A Sneaking Suspicion

I have a sneaking suspicion about myself that I am not at all pleased about:

I think I am allergic to cow milk. Yes, even the raw stuff.

Last summer I traded some goat milk for some cow milk from a lady near me. I had a hankering for some raw Jersey milk so I was delighted to do this barter. The following days that I drank her milk were awful. My stomach hurt, I was crampy, and I just didn't feel good. Not having seen this lady's place, her cows, or her milking setup, I assumed this must just be a bad jar of milk and my body was reacting to the bad bacteria. I dumped the milk and promptly forgot about the matter.

On Thursday morning, last week, I realized that I had a serious glut of cow milk in the fridge and something had to be done about that! So that afternoon we made ice cream, yogurt, butter, cheese, and I started drinking lots of milk. I didn't touch my goat milk at all. On Friday morning (yes, the same morning of bedlam in the barn) I found that I didn't want to eat ANYTHING. I felt famished; ravenous. But the very thought of food made me nauseous. I didn't eat anything on Friday, save for a couple of forced bites at dinner which only made me feel worse. Saturday was the same. So was Sunday. Meanwhile, I was drinking all the raw cow milk I could (and just as a side note: the rest of my family has been drinking the milk too and they are 100% fine; so it's not a milk problem. It a "Me" problem). By Sunday night I felt so bad I wanted to cry. My body was starving for food; it needed nutrients but I couldn't bring myself to eat anything. I lost 10 lbs. in 3 days.

Monday morning was rushed and crazy since I was going to the Oregon Raw Milk Producers Assoc. training day with a friend (blog post about that soon), so for my breakfast I tried to have a banana and a glass of cow milk. I couldn't do it. I took two nibbles of that piece of fruit and couldn't do anymore. I couldn't even drink the milk, I felt so terrible. The rest of the day was pretty much the same as I tried to eat lunch and dinner but just couldn't. After four days of not eating, my body was beginning to shut down. 

The wheels in my head started turning on Monday night: Since I was gone all day, I hadn't had any milk... I felt hollow and light headed from my fast, but my stomach didn't hurt anymore. The idea that maybe it was the milk that was affecting me came into my head, but I brushed it aside. I LOVE the taste of Mattie's milk, and the last thing I want to be is allergic to it! The first thing I did this morning was to pour myself some cow milk... I drank half a glass and felt sick to my stomach. It was like someone pushed a button: drink the milk, on comes the pain. I skipped breakfast completely today, but knew I had to somehow get food in myself. 

Then I had a thought: What would happen if I had some goat milk? I poured another glass but this time with Metty and Sombrita's milk, and tentatively drank it. In twenty minutes I felt like a completely different person. The pain was gone, I was once again ravenous for food but this time the thought of food actually felt GOOD. I ate a big lunch with gusto and focus and I'm starting to feel like my old, perky self. 

While I was delighted that the goat milk helped so much, it saddens me to no end at the thought that I may not be able to have cow milk anymore. :( That just seems like a cruel irony; I have two cows and now that I've learned that I love these bovines I find that I can't drink their milk??? Good grief! It surprises me too, since Mattie is A2/A2, and supposedly even people who are sensitive to cow's milk can have A2/A2 milk since it's so similar to goat's milk.

We'll see though... I'm going to take a break from the cow milk and then slowly introduce it back into my diet. I ain't gonna' give it up without a fight.