How To Know If You Have An Allergy To Milk
Diseases Allergy

How To Know If You Have An Allergy To Milk

Published at 02/20/2012 04:37:51

Introduction

How To Know If You Have An Allergy To Milk

Some people experience less than desirable reactions whenever they eat dairy products such as ice cream, cheese or milk. The Mayo Clinic says that allergy milk is one of the top 8 food allergies that people have today. There are numerous ways in which it can be manifested. Symptoms include everything from vomiting and digestive problems to skin rashes and a persistent cough. Since there are a lot of people that are lactose intolerant instead of being allergic to milk, it can be difficult to determine whether or not you really have an allergy milk.

Step 1

Pay attention to any abnormal symptoms that you may have after consuming milk products (i.e. milk, cheese, ice cream). These symptoms may appear anywhere from a few moments to one hour after you consume milk. Typical indicators of an allergy milk include vomiting, indigestion and even hives. The best way to do this is by creating a food journal in which you write down what type of milk product you ingest then notate what happened afterwards.

Step 2

Be on the lookout for any allergy milk symptoms that may take longer to develop. These include things like diarrhea, loose or bloody stools, a runny nose, abdominal cramps and an itchy rash around your mouth. These may take several weeks to develop and thus they may not be as obvious of an allergy milk symptom. Nevertheless, it is important to mention such symptoms to your doctor.

Step 3

Make sure that you never ignore the symptoms of an allergy milk. These are important signs that must be addressed by a doctor. Failure to do so may lead to a rare reaction known as anaphylaxis. Unfortunately, this is a life-threatening reaction so you don’t want to gamble with it.

Step 4

After you observe any of these symptoms, you should consult with your doctor about the possibility of having an allergy milk. In doing so it is vital to also mention the amount of milk products that you consume on a regular basis and any symptoms that you experience after ingesting them. Your doctor may determine that you are actually lactose intolerant (have a food sensitivity to milk) instead of having an actual allergy milk.

Step 5

Your doctor will outline a treatment plan for you to follow if you have an allergy milk. Usually this treatment will include having you do away with any and all of the milk products that are currently being ingested as a part of your normal, day-to-day, diet. As you do so you will want to pay special attention as to whether or not any of the previous symptoms reoccur. If you do continue to experience any of these symptoms, it is possible that you may actually have a completely different illness, not an allergy to milk. In this case you will need to talk to your doctor again in order to try to determine what the real root cause of these symptoms is. Regardless of why you may be experiencing any of these symptoms, it is important that you don’t ignore them. Your health is not something that you want to play games with.

Tips

Sources and Citations

Comments