Man, I never stop chasing the ghosts of food triggers. Very little has ever made much of a difference, though I'm always drawn to foods as somehow culpable... And then I cut things, and then I cut more things, and then more... and then I'm eating nothing but grassfed meat, cooked vegetables, and little else. I think I feel modestly better when I keep my sugar low, but beyond that, I can't say anything has helped enough to be clearly identifiable.
"Chasing the ghosts of food triggers" is a nice phrasing, thanks for that. 🙂 I relate completely. Nothing has ever made any difference for me at all, as far as I can tell. But the hope is kept alive by a variety of factors: looking where the light is, desperation, the endless and emphatic suggestions of friends, the larger army of people who swear they feel better when they avoid this or that food… and the fact that at least some of them are probably legit.
But in the end it’s just one of the only factors I have control over. So I keep banging on about it. Part of the point of this project is to put it to rest forever.
In my experience, this a highly plausible link - foods affecting symptoms is a huge factor for those of us with chronic conditions. I have found this out the hard way by many trial and error self-experiments over the years. Each of us seem to have our own perculiar lists of things that impact symptoms. It may not be the milk. but could be some artificial colour or preservative or gum. A little of the wrong thing can make a big difference. Just last week I went through something like this myself (again!). I started to drink milkshakes made with the cream and condensed milk (high calorie to help me put on weight) ...after two or three days I was feeling utterly fatigued and depressed for no reason. and getting worse by the day. I stopped drinking them, and was back to normal in two days...
I love this post. Except for the cheap ice cream part - I never found that it was worth even the cheap cost 😃 But then I’ve become a sorbet fiend recently.
Have you considered reducing the sugar (and other refined/ultra processed food)? I've read a lot about biochemistry and apparently when the glycogen is stored (or rather forced) into muscle it causes inflammation.
Anecdotally, when I (mostly) removed them from my diet about 14 years ago I have gone from usually having 3 colds per year to one cold, one flu and one covid in those 14 years. My diet now is mainly unprocessed or minimally processed food and I've never felt better.
Have you also looked at getting your microbiome tested? There is a lot of research in this area currently.
Whether any of this could help with pain I have no idea but as you say 'try anything'.
As an infant, you had several ear infections. They were painful and you cried a lot. Doctors gave you antibiotics and figured it would clear up in a few days. It usually did. But three times you had a broken eardrum (twice on one ear; once on the other). When you were about five, a doctor suggested to me that those ear infections could have been caused by a cow's milk allergy. We never explored that further, and I believe you drank lots of milk and ate lots of ice cream as a kid. Still....you never know. We considered so many things, didn't we?
So many things. And I haven't even told folks here yet about the "prehistory" of my health issues, the story before the story. That'll be fun. Hell, I haven't even finished explaining what's been wrong with the last 7 years.
If I have had a milk "allergy" as an adult, it’s incredibly non-obvious.
Allergies can change and they can vary in intensity. I've always been told I'm allergic to dogs, and yet, I never have a problem being around them. Cats, however, are a different story. You have had a lot of issues over a lot of years. It's difficult to put all of it in perspective. It's entirely possible that you DID have a milk allergy before the age of 1, but it was completely gone by age 3.
Man, I never stop chasing the ghosts of food triggers. Very little has ever made much of a difference, though I'm always drawn to foods as somehow culpable... And then I cut things, and then I cut more things, and then more... and then I'm eating nothing but grassfed meat, cooked vegetables, and little else. I think I feel modestly better when I keep my sugar low, but beyond that, I can't say anything has helped enough to be clearly identifiable.
"Chasing the ghosts of food triggers" is a nice phrasing, thanks for that. 🙂 I relate completely. Nothing has ever made any difference for me at all, as far as I can tell. But the hope is kept alive by a variety of factors: looking where the light is, desperation, the endless and emphatic suggestions of friends, the larger army of people who swear they feel better when they avoid this or that food… and the fact that at least some of them are probably legit.
But in the end it’s just one of the only factors I have control over. So I keep banging on about it. Part of the point of this project is to put it to rest forever.
In my experience, this a highly plausible link - foods affecting symptoms is a huge factor for those of us with chronic conditions. I have found this out the hard way by many trial and error self-experiments over the years. Each of us seem to have our own perculiar lists of things that impact symptoms. It may not be the milk. but could be some artificial colour or preservative or gum. A little of the wrong thing can make a big difference. Just last week I went through something like this myself (again!). I started to drink milkshakes made with the cream and condensed milk (high calorie to help me put on weight) ...after two or three days I was feeling utterly fatigued and depressed for no reason. and getting worse by the day. I stopped drinking them, and was back to normal in two days...
Today is my first day without the ice cream. Fingers crossed!
"Hope is even more tempting than ice cream."
Truer words have never been written.
I love this post. Except for the cheap ice cream part - I never found that it was worth even the cheap cost 😃 But then I’ve become a sorbet fiend recently.
Hmm, sorbet could be a decent Plan B for me if I have to quite ice cream!
Have you considered reducing the sugar (and other refined/ultra processed food)? I've read a lot about biochemistry and apparently when the glycogen is stored (or rather forced) into muscle it causes inflammation.
Anecdotally, when I (mostly) removed them from my diet about 14 years ago I have gone from usually having 3 colds per year to one cold, one flu and one covid in those 14 years. My diet now is mainly unprocessed or minimally processed food and I've never felt better.
Have you also looked at getting your microbiome tested? There is a lot of research in this area currently.
Whether any of this could help with pain I have no idea but as you say 'try anything'.
Try "everything." 🙂 Yes, naturally all that considered.
As an infant, you had several ear infections. They were painful and you cried a lot. Doctors gave you antibiotics and figured it would clear up in a few days. It usually did. But three times you had a broken eardrum (twice on one ear; once on the other). When you were about five, a doctor suggested to me that those ear infections could have been caused by a cow's milk allergy. We never explored that further, and I believe you drank lots of milk and ate lots of ice cream as a kid. Still....you never know. We considered so many things, didn't we?
So many things. And I haven't even told folks here yet about the "prehistory" of my health issues, the story before the story. That'll be fun. Hell, I haven't even finished explaining what's been wrong with the last 7 years.
If I have had a milk "allergy" as an adult, it’s incredibly non-obvious.
Allergies can change and they can vary in intensity. I've always been told I'm allergic to dogs, and yet, I never have a problem being around them. Cats, however, are a different story. You have had a lot of issues over a lot of years. It's difficult to put all of it in perspective. It's entirely possible that you DID have a milk allergy before the age of 1, but it was completely gone by age 3.