Hi all,

I found my way to this site because I was in an episode of total brain and body malfunction that happens when I consume dairy products and am really interested to see if I can find any others who suffer the same or similar pains that I do. Sometimes it feels lonely because a lot of people I tell my problem to tend to not even believe me. Those that do, just don't know what it's like. I'm going to try to describe some of my symptoms below as best I can and if you relate to it at all and would like to discuss it, please respond!

To start off, I'd like to mention that I've actually gone through $8000 of treatment for something (don't really know what) from naturopathic, applied kinesiology, and NAET practictioners. My symptoms are WAAY down from when I started, but I still cannot consume anything from a cow; meat or milk. That said, here is a list of my old symptoms when they were at their peak.

Chronic depression, chronic lethargy, my whole body felt slightly numb, my brain seemed slow to comprehend the world around me, difficulty relating to others, a feeling like a \"brain cloud\" which prevents me from feeling emotions (I could be crying and not really feel any connection to that fact), something gets messed up inside when I go in certain crowded stores (haven't figured this out still - symptoms similar to my food intolerance), blurry eyes that are better described as \"non-comprehending\" eyes (I see but I don't understand), and last but most definitely not least is a pain that permeates every cell of my body that has a focal point in the center of my chest right around where the heart is. I try to describe it as if tendrils of pain are traveling from all of my extremities towards a black hole of pain in my chest. I describe it to other people by asking them to imagine what it would feel like if their \"soul hurt.\"

Most of these symptoms that I've described I didn't even know that I was feeling until through a long series of events I discovered that if I stopped eating wheat, eggs, and dairy I felt better (didn't know I wasn't feeling good). After that point about 3 years ago, I've been steadily getting things under control (I can eat wheat and eggs pretty well now) but I still can't even touch milk.

Symptoms have changed now though through doctors' help, so that the \"soul hurt\" isn't so bad anymore (unless I eat beef) and a lot of the other symptoms are lessened when they do crop up (I don't become a TOTAL basket case when I do ingest milk, I just sort of disconnect from my brain and feelings, and get pretty lethargic).

So please, if you or anyone you know has felt or can relate to these feelings, please contact me. Even the doctors that I work with seem to be running out of ideas. It's difficult being SO different that I feel like my body betrays me and there are periods where I can't even be my normal happy/social person because of it.

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums

I'm glad to hear you've made some progress with your symptoms recently. I've also been on a long journey and am slowly finding things that help me.

I can certainly relate to your symptoms and am sure many others can as well. The vast majority of your symptoms are very common in all the 'environmental illnesses' covered on this site and I really empathise with you as what you describe is what I have had most trouble with as well.

One that really set a bell off in my head was you describing feeling worse in crowded stores. This is typical of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivity/environmental illness. I was diagnosed with the first of these in 1990 and know the 'store fatigue' feeling well. It's thought that this is because the brains of those of us suffering from these conditions can't process information from the senses properly so quickly get overwhelmed by noise and lights etc.....leaving us feeling drained and exhausted. Another possibility is that you have chemical sensitivities which would affect you more in stores where there's lots of people wearing chemical products such as perfume and deodorants as well as chemicals in cleaning products used in the store. Basically there is a lot of chemical air pollution from many sources in stores.

When you say the radiating pain has a focal point in the centre of your chest do you mean it is actually in the centre? Your heart is off to the left. If it is in the centre right below your sternum/breast bone (middle of the ribcage) this means the pain could be coming from the duodenum, the very top part of your small intestine. This can become inflammed if your liver isn't working efficiently as toxins are dumped into the bile....which is then excreted into the duodenum. I say this as this is something I have also experienced. I have an inflammed duodenum due to 'toxic bile' and certain foods things (spicy food, garlic, alcohol) have triggered attacks of pain exactly as you described. It really is a terrible pain that really takes the wind out of me and takes a good while to die down.

When you said dairy foods were giving you a lot of brain symptoms I initially thought it might be due to undigested proteins from dairy foods being absorbed andreaching your brain. These proteins can act like opiate drugs and interfere with brain function (a popular theory for autistic symptoms and something again that I experience myself when eating dairy products as well as wheat.). If meat is causing the same symptoms then there are two other possible causes...food sensitivity or chemical sensitivity to things which are added to meat and dairy products (e.g. antibiotics and growth hormones). Do organic meat and dairy products produce the same symptoms?

If you haven't already I'd recommend you get your gut thoroughly checked out. Find a doctor who will order tests to look for increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut syndrome), digestive function (production of stomach acid and digestive enzymes), and infections with yeast (Candida, bacteria and parasites.) I'd also suggest you have your liver function tested.

Check out the lab tests page here to read a little more about these tests.

Hope this helps and look forward to hearing from you again.

Thanks Maff, I really appreciate you taking your time to respond and it's comforting to know there are others out there that can understand what I'm going through; it really does help.

