I had been taken off of dairy when I was a child as I had chronic ear infections, which stopped when my parents stopped feeding me dairy. At some point, as a child, I started eating dairy again and noticed that sometimes I wouldn’t feel great afterwards. I thought I was lactose intolerant particularly if I had a lot of dairy in a short period of time, so I tried to have dairy less frequently.
The year after graduating college I started getting terrible stomachaches. One morning I woke up with a small pain in my side and by that night I was in the fetal position on the emergency room floor. I was in and out of the hospital for 6 months, I could not stand up straight due to pain, and no one could tell me what was wrong with me.
At some point at the end of those 6 months someone suggested that I cut wheat and dairy out of my diet. I did so and within 2 weeks my pain had cut in half, my weight plummeted, I had more energy and I could see and think clearer. It was like a fog lifted.
For a few years I would “cheat” now and then and have some dairy. But when I did I would get a horrible headache, my sinuses would get congested, and my upper arms would swell. My mom used to call them my “Popeye arms” and she could always tell when I had dairy.
I believe I initially stopped consuming dairy the winter of 2002. I don’t believe I have had any (except accidentally, which at this point is extremely rare) in probably about 5 years.
I continue to have fewer headaches, and the headaches that I do have do not generally require painkiller to get rid of them, where as the ones I had before required medication and sleep before any relief. I have kept the weight that I initially lost off, I think clearly and I have more energy.
I get a horrible headache, my upper arms swell, I get congested, and my thinking gets foggy – I have trouble thinking clearly, especially finding words, and I become lethargic.
Needless to say, this has made me feel that some of my favorite foods (mac and cheese for example, which I have not found a good substitute for) are just not worth the price.
I think that it depends on the person, how much dairy they consume before stopping, and how sensitive they are. I generally recommend crowding dairy out of your diet. Meaning, if you find good, healthy substitutes to dairy and eat those, you will automatically eat less or (ideally) no dairy because you can only eat so much food in a day.
That and as soon as you tell someone they can’t have something, it becomes the elephant in the room and all they want is that thing. It’s human nature.
One more note from Shayna: Detoxing from dairy can be a tough process. Our bodies get very attached to dairy and to working harder to digest it. As a result the cravings for dairy after removing it from ones life can be overwhelming. However, if someone can be dairy-free for 2 weeks, the cravings will suddenly disappear, like someone hit a light switch. However, if dairy is accidentally consumed again, the cravings will return and the 2 weeks begin again.
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