Milk causing throat swelling: After having a... - Thyroid UK

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Milk causing throat swelling

leighma81 profile image
35 Replies

After having a weird sensation that my throat and tongue were swelling a few weeks back it has happened again tonight and I can finally link it to drinking milk! There is no physical swelling but it is a very strange sensation that is freaking me out and kicks me into panic attack mode.

I have decided to try the 5 day juice detox that is supposed to help cleanse the thyroid and no more milk for me!!

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leighma81 profile image
leighma81
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35 Replies
katz profile image
katz

Hi, I'm curious to know more about the 5 day juice detox - probably a benefit to most ailments?!

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to katz

I've read a few articles about it and they say that it helps cleanse the thyroid but apparently makes you very weak. Because I have never detox'd before they say to only do 3 days. So far this morning I have had a glass of white grape juice and I am starving!! Because I only want to absorb my meds better and not lose weight I am going to have small meals of fruit and veg throughout the day but no tea, milk or red meats for me. Will keep you updated

geishagirl257 profile image
geishagirl257 in reply to leighma81

Hi, it sounds like to have an allergy to milk. Thyroid problems are very often linked to adrenal issues and autoimmune conditions. When both are weak then you can come allergic to food you were 'okay' with before. Also not sure about the juice detox you are on but grape juice isn't really the way to go IMO. it's loaded with sugar so you are starving because your blood sugar has crashed. If you are going to do a detox,I recommend 'juicefeasting'. You need to be predominately consuming 'green juices' made from leafy greens (rotate things like spinach, kale, book choi, mustard greens, leafy sprouts etc) and celery, cucumbers with fruits - apples, pears etc (liquidised and juice squeezed out) and at least 32 oz as a 'meal replacement' x about 4 drinks. The idea is not to starve but to fill your body with easily digestable nutrients. I've done it twice - once for 14 days, the other for 25 days. A week is great as well though. You will feel really good afterwards. Please research as you don't want t make your health worse! Good luck. x

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to geishagirl257

Hi, I have never been allergic to anything and so I don't know the warning signs. The juice the detox articles tell you to drink are orange, apple, grape and pineapple; all very high in sugar. I think I am just going to give myself a break from milk and tea and concentrate on healthy fruit juices and cleaning up my diet. Its hard because I have never eaten veg before now but I suppose I have no choice but to start!

marram profile image
marram in reply to leighma81

May be a silly question but if you have never eaten veg, what on earth do you eat? I have eaten meat all my life but I simply cannot imagine a meal without veg! Even before the '5-a-day' adverts I was eating much more than even 5 a day!

I don't know how old you are, but when I was a child, meat was rationed so we lived on potatoes and veg with just a smidgin of meat - the ration was minute, I think a burger would probably have used up the best part of a week's ration of proper meat as it went by price - 1/2d (one shilling and twopence or 6p in today's money, it doesn't sound much but you could have bought a small roast beef joint between four as it was the cheapest, and make it last three days with plenty of potatoes which were not rationed), then you could have ham or bacon 4oz per person per week, butter was 2oz per person per week (one oz is 28 grams), but fruit was not rationed - there was just hardly any of it! I never tasted a banana until I was three and apparently I hated itwhen I did taste one, and my poor mum had queued for an hour to get one banana! Most people grew veg in their back gardens or on balconies etc to supplement their rations. As you can imagine, obesity was not a problem.

I remember a 'Steak and Kidney pie' which my mum made, and my dad picked up a crumb of kidney and showed it to us. My brother yelled 'Relax, everyone, Dad's found the kidney!!'

Sorry about the trip down memory lane! Whether you wanted it or not!!

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to marram

I am 31 and have only ever eaten mash, chips or Tinned carrots with my meals. I have been eating children's meals mostly, chicken nuggets and chips, sausage and mash, etc. If probably explains a lot of my health problems but its a psychological block telling me I hate it before I have tried it.