I'd like to clarify a few things though that maybe I didn't convey well enough. The pain that I feel is sort of not really a pain at all. Like, if you asked me to point to it I wouldn't be able to. It doesn't hurt like a scraped knee, headache, stomach ache hurt. It's a more permeating feeling that doesn't go away until I sleep for approximately 3 hours (no other way to get rid of it). I also try to describe it as \"having so little energy that it actually hurts.\" I don't know if that makes any more sense, but it's a difficult thing to really describe to someone else.

Also, beef doesn't give me the \"brain cloud\" like milk does, it only gives me the pain that I described in the last paragraph (the milk used to give that pain also but doesn't anymore). When I injest dairy (used to be I only had to smell it) I feel the effects inside of 30 seconds usually quicker. Do you think it could be undigested proteins even if its that fast?

I've tried organic vs. non-organic and I did notice a difference though it was more anaphylactic than anything. The organic beef from whole foods as well as buffalo (just as an experiment) both triggered the symptoms.

Thank you for your advice to get checked out. I've been rather hesitant to go to an allopath because of all of the \"he has ADD and asthma\" and \"it's just chronic depression, take some pills\" that has gone on in my life. I'm a bit nervous to put myself back in the hands of people who've pretty much told me \"get over it\" all my life. But with that said, your confidence and experience actually means a lot to me. I'll probably do as you say and try to find a doctor that has experience with candida and therefore might understand a little better what I'm explaining to them.

Oh, and the 'store fatigue' that you mentioned is right on! I've often felt \"overwhelmed\" and feel a need to react as I've seen autistic children do (which kind of had me wondering about autism for a while). I'm kind of curious: are there any types of stores that you've experienced were worse than other kinds? I've noticed trends, but I'm curious to know your experience.

I'll go check out those links and diseases now. I look forward to your response (or anyone else who cares to chime in!)

Hi there,

Don't mention it. I try to respond to as many people as possible as I know how hard it can be and how lonely you can feel when you're sick with something that people don't understand.

I have to say your symptoms are certainly very confusing! It can't be partially digested milk proteins causing the brain symptoms if the reaction is so quick. It would take perhaps 30 minutes to an hour to give enough time for the milk to be digested (partially) and absorbed. The symptoms I experience are on the scale of a few hours after consuming dairy products.

The symptom you describe as 'soul hurt' is also a strange one and can't really be explained by what I mentioned in my last reply.

All I can suggest is that all these symptoms are some kind of sensitivity reaction which I'm sure you already know. The fact you've had some success with therapies such as NAET also suggests this. These types of things can manifest in all sorts of weird symptoms....which is one of the reasons allopathic medicine doesn't want to acknowledge them, it likes simple one size fits all explanations for symptoms! I have been through the allopathic medical system and only been given disbelief and ineffective 'treatment'. I now have an allopathic doctor (\"free\" healthcare here in the UK) who is really nice, understanding, and empathetic.....but admits there's not a lot he can do for me. So we have to look elsewhere and that is where I have found answers and treatments that are much more successful!

To find a doctor that practices environmental medicine and who will understand your illness and most likely order some of the tests I suggested you can use this website http://www.aaemonline.org.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Hi Ena here, I too have multiple food sensitivities diagnosed in an allergy centre about 12 years ago. (Unfortunately through withdrawal of N.H.S. funding that center is long since closed.) I am relatinvely symptom free nowadays but I respond to you because you mention swift reactions to foods. I was a particularly fast reactor (making my testing rather easier for the nurses) and mostly would react to many foods within very few minutes and in some cases even seconds.
It is not too surprising to have swift reactions if only just because you are sensitive to that particular food.
Your mention of beef and the associated milk and cheeses etc make me wonder if you have seen or considered obtaining a list of 'Food Families'.
Given one when I left the Allergy center, I was simply amazed at which foods are in the same families and therefor had to be treated as such when trying to eliminate foods from ones diet.
For example, to pick one food only as an example,
Beef (gelatine, suet,) Veal, Goat (cheese, milk)
milk, (butter, cheese, lactose, dried milk, yoghurt)
Sheep, (mutton lamb)
ALL IN THE SAME FAMILY> Eating one of them is the same as eating any one of the others.
If you knew that already then hopefully you have have considered 'families' already. If not then I feel it is certainly something which might help you.
All the best. Ena

Hi Aaron, I recently found out about a vegan diet that is helping me significantly with the multiple sclerosis disease I have. It is the Hallelujah Diet - www.hacres.com. It is vegan (no meat, no dairy, no refined/processed food and 85% raw, 15% cooked). My husband (who doesn't have any health problems) and I have been on it for 4 1/2 months. Check the website out. It has a lot of valuable information on truth vs. fiction regarding the foods we eat and how they impact our body.