milk doesn’t do a body good *edit at bottom

whoa.

this is the second entry for me in less than 24 hours.

it’s awesome.

but here’s the deal.

for the last month to month and a half, i have been suffering from significant abdominal pain.

the pain usually follows a meal time, though that isn’t always the case.

sometimes it would happen just after eating a granola bar.

sometimes it would happen after eating pizza.

sometimes it would happen after eating a salad and a sandwhich for dinner.

my upper abdominal region, close to the bottom of my lungs would sort of seize up, or cramp for a moment.

and then it would release.

then it would cramp again.

and then suddenly my lower abdominal region would start aching, and the next thing you know, i was in the bathroom feeling a combination of the need to throw up and/or go to the bathroom (to put it mildly).

the pain, and nausea/stomach ache would last anywhere from a half hour to through the night while i was sleeping.

i went to the doctor last week and per usual, she was a worthless piece of shit.

she told me to go see a nutritionist which i can’t afford.

she also told me to take some drug.

she told me nothing about the drug.

and then mentioned it would cost $250 per month since insurance doesn’t cover it.

yeah. because i have that kind of money for some drug i don’t understand when she didn’t even bother to run any tests on me to see what could be causing this increasingly more frequent phenomenon.

i’ll stick with my TUMS thanks, even though they don’t help.

well, i continued to assess what could be the cause of these pains.

of course chewie thinks i am pregnant.

yeah. you have to actually get your period every once and a while for that to happen. and you have to have sex sometimes too.

but anyway, at first i thought it was these little sour cherries i love to eat…i couldn’t trace my pain back to their consumption 100% of the time, but every time in recent history i consumed these little delights, i would get the pain.

i realized that probably wasn’t the culprit.

so i continued to analyze further. and much to my dissatisfaction, i think i have accurately pegged the responsible food: MILK.

and of course, weird as it may sound – i ALWAYS drink milk when eating my sour cherries because i need something to counteract the tartness of candy.

but i also usually have a glass of milk with a granola bar – or with dinner. or any other time i eat.

why?? because i love milk.

milk is amazing. ice cold skim milk. best. ever.

so, this dawned on me late last night after i had to go to bed early because i was in such abdominal discomfort. i even yell at chewie if he sits next to me on the couch and moves. because the movement somehow wrenches the pain.

i also think i noticed that depending on what i eat with the milk, the effects may be more or less severe.

so when i woke up last weekend and ate sour cherries and milk for breakfast – well go figure i was in significant pain and missed out on going to the farmer’s market with my friend.

but when i ate sandwhiches and strawberries and mac and cheese for dinner last week, the effects were noticably less severe. all those grains may have soaked up enough of the milk that when my system was processing the glucose in the milk, it was a bit easier on my system.

i remember going through this once as a child. i was always in pain after dinner (the only time i used to drink milk). i finally stopped drinking milk for about a year and whadduya know…the pains went away. i was eventually able to drink milk again no problem.

so i am crossing my fingers that this time, it’s the milk again. because that’s easy enough to fix even though j’adore la lait.

i am just ready to stop being in pain. and can’t count on the doctor to spend enough time with me to get to the bottom of this, so if it’s not milk – i’m screwed.

i’ll keep you posted.

*edit*

a couple people mentioned it could be dairy products in general, and not just milk. this could be true.

but i don’t consume other dairy products such as cheese and sour cream at the rate or frequency in which i consume milk. and so if i have a small amount of cheese on my salad for dinner, but drink no milk – it might be possible that it wouldn’t be enough to cause a disturbance.

and also, milk has a different kind of sugar that can be hard for the digestive system to break down which could be the source of the problem, in which case yes…it would be unique to milk.

i also tried a new doctor this time even, since every doctor i have ever gone to sucks equally as bad. i thought i might actually find someone who gives a shit this time, but i was wrong.

perhaps it IS an ulcer. they run in my family. good call! i will have to do some research on that. i wasn’t aware of the abdominal/nausea pain they could create which is why i lean towards something else. but i will have to see.

thanks for the ideas. i’ll let you know what happens!

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May 11, 2009

so it’s just milk, and not anything dairy? like lactose intolerance? hmm that’s odd. i hope you have it figured out. and that you get to feeling better soon.

May 11, 2009

Lactose free milk perhaps? Hm. That sucks. I hate milk myself but I love cheese and sour cream and stuff like that.

