Milk Allergy Symptoms

Cow’s milk is the most common allergy-causing foods in kids, and it’s the foremost reason of allergic reactions in quite young infants. A milk allergy affects something like two to three percent of children worldwide, and its symptoms and signs may be serious enough to cause worry not just for an allergic child, but also for the child’s mother and father. However the good news is that most kids outgrow the allergy by the age two or three.

Milk allergy allergic reactions usually show a couple of minutes to a few hours after you eat or drink milk - but from time to time it can be days before symptoms and signs occur. These can vary from mild to awful and may consist of wheezing, vomiting, hives and digestive problems. Rarely, milk allergy can cause anaphylaxis — a severe, life-threatening reaction.

Milk Allergy Symptoms
Four types of milk linked allergy symptoms have been recognized: (a) those where symptoms set in rapidly following consumption of cow’s milk. Responses largely affect the skin, causing hives and/or eczema; (b) symptoms set in some hours after eating/drinking cow’s milk. Symptoms of this type are mainly diarrhoea and vomiting; (c) symptoms occur more than twenty hours after dairy product consumption. The key symptom for this type is diarrhoea; (d) long-term symptoms such as eczema, lung troubles, hay fever, bowel health issues, and skin problems such as urticaria.

Symptoms of milk allergy can affect the skin, causing rashes or hives; the digestive tract, causing bloating and diarrhoea, and the respiratory system, causing breathing difficulties, runny nose and asthma.

Here is a fuller listing of symptoms: vomiting, hyperactive behavior, diarrhea, asthma, hives, runny nose, rashes, stuffy nose, ear infections, bloating, watery eyes, eczema, allergic shiners (black around the eyes), recurrent bronchitis, and failure to thrive.

The above symptoms are not restricted to people suffering from milk allergy. As you get to know food allergy symptoms, you will note that many foods that can potentially cause allergic reactions share a variety of general symptoms, such as bloating, rash, and runny nose.

Difference between milk allergy and milk intolerance
In general a serious milk allergy is less common than milk protein intolerance or lactose intolerance. Unlike a milk allergy, intolerance doesn’t implicate the immune system. Milk intolerance causes different symptoms and call for different care than a true milk allergy. Common signs and symptoms of milk protein intolerance or lactose intolerance include digestive problems, such as bloating, gas or diarrhoea, after consuming milk.

Milk allergy prevention and cure
The only way to prevent an allergic reaction is to avoid milk and milk proteins altogether. This can be challenging, as milk is a widespread food ingredient.

Despite your best efforts, you or your child may still come into contact with milk. Medications such as antihistamines may reduce signs and symptoms of a milk allergy. These drugs can be taken after exposure to milk to control an allergic reaction and help relieve discomfort.

If you or your child has a dangerous allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), you may need an emergency injection of epinephrine (adrenaline) and a trip to the emergency room. If you’re at risk of having a critical reaction, you or your child may need to carry injectable epinephrine (such as an EpiPen) at all times.

For many people the issue is long-term problems caused by what is effectively poisoning of the food supply, since cow’s milk is almost impossible to avoid. For example it can be found in chicken, and in sausages - and many other foods that are bought expressly to avoid the chance of contact with dairy products. Perhaps there needs to be a rethink about the advisability of allowing milk to be added to food in general, since some might define it as a poison. Drinking the biological products of another species should not be forced on all of us, surely? It should be the preserve of consenting adults, perhaps.

Tags: health