Going Dairy free and sleep patterns.

laura27314

Hi,

I am 22 and have had abdominal pain associated with eating dairy produce for the last three years, and despite the pain and all of my doctors advice have had trouble sticking to a dairy free diet. I exclude or limit dairy periodically and when I do, not only am I pain free but I also have more energy.

This current dairy free attempt is about 6 weeks old, but for the last week I have been also limiting meat. I am having progressively worse trouble sleeping, which explains why I'm on boards.ie at 4am! I just amn't tired! Last night at about 5am I ate some dairy chocolate, and next thing I knew the bf was waking me up on the couch at 8am, wondering what was going on. I really think there's a dairy link.

I tend to be a troublesome sleeper anyway, as I tend to 'stress' over things. I don't feel particularly stressed at the moment, just 'nervy'.

I would like to hear if anyone else has given up dairy recently and has noticed sleep patterns changing.

Thanks,

Laura

p.s. this not sleeping is great for the electricity bill, as I'm getting wash after wash done on the night saver rate!

TriceMarie

laura27314 wrote: »

p.s. this not sleeping is great for the electricity bill, as I'm getting wash after wash done on the night saver rate!

lol!!:D..

Hi Laura,I can kind of familarize with you,but with me its wheat,gluten etc. that give me problems...I get awful stomach pains and feel really sick if I eat bread,buiscuits,potatoes (espically chips!!:eek:)...what has your docotor said?When I went to mine he just suggested i.b.s as my blood came back clear from celiac..Bt people have told me that they say that to people when they can't find a definate diagnosis


Anywho,have you tried dairy free options,like soya milk,soya yougurt,soya butter??

And yes,as you can see my sleeping patterns arent great either as I'm also up so late lol!

laura27314

I got different diagnoses of IBS, lactose-intolerance, and systemic candida, and I'm just fed up with doctors. I don't even bother mentioning it to them anymore. I feel that the profession as a whole (individual doctors notwithstanding) kinda glaze over if hormonal, digestive, back, or mental health issues are raised! I have this abdominal pain and PCOS and have not been happy with any of the doctors I've seen. One day the perfect doc will come! I know he/she's out there!

I cut out wheat/yeast for 6 weeks (as well as dairy) and found it really really hard. I could give up dairy forever but gluten...em...doubt it...! My symtpms are worst when wheat and yeast and dairy are combined...like pizza...just not worth it!! My heart really goes out to celiacs, or people like yourself who have to avoid wheat.

I'll happily drink soy milk, soy cream, soy cheese, dark chocolate (soy milk chocolate not good) but I stick to a rather less healthy sunflower oil spread from m&S. I tried soy spreads and was not impressed. I haven't tried rice/almond dairy replacers as I'm scared I'll like them, and they do not have nearly as much nutritional value as soy (esp. calcium) and I'd be afraid of nutriet deficiencies!

TriceMarie

laura27314 wrote: »

I got different diagnoses of IBS, lactose-intolerance, and systemic candida, and I'm just fed up with doctors. I don't even bother mentioning it to them anymore. I feel that the profession as a whole (individual doctors notwithstanding) kinda glaze over if hormonal, digestive, back, or mental health issues are raised! I have this abdominal pain and PCOS and have not been happy with any of the doctors I've seen. One day the perfect doc will come! I know he/she's out there!

I cut out wheat/yeast for 6 weeks (as well as dairy) and found it really really hard. I could give up dairy forever but gluten...em...doubt it...! My symtpms are worst when wheat and yeast and dairy are combined...like pizza...just not worth it!! My heart really goes out to celiacs, or people like yourself who have to avoid wheat.

I'll happily drink soy milk, soy cream, soy cheese, dark chocolate (soy milk chocolate not good) but I stick to a rather less healthy sunflower oil spread from m&S. I tried soy spreads and was not impressed. I haven't tried rice/almond dairy replacers as I'm scared I'll like them, and they do not have nearly as much nutritional value as soy (esp. calcium) and I'd be afraid of nutriet deficiencies!

