Allergies are nothing to sneeze at—they can have a very serious impact on health and impair your daily life. Not being able to eat certain foods, worrying whenever you’re around plants or animals, it can all be exhausting. However, some people who aren’t allergic to anything might not truly understand how uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing your struggles are.
Redditor u/ThrowAway44228800 asked the AITA online group for an impartial verdict regarding an intense spot of family drama. She shared how she called her parents out in public because they wouldn’t take her dairy allergy seriously, believing they’d already cured it when she was younger. You’ll find the full story as you scroll down. Oh, and keep in mind that dairy allergy and lactose intolerance aren’t the same, but more on that below.
We reached out to the author of the story, u/ThrowAway44228800, and she was kind enough to answer our questions. Scroll down for our interview with her, including a positive update regarding her parents.
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Allergies are nothing to joke about. While some of them simply make you feel uncomfortable, others can threaten your health and life
Image credits: valeriygoncharukphoto / envato (not the actual photo)
A woman with a dairy allergy opened up about how her parents tried to pressure her to eat food she can’t tolerate
Image credits: Aaaarianne / envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: ThrowAway44228800
“It’s annoying that dairy-free things are always marked up in stores and restaurants”
We asked the author of the post for an update on how the incident affected her relationship with her parents. Thankfully, things are going well.
“My parents and I are on good terms now. They’re nice people after all,” u/ThrowAway44228800 opened up to We.
“I went back to university and have continued living my dairy-free life,” she said, explaining that things are now fully back to normal.
We was also curious about the advice the author would give anyone else who may have a dairy allergy. She was happy to share a few insights.
“I can’t speak to everybody, but I would say that it’s annoying that dairy-free things are always marked up in stores and restaurants,” she said, highlighting one issue.
“I understand the ingredients may be more expensive, but it’s annoying to have it priced like a preference when it isn’t,” u/ThrowAway44228800 said.
“I’d advise people to be careful reading ingredients so that you don’t accidentally make yourself sick.”
Dairy allergy and lactose intolerance are two different things, even though there is some overlap
The long and short of it is that nobody should be forced into situations that activate their allergies. If someone’s allergic to dairy, you don’t try to guilt-trip them into eating it. If someone’s allergic to cats or dogs, you don’t force them to pet them (even though they’re super cute).
If someone’s got hay fever, you don’t make them frolic in fields full of flowers. If someone has a serious nut allergy, you don’t make them taste foods that may have nuts in them. Some allergies may be ‘just’ unpleasant (itchy throat, sneezing, coughing), but others are so serious you may actually lose your life if you’re not rushed to the hospital ASAP.
Of course, life isn’t all tidy and neat: you will inevitably end up in situations where you’re around allergens. You might accidentally eat something prepared by your dinner host that has substances you’re allergic to, or they might have a pet and forgot to tell you about it. It’s important that you have some medicine on hand, just in case. (Those of us who have numerous allergies know how important this is!)
It’s important to note that dairy allergy and lactose intolerance are not the same thing. What can complicate things a bit is that some people use the term ‘dairy-sensitive’ to refer to both dairy allergy and lactose intolerance.
Meanwhile, others use ‘lactose sensitivity’ to refer to lactose intolerance. What’s even more confusing is that some people who get allergy or intolerance symptoms don’t actually have any intolerances or allergies but are simply sensitive to the proteins in dairy.
WebMD explains that lactose intolerance is a digestive problem. It can cause you a ton of discomfort, sure, but it’s not actually dangerous. However, a dairy allergy is an immune system problem that can “sometimes cause serious reactions.”
This allergy can have a lot of uncomfortable symptoms and, in some cases, they can be so severe you need to be rushed to the emergency room
In short, people with dairy allergy are allergic to proteins in milk and other dairy foods. Meanwhile, individuals with lactose intolerance have trouble digesting lactose (with an ‘o’), a sugar in those foods, because they lack the enzyme lactase (with an ‘a’).
Fortunately, both conditions are manageable. But in the case of a dairy allergy, you’ll have to be much more careful about what it is that you eat. If you suspect that you may have an intolerance or allergy, it is best to see your doctor and get tested.
It is possible to be both lactose intolerant and allergic to dairy at the same time. Dairy allergy symptoms can range from mild (for example, rashes) to severe (trouble breathing and even losing consciousness).
Lactose intolerance is more common in adults with Asian, African, or Native American heritage and less common with people from a northern or western European background, according to WebMD.
Meanwhile, dairy allergy is very common among children, with around 2 in every 100 children in the United States allergic to milk, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Some overlapping symptoms of lactose intolerance and dairy allergy include nausea, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, gas, and bloating.
Dairy allergy can also lead to rashes, hives, swelling of the lips and face, wheezing, tightness in the throat, trouble swallowing, and sometimes even blood in the person’s poop.
If you have trouble breathing after eating dairy, you need to get emergency treatment. Immediately! If you don’t have epinephrine to inject yourself with on hand, you will need to go to the emergency room.
Do you have any serious allergies, dear Pandas? Do you have any trouble tolerating lactose, or do you have an allergy to dairy? How have these conditions affected your daily life? Let us know in the comments below.
Most internet users were appalled by what they read. They expressed their support for the author
A handful of people saw the situation from a very different perspective
