Post by jo on Jan 22, 2016 14:26:29 GMT -5
I’ve been accessing this site for some time now. About a year ago, a family member mentioned milk had 13g of sugar and of course I was like, that can’t be!! – I can’t have sugar and I drink a lot of milk!! I checked the carton to see 13g of sugar? This led to internet searches showing different types of sugars including lactose (milk sugar). I recognized sucrose/ fructose on this list and thought that if there are people who are lactose intolerant then maybe I am sucrose/fructose intolerant? That search brought me to this site and others. Oddly, I have never given the “sugar issue” much thought - I live what I consider to be a very normal life and the fact I could not consume sugar never really bothered me.
In reading the posts, it’s unbelievable how so many of us have had similar experiences! I was able to locate the name of a doctor here in Ontario (thank you for your story Fred) who recently tested me (DNA) and confirmed that I do have the mutation of aldolase b known to cause HFI. I required a referral and my GP was completely supportive of my suspicion that I may have HFI even though he had never heard of it before. He has been my GP for about 30 years and I had never once mentioned to him about my intolerance to sugar. I’m in good health and I guess it never seemed relevant to me.
Bit of background: I am a 52 yr old woman, mother of 2 grown children (normal pregnancies), participated in competitive sports in my childhood to my 20s and still live an active lifestyle. Like many others, I never acquired a taste for anything sweet and fortunately was never forced to eat anything that I didn’t want. Of course, there was a learning curve as an infant/toddler for my parents, and there have been a few slips along the way and that was either by inadvertence or during those silly teen years trying to fit in and consume something I knew shouldn’t! I have two brothers – the older one can eat sugar and the younger one cannot.
Growing up, it never bothered me that I could not consume sugar – I figured it’s just the way it is. Granted I thought it would have been good for me to eat fruits/juices because that is ingrained in all of us that this food group is good for us – but I can’t. I seem to have a pretty good tolerance for most vegetables. People often say they feel bad eating or drinking something sweet in front of me, but as I point out to them – if I were eating/drinking something they did not care for, would it bother them?...of course their reply is ‘no’. I have friends who say I’m so lucky I don’t eat sugar and I’m not tempted by desserts, etc…but then I tell them that I do love potato chips so no one is immune to unhealthy temptations!
I’m very grateful for all the information that has been posted on this site. It’s really something to have finally figured this out. It has also made me aware that there are or can be health implications/problems for those with HFI so it really underscores the importance of sharing information on a relatively unknown condition.
