Recently I am unable to drink/eat milk products, including hard cheese. Is adult milk allergy possible?

My father about three years ago developed the same problem. I know that it is uncommon for adults to develop this kind of allergy. Yet, we cannot eat cheese, and I know that there is very little lactose in hard cheese such as cheddar. The only snag we have found in tracking the problem down is that it is more common for adults to develop lactose intolerance than milk allergy. It is virtually impossible to find anything on milk allergy in adults. Is it even possible. This problem, whatever it is, is brand new for me, and about three years old for my father. Any suggestions. We are at a loss.

You are correct that it would be very, very uncommon. I was able to find a case report of an adult onset cow's milk protein allergy but it was from 1996 and isn't accessible online, so I haven't read it and don't know how good it is. Here is the citation in case you are interested in tracking it down or in passing it along to your physician:

Levy FS, Bircher AJ, Gebbers JO. Adult onset of cow's milk protein allergy with small-intestinal mucosal IgE mast cells. Allergy. 1996 Jun;51(6):417-20.

Your best bet, assuming you haven't done this already, would be to find a good allergist or gastroenterologist with an interest in this area of the field. Even if you've already tried one, a second opinion never hurts.

Good luck!

There are some OTC meds for people that are lactose intolerant. I have the same issues, but I can have a limited amount of dairy products before my stomach lets me know it's had enough. Try these products. I hear they work really well.

i have recently begun having problems in my adult life with dairy too. i also have rosacea and i thought maybe that had something to do with it. i used to eat cheese constantly. now, when i eat cheese, my face flares up and gets very hot and sweaty. when i drink milk, i get an extremely upset stomach. it's really getting on my nerves becuz cheese is my absolute favorite food.
i did some research on it, and i am allergic to the acid levels in hard cheeses. maybe that's what you are allergic to also

I have the same problem, I drink a little organic milk from time to time but mostly rice milk. Now that I've been drinking it for a while, I can not tell the difference.

Do you have a typical allergic reaction when you eat dairy? Have you tried lactose free milk to rule out lactose intolerance?

I've done a lot of research on food allergies since my youngest was born ten months ago (he started breaking out in hives the very first time I nursed him) and I've learned that, yes, adults can develop new allergies. It's usually triggered by an infection or some other stress.

Most likely you are lactose intolerate.