Drink only milk for a day and see what happens. Skim milk is gross, I only like chocolate almond milk because I am a hipster snob. LOL @ your doctor, why did you even go? They’re all useless. I should be a doctor and get paid to tell people nothing. Too bad I am too much of an airhead and I laugh too much and no one would take me seriously and/or visit my practice. Sigh. There goes another pipe dream.

May 11, 2009

Honey I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago. My problem is dairy. I went through the extreme of a colonoscopy and they told me I was borderline IBS. I decided to take matters into my own hands and do a process of elimination and found dairy was the biggest culprit. Cottage cheese and yogurt are the worst for me. I can have Activia. I did drink Soy milk but decided to drink regular

May 11, 2009

after a few years of not enjoying the expensive soy milk I would buy. I just suffer through it. I hope you figure something out. Good luck!

May 11, 2009

Just fyi, if I couldn’t eat cheese, I would physically die. I’m glad you’re not dying–but I’m sad that it’s milk, for you. (geez, that sounds so awkward..)

It sounds like borderline IBS. Down with milk!

May 11, 2009

Funny you should bring this up…. not funny like haha… but more like *hmmmmm*??? {pondering} because I’ve just been doing research on FOOD COMBINING. First let me say…. I SO FEEL FOR YOU!!! I love real milk as much as you do… and (any kind of ) cheese comes in a very, very close second. To not be able to tolerate either would drive me insane!! Anyway, back to my research… My problem is

May 11, 2009

my “pipes” get plugged up far too easy. Food combining (eating whatever food groups you want, but not mixing certain food groups together) is suppose to help with all sorts of digestion problems. Acid reflux, diverticulitis, constipation, bloating, IBS and more! The only sucky part is you’re suppose to stay away from diary products, or at least limit them. The up side, besides fixing your innards

May 11, 2009

that your weight starts dropping off and your energy levels soar. I’ve never tried this, but it has caught my interest. I might give it a go. As far as the diary goes, some sites list dairy products as a high protein food group… just like meat, fish nuts and beans. So I would still use it. Other sites say not to use diary at all in food combining. It’s very iffy, so use your own discretion.

May 11, 2009

I for one know I can’t do without it! But I also know that if it became a problem Almond milk is FAB!! So is low carb milk. Soy is okay in a pinch, but Almond milk is what I prefer. I would recommend that to someone like you who has trouble with cow’s milk. Low carb milk has the closest taste I’ve found to real milk, but I actually like the taste of Almond milk much more. And the expense is really

May 11, 2009

not that bad when you’re the only one in the house drinking it. I take a small box of it to work with me and it lasts me several days to a week. I also keep an opened box in the fridge at home and several more (closed) in the pantry. The shelf life is really good too! 🙂 Lactose free milk also doesn’t taste bad at all. You might want to give that a try and see what happens. Good luck! Hugs,

May 11, 2009

I was treated for 20 years for ulcers and guess what…I don’t have ulcers…but I do have a spastic colon… your cramping sounds like what I go thru when I have an attack…which is brought on by stress…but the attacks don’t happen until the stress is OVER…go figure!!!

May 11, 2009

I love me some milk…I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t drink milk!

May 11, 2009

I just got done complaining because all we ever have in the house is milk. Never soda if my grandpa isnt home. Just Milk and I cam’t drink normal milk and now i’m running out of chocolate and I just don’t really like milk that much..ahh if only I could be alergic…. Then maybe we could have apple juice istead.

May 11, 2009

Take yourself off milk and milk products for 5 days…give the body a chance to reorganize itself without milk. Then challenge yourself with a small amount of milk and observe what happens(esp if the abd pain stops or decreases)..if the pain returns you have your culprit. If you still get pain after stopping the milk for a week and it is after meals when the acid production increases then it is

May 11, 2009

proabably an ulcer. One of the tell tale signs of an ulcer is pain after eating when the acid production increases, follow by nausea. Good luck and I hope you get to the source of the issue.

May 12, 2009

Wow, it could be an ulcer?? Huh. I never even thought about that! But don’t they say to drink milk for an ulcer? Hm…. Mystery…. I know you’ll solve it! :)))

May 14, 2009

you could try a glass of soy milk. or go to starbucks and order something with soy instead of milk just to test it out. also could be a ulcer??? I dunno but I hope you feel better.

May 14, 2009

I don’t enuff about such issues to render an opinion. But I gotta ask: Milk with PIZZA??? Yeesh!

May 15, 2009

Homer! Of course milk with pizza…. Even better is COLD leftover pizza in the morning with COLD milk! Yummy! 🙂