I NEED TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT’S IN EVERYTHING I EAT... NI STUDENT ON LIVING WITH A FOOD ALLERGY
Niamh Gorman (21), from Belfast, is a student in Liverpool. She is lactose intolerant.
“I am currently in third year at university studying law. For a long time, I had suffered from episodes of severe pain in my stomach. When it was really bad, I would have to lie down. I also found myself running to the toilet a lot,” she says.
“I had a friend who was lactose intolerant and she saw what I was going through and recommended I get checked out. In January this year I went to my GP and explained my symptoms. They did some blood tests and eventually it came back that I was allergic to lactose.
“This means I can’t have anything in my diet with dairy in it.
“So I can’t have milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, butter and lots of different sauces which are made from dairy products.”
Niamh says it has been a difficult transition learning to adjust to a new regime: “Especially living as a student, you just want to come in at the end of the day and stick something in the oven which you can cook quickly.
“I can’t just do that — so I have to cook most of my meals from scratch. I will make
❝ I think restaurants should do more for food allergies and highlight things on their menus
things like chicken burgers, chicken curry and bolognese.
“I need to know all the ingredients which go into everything I eat.
“At the beginning when I was first diagnosed, I hated making a fuss so if we were out for a meal with friends, I would just eat whatever they had and suffer the consequences. This could mean hours of rolling around in severe pain, but I was too self-conscious to speak up about it. As I got more used to the idea, I started to look into it more and realise the importance of taking care of myself. That’s when I started reading labels and cooking properly for myself.”
Niamh admits it isn’t easy, but it is manageable and better than being unwell.
“Eating out is difficult and I have to ask a lot of questions as not everywhere is good about explaining things on the menu,” she says.
“I have never ended up in hospital due to my condition, but if I accidentally eat something with lactose in it, I will have to go to bed for several hours and lie down in chronic pain. It is horrible.
“Now when I am out grocery shopping, I will take my time and read all the labels properly. Some shops are good at labelling dairy-free products and I will opt for those. I have to have dairy-free chocolate which is great as I don’t have to go without chocolate.”
She says the worst offender before she was diagnosed was lasagne.
“I would eat it and then end up really unwell for ages. Now I steer clear from things which have a lot of sauces.
“There is no one in my family who sufferers from the allergy so it was new to us all, but talking to people, I have found it is more and more common.
“It is now just something I have to live with. I would encourage anyone who suffers from problems when they eat to go to their GP and get tested. It is better to have the knowledge than to suffer in silence.
“There are lots of different types of allergies.
“Some people get violently ill and end up in hospital — some have just a little stomach-ache. I am somewhere in between the two.”
She adds: “I think restaurants in particular should do more for food allergies and highlight things on their menus. That way people would be more inclined to speak up about their allergies.”