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About a year and a half ago, I developed my first suspicions that I wasn't getting along well with milk. This culminated a few months ago in being diagnosed with whey protein sensitivity.
I've probably had it most of my life, but never suspected anything last year. Food sensitivities are hard to diagnose partly because they're less visible at earlier ages, partly because of the time lag involved (reactions can take up to 2 days to manifest), partly because there's no diagnostic test (there used to be blood tests but the scientific consensus is now that those tests are unreliable), and partly because my main symptom isn't even obviously digestive.
( Bizarre medical stuff )
Whey is very stable when cooked, so in addition to straight milk, cream, butter, etc., I have had to cut out most baked goods. Even bread has turned out to be a minefield because whey powder is often used as a filler in it. Likewise I can't have most commercial onion rings or breaded fish because whey is almost always present in the breading mixes.
It's been a big adjustment. I like dairy. I love cheesecake, and cake, and donuts, and cookies. I like butter, and real whipped cream with no emulsifiers, and all sorts of cheese. I can still stand small amounts of hard aged cheeses, so the occasional slice of Tillamook cheddar is all right, but an awful lot of things I like are suddenly off the menu.
One consolation is that Portland is crawling with vegan bakeries. Four of them come to the farmers' market I frequent. One of the donut shops near us makes vegan donuts every Saturday. There's also at least one local company making vegan ice cream, which supplies local shops and the local burger chain, and just opened its first retail location.
Fast food is unexpectedly turning out to be one of my safer restaurant options. Brioche-style breads, like hamburger buns, tend not to have whey in them, so it's just a matter of asking them to hold the cheese. (And despite what I said about cheddar above, I do need them to hold the cheese-- part of the processing which makes American cheese what it is that it takes perfectly good cheddar and adds a ton of whey.)
People have been very accommodating, as well. The SO is duly learning to check labels in the grocery store. At my most recent game, one of the players passed out candy bars containing milk chocolate, I said thanks but I couldn't eat that, and he snatched mine back with a horrified look and said he'd hide all of them away if it was an allergy. (I explained that it was fine to have them at the table as long as I didn't personally eat one.)
The biggest danger at the moment is my own desire to keep experimenting and find out what my limits are. Now that my immune system isn't dealing with whey on a daily basis, it can save its energy to really express its disapproval when I send it something it doesn't like. I will probably continue to have learning experiences for a while yet.
I've probably had it most of my life, but never suspected anything last year. Food sensitivities are hard to diagnose partly because they're less visible at earlier ages, partly because of the time lag involved (reactions can take up to 2 days to manifest), partly because there's no diagnostic test (there used to be blood tests but the scientific consensus is now that those tests are unreliable), and partly because my main symptom isn't even obviously digestive.
( Bizarre medical stuff )
Whey is very stable when cooked, so in addition to straight milk, cream, butter, etc., I have had to cut out most baked goods. Even bread has turned out to be a minefield because whey powder is often used as a filler in it. Likewise I can't have most commercial onion rings or breaded fish because whey is almost always present in the breading mixes.
It's been a big adjustment. I like dairy. I love cheesecake, and cake, and donuts, and cookies. I like butter, and real whipped cream with no emulsifiers, and all sorts of cheese. I can still stand small amounts of hard aged cheeses, so the occasional slice of Tillamook cheddar is all right, but an awful lot of things I like are suddenly off the menu.
One consolation is that Portland is crawling with vegan bakeries. Four of them come to the farmers' market I frequent. One of the donut shops near us makes vegan donuts every Saturday. There's also at least one local company making vegan ice cream, which supplies local shops and the local burger chain, and just opened its first retail location.
Fast food is unexpectedly turning out to be one of my safer restaurant options. Brioche-style breads, like hamburger buns, tend not to have whey in them, so it's just a matter of asking them to hold the cheese. (And despite what I said about cheddar above, I do need them to hold the cheese-- part of the processing which makes American cheese what it is that it takes perfectly good cheddar and adds a ton of whey.)
People have been very accommodating, as well. The SO is duly learning to check labels in the grocery store. At my most recent game, one of the players passed out candy bars containing milk chocolate, I said thanks but I couldn't eat that, and he snatched mine back with a horrified look and said he'd hide all of them away if it was an allergy. (I explained that it was fine to have them at the table as long as I didn't personally eat one.)
The biggest danger at the moment is my own desire to keep experimenting and find out what my limits are. Now that my immune system isn't dealing with whey on a daily basis, it can save its energy to really express its disapproval when I send it something it doesn't like. I will probably continue to have learning experiences for a while yet.
