Teenagers

Illness left me Lactose Intolerant by Abigail Andrews

About four years ago, I went through a stage when I was constantly sick and having stomach aches whenever I ate and eventually it still happened even when I didn’t eat – I just had to smell food!

I was already under care at Sheffield Children’s Hospital for an underlying condition which I have suffered with since the age of three. They were investigating this for quite some time when my mum noticed something. I had been put on a probiotic yogurt diet, but the vomiting didn’t to seem to stop, in fact it got worse. The doctors said I was simply not having enough and increased the amount I needed to eat, but this made me feel even worse.

In the end my Mum suggested that I cut out all dairy. A week later the vomiting had stopped, I wasn’t bloated any more and I began losing weight.

And the cause? It turned out that as a result of the four lots of chemotherapy and six lots of radiotherapy I had had to have left me with an intolerance to lactose.

I am now a student at Hallam University in Sheffield doing Hospitality Business Management with Culinary Arts and I am always creating new dishes suitable for my diet. I also tie it into my coursework as often as I can to raise more awareness of lactose intolerance, especially for the hotel and restaurant industry.

I hope my story offers some advice to people who may be going through or have been through a similar problem to mine.