My partner eats all kinds of veg and I try to cook more for him but never end up eating it myself. He has even tried hiding veg under my mash!

I wish I could eat better but I don't know where to start.

marram profile image
marram in reply to leighma81

I guess from this you were introduced to 'fast' food early on, since you term them 'children's meals'. In my day 'children's meals' were bread and milk when ill, or just smaller versions of 'Adult Meals'!

My experience with the banana shows that we can't always overcome our foodie taboos. I do eat them now but they have to be 'just right' - not under-ripe, not over-ripe, a certain number of spots on them, and not a single bruise in sight. Not awkward then! The rejects get eaten by my husband.

There is no doubt that eating like that you will get more health problems as you get older, I'm not trying to scare you, I suspect you are probably very much aware of that. Most people are OK until a certain age (late 40s maybe) and then their diet starts to tell on them. Have you considered the 'food clinic' on Channel 5? It could be a bit of a fun thing and a way of starting to break down taboos.

BTW, are you sure the throat thing is nothing to do with your thyroid? Many people on here have throat trouble, I used to struggle to swallow when I was over-active and even now sometimes although my thyroid has gone, I get sore throats and occasionally I go to swallow and nothing happens, the food/pill/whatever just sits in my mouth doing nothing!

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to marram

Very possibly another symptom of my thyroid but it gets worse at certain times. There is still so much I am trying to learn about and I am a worrier so most of the minor things I tend to freak out about when I really shouldn't!

katz profile image
katz in reply to leighma81

I will be very interested to know how successful the detox is for you.

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to katz

Hi katz, well today I have had 6 glasses of grape juice (2 cartons) and am not very hungry but have eaten a banana and handful of nuts. I am feeling very bloated and have peed most of the day but hopefully tonight I will sleep! Will keep you posted

katz profile image
katz in reply to leighma81

Hope you have a good night's rest and wake feeling refreshed and ready for your second day of detox.

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to katz

What an awful night... Woke 4 times, had night sweats and have the worst sore throat ever. Had a headache from 6pm too but that has eased now. So so tired but work to get to. Will persevere for another day and hope it gets worse before it gets better :0(

katz profile image
katz in reply to leighma81

Hope you feel better as the day goes on !!

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to katz

Well today has been better. Had orange and pineapple juices today and I haven't felt hungry at all. Still got my headache and feel exhausted so lets hope I can get some sleep tonight!

katz profile image
katz in reply to leighma81

Hope the improvement continues.

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to katz

Last night was a slight improvement. Only woke twice but the last time took about 2 hours to fall back to sleep. No night sweats which was good so let's see how the rest of today goes.

katz profile image
katz in reply to leighma81

Glad there has been some improvement - if only minimal. Hope things continue to improve.

katz profile image
katz in reply to leighma81

No recent post from you - hope your detox has proven successful & you are feeling better.

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to katz

Hi katz, well I feel awful! Confused, in pain, exhausted and depressed. Not sure that any of it is because of the detox but I came crashing down on Friday when it took me 10 minutes to work out how to get into my car and I am slowly turning yellow. Have an appointment to see my GP this evening but I'm not holding out much hope x

katz profile image
katz in reply to leighma81

Oh Dear!! Jaundiced appearance can be caused by so many things - my Dad had a blocked bile duct which caused him to turn bright yellow. I do hope that your GP will identify the cause of your symptoms.

marram profile image
marram

Do you drink semi-skimmed or whole milk? They are all homogenised nowadays and that can be a major problem.. I avoid homogenised milk. Skimmed milk is not homogenised as there's not enough fat to spoil its appearance!

But I buy Duchy Originals when I can, apart from being pasteurised for hygiene it is not altered.

I feel that the epidemic of lactose intolerance is due to homogenisation. I have read some studies which suggest that as a possibility. It changes the fat so it is able to enter the bloodstream undigested. Ugh.

