerance can develop at any stage in your life.

tests are not the be all and end all.

tests didnt show any issue with my dad - yet there clearly was issue.

dietry elimination was how it was identified in the end.

apparently though the best bread you get for coeliac according to him is the NHS prescription stuff.

@ c_g that gives soya s an example of where you can get Isoflavones from. Its any member of the pea family then

Its also says it inhibits TPO - that is still not auto immune

I dont read as much as you do on that condition but i have read up on Soya and there is nothing convincing out there to support what you said.
I am sure if you scour the net and cherry pick you can produce something but the scientific and medical community is pretty consistent on the data and what it says.

Thanks all, not an easy or straightforward subject at all. I have wind and skin irritation, otherwise I feel good. No acid or toilet problems. I did look into milk intolerance but according to most sites thats purely dietary symptoms. The doctor said he could refer me but diet exclusion was easier so I am going to try cutting out milk and yoghurt. I dont eat a lot of bread, maybe a loaf a month. Pasta and noodles more so. The reason I believe its dairy, more specifically milk is thats the only thing that has increased in the last 6 months.

What Junkyard says

I've been allergic to dairy for about 4 years, due to other medical complaints. I use goats milk, it takes a little getting used to and I still don't like it in tea or coffee, so have fruit teas. Goats cheese is a hit and miss experiment, some is that strong it blows your head off some is lovely and smooth without that nasty aftertaste. Goats butter again takes some getting used to but means if you home bake you can continue to have cakes etc. the supermarkets are stocking more and more dairy free products and again some are nice some aren't. You can buy goats cream from Waitrose and an Irish company called billy bleat makes goats ice cream that is bloody lovely but very difficult to purchase.
Good luck with your diet.
Diz

our family is on a lowered lactose diet, it does help, I no longer seem to get totally bunged up sinuses and fart less (not much though)

anyway, any lacto free milk is nice, though of course not dairy free. I also like oat milk on cereal, but not in tea or coffee.

Cant stand soya milk, tastes like cardboard.

Goats milk tastes like cheese. Not great in coffee.

Black coffee

Almond milk on cereal.

I have the same problems if I eat anything with oats in - now I've cut it out it would seem I've become even more sensitive to it (if unwittingly eat something it's hidden in).

I have dairy intolerance too, but it varies and used to be much more severe. I can eat some cheese and butter but avoid milk, yoghurt and ice cream. Eating any of these used to give me stomach pain, the runs and very bad breath.

Alpro soya juice works for me on cereals, but nothing else. I have some milk in tea and coffee, and pizza are all fine. The heat breaks down the protein for me.

Is your exczma also related to stress?

Have you looked at other stuff as well. Change of washing powders . Soap etc. are you wipping your face on paper towels in the new office. Plus if i eat too much bread and cheese my excema kicks off . I dont drink milk though . I recall hearing a radio programme that it was the enzimes in cows milk when pasturised that sets alot of peope off. I would not put steroid cream on your face either as it can thin your skin over time.

Thanks pace

are you wipping your face on paper towels in the new office

some weird S&M fetish thing going on there?

Its interesting what neilwheel said as I also have developed worse breath but didnt connect the two together.

My exczma has always been mild everywhere except my hands and I am sensitive to oil, cleaning products and Fairy liquid. I use gloves when working on my bike or car and marigolds for cleaning or washing up. Ive always used non bio and a splash of fabric softener. In the shower I use a Sanex o% shower gel but never wash my face with anything but water.

Soy milk is definitely not a good idea on a regular basis, I wouldn't drink it at all. A quick google reveals a whole host of problems related to consumption and soy beans have never traditionally been consumed in the form of a milk on a large scale for these very reasons. Soy beans need to be properly prepared if they are to be nutritious and healthy.

I'd say try goats milk, maybe a good almond milk, although watch what its got in it! Depending on accessibility it would also be worth looking for some raw unpasteurised cows milk to try. If you cannot digest lactose (milk sugar) then raw milk contains the lactase enzyme meaning you may find it more digestible (a lot of people lose the ability to digest milk in later life as they stop producing lactase).

However, it may be casein (milk protein) that you have a problem with in which case this would make no difference. After you've cut all dairy for a few weeks you could try eating some mature cheese and seeing if you have a reaction as there won't be any lactose left in a mature cheese. Its important to bear in mind that you really have to stick at these things and give them time as you're body won't adjust overnight. i.e. if you're going to cut dairy, do it completely for 6 weeks and keep a diary of all bodily changes.

