Can milk allergy or lactose intolerance cause abdominal pain?
Abdominal pain is not the most common symptom of milk allergy although it can rarely be. On the other hand, lactose intolerance can cause recurrent abdominal pain. In most cases there is also associated diarrhea or bloating. However, lactose intolerance can present just with symptoms of abdominal pain. Lactose intolerance means that a child or an adult cannot digest the milk sugar: lactose. For more on milk protein allergy click here. What if a cause of the abdominal pain is not found? When no obvious medical cause is found it is referred to as idiopathic or functional abdominal pain of childhood. Once a medical/physical cause has been ruled out, social stressors such as school or family problems (ie: recent family problems such as divorce separation etc) need to be identified as these may be causing the pain. The pattern of pain may be helpful: For example, if a child’s pain is worse during weekdays and absent during weekends and the summer, this is suggestive of school related stress