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to marram

I usually have semi skimmed milk. I never knew about homogenisation but might look into it a bit more. Thanks for the information

Heloise profile image
Heloise

The casein in milk products causes mucous to form and since our throats are lined with mucous membranes, perhaps that is what is happening and especially if you are rather intolerant to lactose as well.

LindseyPearce profile image
LindseyPearce

Hi leighma81,

I'm no expert on any of this by any means! I would expect upping your intake of fruit and veg will be beneficial and I think trying to find balanced juices that aren't too high in sugars is good advice. However, I did notice the advice from geishagirl257 regarding juices containing green leafy vegetables and just wanted to mention that cabbage, cauliflower, kale, broccoli, spinach, sprouts etc contain something called goitrogens which are known to have a dampening effect on thyroid function. The same is true of pears, peaches, strawberries, soybeans and even peanuts.

Obviously, these foods have lots of good stuff in them too and I don't want to give you another excuse not to eat veg! The advice is not to eat these raw (which of course they would be in juices) and make sure they are thoroughly cooked. It might be worth doing a bit of research into the types of foods to go for to maximise the benefits of your detox without impacting too heavily on your thyroid otherwise you might end up feeling worse than when you started which would be a real shame.

I have found the following sites useful:

thyroiduk.org.uk (under the 'Getting a Diagnosis & Starting Treatment' section)

livestrong.com (search for goitrogen)

womantowoman.com (search for goitrogen)

I hope this has been helpful advice, take care

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to LindseyPearce

Thank you. There is so much to consider. Some articles say strawberries are good and some say they are bad, you just don't know what to believe.

Terricotta profile image
Terricotta

I've found the easiest and least challenging veg to eat for cleansing is in the way of a daily salad containing lots of iceberg lettuce. With this I would suggest adding some chopped tomato (great for vitamin C), celery, cucumber, thinly sliced carrot, a touch of homemade french dressing made from lemon juice or cider vinegar, rather than plain vinegar and add to this some cooked chicken breast. Mix these up in a small bowl so that each mouthful is different and use just a fork. The only thing i would change daily would be the meat: perhaps alternate it with ham (although not too much), or preferably oily fish - sardine, mackerel, salmon. Eat a portion (or two if you like) daily for at least three weeks. Perhaps have a fruit juice for breakfast and something light in the evening with plain rice.

Stay clear of fruit. It contains lots of sugar.

Mmm! I feel a detox coming on myself!

Good luck leighma81!

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to Terricotta

I have got to say that it sound horrible. I have tried lettuce before but really don't like it and I can't eat celery as it tastes awful. The only thing I would eat is grilled chicken!

Kangagirl profile image
Kangagirl in reply to Terricotta

I rather like the sound of that, but not sure I could manage it.

I don't know how relevant this is, as everybody is different. About a year ago I had an intolerance test done, but never really knew how reliable it was as it wasn't one of the expensive ones. Or even if these tests are any use anyway.

Interestingly though it says - among a lot of environmental things I won't list - I am supposed to be intolerant to: Algae (a nutritional supplement but also used as a thickener in many ice creams and shampoos etc), BARLEY flour (not wheat, but since then I've noticed that barley flour or malted barley is in almost every single thing that includes wheat, such as bread, biscuits etc, BEEF, (does that have anything to do with milk intolerance if it isn't caused by lactose I wonder?) Bell peppers, BROCCOLI, CABBAGE (white), duck, LEMON, Lentils, LETTUCE (Radicchio), Ovalbumin (egg white protein, I already knew about this), Runner beans - tragedy, my favourite vegetable - Sallow Thorn, Sesame Seed, Snail (no worries there :-) SPINACH, SUGAR BEET (the main source for sugar production in the UK). I already knew I had big problems with sugar. Sweet Potato.

