So Long Milk!

Sad news hit two weeks ago. I am about 92.7% sure that I'm lactose intolerant. Actually, the percentage doesn't really matter. All that matters is that I'm pretty sure that's the case.

UGH!

I've had digestion problems over the last year but always blamed it on the stress of grad school, my lack of eating a varied diet, or my coffee consumption that had not started until August. You would think that I would have gone to the doctors sooner, but no. That's not how I do things.

Finally, a few weeks ago I decided that I had had enough and needed to figure this out. My doctor suspected a wheat or dairy allergy - not what I wanted to hear. Seriously, I think half of my diet consists of carbs (breads, baked goods, pasta) and the other half is dairy (milk and cheese). She took blood work - to check my liver, thyroid, and to see if I was anemic, and I was given the assignment to go 4-5 days without dairy.

Not unexpected, my biggest craving during that "dairy-free" period was a slice of cheese pizza and ice cream. Not cool. But as the days went by my symptoms decreased a little more and I realized, that yes, I am most likely lactose-intolerant. As I mentioned in my VCM marathon recap, I was plagued with horrible cramps that bothered me until last weekend, when I gave up on dairy products completely. This week has been perfect!

I have always heard that adults loose the ability to digest the sugar, lactose, with age, but never wanted it to happen to me. However, I think I began to suspect it over the last few months, and I am finally glad to know what has been causing these problems. My doctor told me that when people finally find out what is causing their symptoms they are more than willing to give up on that thing. She was right.

It took a while to get used to no milk or cheese, but I think I'm doing alright now. I now love chocolate soy milk, and regular soy milk. I tried vanilla almond milk yesterday (WHOAAA!) but the vanilla was too powerful for me.

If anyone has experience of going milk-free I'd love to hear from you. For now I am extremely happy that I can continue to eat cake and pasta - cheese free of course!

I'll leave you with a photo of Wilson. Because I just don't think you care to see any photos of milk or cheese. He's much cuter that those things.

Window Perching - his favorite thing to do on a sunny day. He keeps an eye on the squirrels and guards against incoming bugs. 

Oh - my milk-free diet also means that Wilson is milk free. We can no longer bond by him sneaking his paw into my milk glass at 6:00am while I'm trying to eat breakfast. Poor thing :(