How to Diagnose a Milk Allergy

The easiest way to diagnose a milk allergy is to watch someone go through it, or be the one going through the reaction. There are distinct properties to such reactions that are unmistakable. I have watched my son go through quite a few different reactions, while I only had to deal with lactose intolerance.

I had an inkling that he would not be able to tolerate milk when he was breastfeeding. He had colic really badly until I started cutting the dairy out of my system. It takes about four weeks for all the dairy to leave your body. After that, his colic fits weren't nearly as bad as when he was exposed to milk proteins coming through my milk. I thought that he would grow out of it by the time it came to put him on whole milk, but it didn't.

The first time he had whole milk, he had diarrhea for three days after the first exposure. As time went on, if there was a trace of milk in anything he had, his reactions got worse. Now, he breaks out in hives every time milk even touches his skin. The progression only took a few months. At first it seemed that he could tolerate boiled milk, yogurt, and cheese. Then his body began to reject them one by one. Each one gave him a different set of hives in a different spot on his body or unimaginable diarrhea. Cheese would give him hives on his forehead. Milk itself would give him hives on his chest and back. Sour cream gave him hives from head to toe. Yogurt and boiled milk gave him diarrhea.

One must understand that there is a vast difference between having a milk allergy as opposed to lactose intolerance. I, myself being lactose intolerant, can take a little pill and have fun eating dairy products all I want. I can even buy special milk-like products that will totally eliminate any side effects. Without the pill or these other products, most people deal with indigestion, diarrhea, gas, and bloating.

Unfortunately for people with a milk allergy, the removal of lactose does nothing. This is something I learned the hard way when I gave my son to my mother with a bottle of Lactaid milk, thinking that his allergy was only to the lactose. He had water-like diarrhea the entire time it was in his system. The main protein in milk, called casein, is what did him in. Casein is the cause of all the havoc a person allergic to milk must deal with. With extended and repeated exposure to this protein, a person could go into anaphylactic shock. As with nut allergies, most people don't grow out of it.

There are many ways to work around the casein factor. There are soy and vegetable products made to mimic products that those who aren't allergic to milk take for granted every day. Soymilk, soy cheese, soy butter, soy ice cream, vegetable cheese, and tofu substitutes make up a large part of the diet a person with a milk allergy will want to use.

Many people would rather just go to the allergist and get a test done. The allergist doesn't just do one test, though. They test for many other allergies at the same time. I took my son to a homeopathic doctor who then gave me the tools I needed in order to ensure my son's well being. Either way you go, you get answers and pathways to ensure a healthy, happy, reaction free life.