Adult milk allergy

[Simplemind]

From an early age I had eczema and an allergy to lightly cooked eggs, dogs and cats, dust mites and aanaphylactic reaction to peanuts. When I was 18 my eczema was very severe and blood tests showed i was still allergic to the above and milk. I always knew that drinking milk made me feel sick but tolerated in other things and ate cheese and yoghurt. Recently I have been plagued with a whole host of digestive problems. 2 weeks ago I decided to try goats milk on cereal. I seemed fine for the first few days but then started to get waves of nausea and upset tummy. Then I have had one episode of blood after a bowl movement. I have stopped the milk now. I have read that children can have bleeding with milk allergy but nothing about adults. I am presuming that if a blood test showed allergy to milk that it must be a true allergy rather than an intolerance? I will make an appointment with GP but just wondered if any adults had experienced bleeding? I feel uncomfortable too.

Hi Simplemind,

I'm not trying to be dismissive ... but a lot of adults develop a lactose intolerance with age, usually shown by gut symptoms.

It might be worth trying some lactose free dairy to see if you still get the reaction. If you don't, it's likely the lactose and will open up your food options a lot more. If you still get the reaction, it's likely the milk proteins and you should keep away from it given the extent of the reaction.

As to whether it's an allergy or an intolerance, the treatment is pretty much the same... so not necessarily an issue as to which.

Best of luck.