I can understand your annoyance,I've also given up trying to get a definate diagnoses,been having symptoms for four years and have went to doctor with little success,he told me to keep a food diary,which I don't find helpful as I already know what triggers it,but I want to know what it is like...I've heard chinese alergy test are very good.They test a strand of your hair,and test it for alot of alergies.I know someone who thought she was celiac,while all along it was lactose intolerant she was,it was the butter she was putting on the bread that affected her...
What is systemic candida,and PCOS?(excuse my ignorance:o)

Hmm well yes,I think soya has more calcium.But I think rice would be quiet sufficent too.And if you are worried you could also take vitamins (although be careful not to take too much,my brother who's a micro biologist warned me) I have tried rice dream milk myself,and found it to be quiet yummy!:D even more so than soya,but that's my opinion!

laura27314

I might give the chinese allergy testing a go. Sounds interesting. I had an interesting test done in Drogheda, by this machine, and a microscopic sample of a food was zapped into your hand, and the change of speed of your blood was measured and the change showed if your body was intolerant to the food or substance. It came back yeast, dairy, and wheat mainly. But wheat doesn't make me sick on it's own.

PCOS is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, a common hormonal imbalance caused by the ovaries with various symptoms like tendancy to gain weight, reduced fertility, heavy body hair growth, mood swings, and balding. Also an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Systemic Candida is yeast in your intestinal tract (like the yeast you get in your mouth or vagina when you have thrush), it can be caused by excessive ingestion of yeast containing produce and sugar(food for the yeast), antibiotics(kill off the bacteria that colonise the gut). It's a bit controversial I think. It causes pain by irritating and inflaming your digestive tract, and bits of food that is not fully digested can somehow get through and your immune system reacts against them causing pain. There's lots of books out there, and there's lots of different names for it too.

I'm a bit dubious about vitamin pills, I try to get them all from my food, but it's hard, I'm not going to sit down and eat a plate of brocolli every day. I used oat cream this weekend actually and it was quite good. The lady in the health food store reccommended it and I always try to follow reccommendations, I've discovered some of the best things in life that way!

Laura

El_Dangeroso

Hi Laura,

You should consider going on a Paleo diet, it's grain and dairy free and helps greatly with PCOS too.

You'll also have increased energy and sleep better too:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/paleodietcavemandiet/Paleolithic_Diet_Caveman_Diet_Paleo_Diet_Neanderthin.htm

And some recipes:

http://cavemanfood.blogspot.com/

It takes a week or two of feeling rough to adjust but you get to eat delicious food and feel good too.

laura27314

That's a very interesting blog! I may try and weasel the book...perhaps the library has it.

I think there is a lot of sense in it, natural, fresh, unprocessed whole foods without a side order of nasty chemicals but the blog seemed to eat a huge amount of meat. I eat wild/organic fish freely, organic chicken slightly less so, but even organic red meat is something I feel horrible about eating! Especially beef! Health wise and because of my carbon footprint!

El_Dangeroso

No one will make you eat red meat if you don't want to

Although, re: carbon footprint, Irish beef eats grass (which consumes CO2 when it grows) so the huge amount of energy that grain-fed beef consumes is not the case with grass fed (plus grass-fed is higher in Omega 3). Plus has less miles to travel than rice, in fact, the biggest source of man-made methane is, get this, rice-paddy fields!

Regarding the health aspect, all studies indicting red meat lump all processed meats (such as hot dogs and burgers mixed with god knows what chemicals) in together. Plus would we really have evolved for 40 million years eating something that would poison us?

That aside, you eat whatever you feel comfortable with, so chicken and fish is perfectly fine with some non-starchy veggies and virgin olive oil. You'll find it isn't a meat-heavy diet, more of a veg and good quality fat-heavy diet. Really do give it a good try for two weeks, it might not suit you but it might be the best thing you ever do for your health.

Best of luck!

xx

jdivision

Some soy milk has wheat in it so should be avoided. Oat-based milk is grand, but expensive. OP, look at taking psyllium husk which can clean out some of the dairy that's stayed in your system. I'd also recommend acupuncture for the pain, can suggest somebody if you like.

Gummy Panda

jdivision wrote: »

Some soy milk has wheat in it so should be avoided. Oat-based milk is grand, but expensive. OP, look at taking psyllium husk which can clean out some of the dairy that's stayed in your system. I'd also recommend acupuncture for the pain, can suggest somebody if you like.

How exactly is Psyllium Husks taken? Do you just mix it in with a shake?

I have IBS and have been told that soluble fiber may help it.

jdivision

Can buy it in capsules, take it straight with lots of water or cook with it. I've only taken capsules and they make you feel full and without being sick when you go to bathroom you can see the dairy build up that was in your colon. EileenG cooks with it so she's the woman in that regard. Taking it straight has its own thread, it's not for some people.