I am of the view that all of these intolerance and symptoms like eczema have their roots in a malfunctioning gut. You clearly have some problems down there which need addressing. These symptoms could be the result of one problem or many in any part of the digestive track; e.g. if you have problems in the stomach then you will eventually develop problems further down the line. If you have a healthy gut and are eating properly then you're set for life i reckon! With regards to eating properly, bread (unless its sourdough with no more than a handful of ingredients and not white) pasta and noodles are all junk. They will do your body more harm than good. Have a read here for details on how to eat properly:

[url= http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/ ][/url]

I would also advise you to be very careful when listening to your GP with regards to digestive issues as most of them don't seem to have a clue. They will probably tell you something like 'you've got IBS, don't eat this this or this...' or they'll try and treat the symptoms (as with the steroid cream) and not the root cause. Anything you are experiencing on the outside is only a manifestation of what is occurring within. Ultimately, that means your gut - the health of which is directly related to what you put in your mouth.

The first thing I would try is A2 milk. Not particularly expensive and presumably tastes the same.

Jamz has said pretty much what I was going to say.

I suffer from skin flare ups which got pretty bad earlier this year & you end up in a downward spiral - stressed by your appearance, which makes it worse & so on. Doctors will prescribe steroid cream & emollient which if used consistently is actually a good topical treatment, but I don't think works on it's own (double base gel's good).

I also started seeing a nutritionist/allergist/voodooist that most people who've never suffered from this will immediately dismiss. However, for the last 6 months I've been wheat & dairy free, massively reduced fructose & sugar consumption & alcohol (boo!) & also worked a lot on my gut/digestion - pro biotics, paragon, gallium etc. It's working & I feel better & fitter than ever.

You could argue that it's all in the mind, cyclical etc but I'm convinced that it's linked directly to stresses, which come in all sorts of different forms - intolerances to food types, lack of sleep, overindulgence, adrenalin,

Anyway, I feel your pain. To answer the original question - unsweetened almond milk (or make your own) or Koko coconut milk. Soya milk's evil.

You might also find that your new job has added additional stress, causing a reaction.

If you aren't prepared to pay or get testing then eliminating all dairy will give you an indication

the trick with elimination is go all in - read the labels on everything. I'm interollernt to something other than lactose and whatever it is is in the skimmed portion of the milk and powdered skimmed milk is in absolutely fricking everything!

I'd also say - don't bother with substitutes, just don't have milk and cheese in things. It takes as long as it takes to experimentally eliminate dairy from your diet as is does to pretty much loose interest in it.

The best thing about cutting our dairy is you can't run out of milk.

Oh yeah, good point. Don't bother switching to substitutes like wheat free pasta or gluten free bread, find a completely alternative food type - there's loads of great stuff out there. Banana, nut butter, almond pancakes are lovely 🙂

My dad is whey/lactose intolerant. It came on suddenly and very severely.

He has basically replaced everything cow milk based with something goat milk based , which doesn't have the key protein thingy that causes the reaction.

You can get goat milk obviously but also goat butter, goat cream, and varieties of goat cheese that are matches for the best cow based stuff.

For him lactofree type stuff still contains the thing he is allergic to so it's no good.

Oh and non instant custard made from full fat goat milk is yummy.

If you need to avoid cow milk then you need to check bloody everything from the supermarket cow milk is in an unreal amount of stuff.

I am of the view that all of these intolerance and symptoms like eczema have their roots in a malfunctioning gut.......I would also advise you to be very careful when listening to your GP with regards to digestive issues

Indeed you have the internet and their is no better medical training and the cochrane like standards of the contributors are peerless

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactase_persistence

Short version we cannot all process milk but most white europeans can

Don't bother with all these quack cures. Ask to be referred to a proper physician, a gastroenterologist would be a good start. They know a lot about how you work.

Both my sons are dairy Intolerant. But it's a milk protein allergy, not lactose. Most doctors tell you that they grow out if it, but there's a lot of interesting reading that suggests the symptoms just show in a different way. Alpro soya deserts are really good, as are the yogurts. Sainsburys sweetened soya milk is good on cereal, not found any good in tea or coffee.

There's a relatively new milk out called A2 which is from a Specific breed of cow. It has one of the common proteins that is the cause of most allergies missing