There are loads of different grasses, tree pollens, (although Hay Fever is about the only thing I DON't seem to get - so far), animal danders and feathers (I had to change from a feather filled duvet to a synthetic one years ago), just about every type of wood known to the human race - hey ho, what am I supposed to do for furniture or make picture frames from - and also very interesting for me Mucor Racemosus, a type of soil fungus. I already suspected I was intolerant to fungal spores, as I was diagnosed many years ago as yeast intolerant and couldn't tolerate anything fermented, or bread for long stretches at a time. The tiniest bit of alcohol floored me - just as well I don't like it anyway - and I had to give up my Marmite habit. Mould spores are all around us in the air anyway, and probably no escaping from them.

I do particularly badly in hot humid conditions and almost died when I lived in Florida for three months. How sad is that - the beaches, the light, and the lovely blue water - sigh... I would still be there if I hadn't become very ill very quickly and had to come back. Later, puzzling over it, the only reason I could think of for being so ill was perhaps all the mould spores around because of the humidity, but I never had any proof, it seemed such a weird inexplicable thing. But it seems the little buggers are in the soil too, probably more so in autumn and winter when everything on the ground here, like leaves etc is wet and rotting, and that is when I always feel worse. Hot and humid there, cold and wet here - you can't win.

Dr Myhill says on her website that some of her patients are never well until they go and live in a warm and dry Mediterranean climate. Some hopes.

Also Trimellitic Anhydride - never heard of it, but it says 'a highly reactive chemical used commonly in the production of paints and plastics. It is also used in the production of dyes, insecticides and polyester resin'. I already knew I was intolerant to household paint, but does this mean artist's acrylics, which I changed to from oils years ago because I couldn't tolerate the solvents? Acrylic paints are made with co-polymer resin. I used to dye a lot of textiles in my art until I started coming out in a rash from them. Seems I mght even be allergic to my own career - pretty good going really.

Anyway, 'food' for thought maybe. I thought it strange that Lemon was the only fruit mentioned, as most fruits disagree with me, especially citrus. Two cartons of fruit juice in a day would just about kill me I think! And I was surprised at the number of vegetables mentioned. Especially gutted about the Runner Beans!

Of course you can talk yourself into or out of just about anything if you try hard enough, so I don't know if any of this is significant. I just thought it was interesting that they hit on some things I already knew about, and also the things that I now know to be not so good for the thyroid, which I didn't know about before.

Good luck with the detox Leighma81, I must say it sounds like a nightmare! But that's just me and my aversion to fruit - I really do like it but it just doesn't like me. And there's that thing of 'we're all different'. I hope it helps you. Let us know how it goes.

Kanga x

maud10 profile image
maud10

My Grandaughter does not like veg but will eat them when cooked together and mashed!

Alternatively you could cook them +puree them to make soup, it's surprising how many you can eat this way.

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to maud10

I might try mashing them. If I mix them with mashed potatoes I might not even taste them. Definitely worth a try, thanks

maud10 profile image
maud10

Try carrot ,swede +potato mash to start with (as you eat carrots already) with sausages, I'm sure that you will get on OK with this. You can then gradually add other veg in small amounts such as broccolli + cauliflower. Do you like gravy on your meal as this will disguise the taste of veg?

leighma81 profile image
leighma81 in reply to maud10

Thanks I will have a look at that. I do like gravy so can smother the swede lol

leighma81 profile image
leighma81

Well 3rd day today and I am dying for a cuppa. Haven't felt hungry at all, really perked up early afternoon and was racing round the office in my hyper state like I used to before I was diagnosed but came crashing down at 5 and am exhausted but my brain won't shut off so I can't get any sleep just yet. I'm not sure whether to start eating again tomorrow or try and last 5 days, they say 3 days if you've never detoxd before and I haven't so really should ease myself into eating 3 small meals tomorrow.

Stephanie3234 profile image
Stephanie3234

Hi, could you please tell me the thyroid detox you're trying? I noticed for the past week when I drink any type of dairy that my throat feels as if its swelling & it's frightening to have the feeling of not being able to breathe. I've had thyroid cancer in 2012 and cancer free now, but im concerned about the swelling..thanks for your help!

It's not natural for humans to drink an animals milk. It makes sense that its causing problems for us.

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