I think I'm becoming lactose intolerant

Decius

I've always had problems with my GI tract, and pains in my guts. It's even been suggested by a GP I frequent IBS, which from my understanding is a bullshit catch-all for "we don't know what the fuck is wrong with you other then your bowels do like you." However I think I've come to a recent revelation as to this problem.

In recent months I've been finding that some of this pain is related to my consumption of dairy products. I've been noticing that whenever I consume milk or ice cream I get pain in my guts, and the...aftereffects of those pains. I just finished a small bowl of ice cream about 30 minutes ago, and I can already feel my digestive tract registering it's protest.

So I ask you am I becoming lactose intolerant? I can still eat cheese and yogurt without any issue (thank god), which I understand many lactose intolerant people can still consume due to what they consist of. Do I go back to the doctors who have failed me so often in the past to properly diagnose this problem? Should I get a referral to a gastroenterologist?

tehmarken

You might have developed a lactose allergy like my girlfriend did.

Different yogurts and cheese don't have lactose in them, so that explains those straight out (I know cheddar for sure, and yogurts with active cultures like Dannon Bio).

I'd probably check with your doctor and ask for some tests. It's better to have scientific proof for things like an intolerance or possible allergy than just getting diagnosed based on symptoms.

Mom2Kat

You very well could be. When I started getting lactose intolerant I would get horrible gas pain in my upper back just below where the scapula come together. (yes I felt it more to the back of my torso) After a few months of this, I noticed this seemed to happen whenever I had milk with dinner. Then came the day that I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and after an hour I spent the next 6 hours on the toilet with a bucket in my lap.

I then (stupidly) tested my theory a few weeks later with a small juice glass of milk. 1/2 hour later spent 2 hours in the bathroom. I talked to my doctor about this and then mentioned that I seemed to be able to eat cheese, sour cream, and yogourt. She told me that in those things the lactose is partially broken down. Now I take a Lactase pill or two before milk or ice cream and it worked. Unfourtunatley it seems to be getting worse as I am finding that I may need to start having one before lots of cheese or sour cream. Or its explosive poop time.

DodgeBlan

As someone who could have written your OP verbatim, the only thing that actually got my diagnosed with any other than 'shitty bowel syndrome' was a colonoscopy. Even this was pretty useless as all they told me was that I am lactose intelorant.

So I ask you am I becoming lactose intolerant? I can still eat cheese and yogurt without any issue (thank god), which I understand many lactose intolerant people can still consume due to what they consist of. Do I go back to the doctors who have failed me so often in the past to properly diagnose this problem? Should I get a referral to a gastroenterologist?

The way this works is the more milk products you consume the more lactase (the enzyme that digests lactose) production goes on inside you. This is true for everyone, even lactose intelorant people. This is also why chinese people tend to be lactose intolerant (also genetics probably i guess).

So your increase in suffering could be due to a period of decreased milk consumption or it could just be random. Be aware though that if you do take the steps to cut milk out of your diet the times you do indulge in milkshakes or whatever will cause you more discomfort than they did before. For me though I feel a lot healthier since I cut milk out and the sacrifices are worthwhile.

I've had no luck with a large variety of specialists. If stool and blood samples and even colonoscopys turn up nothing the only course of action left to the specialists is an exclusion diet. This could result in you finding out something even worse like you are gluten intolerant (yay!) or more likely will just be inconclusive.

Decius

DodgeBlan wrote: »

So your increase in suffering could be due to a period of decreased milk consumption or it could just be random. Be aware though that if you do take the steps to cut milk out of your diet the times you do indulge in milkshakes or whatever will cause you more discomfort than they did before. For me though I feel a lot healthier since I cut milk out and the sacrifices are worthwhile.

That actually could be the problem with current digestive pains. For the past 3 months I've been having smoothies for breakfast instead of cold cereal. The cold cereal was my only ingestion of lactose during the day, save for the periodic bowl of delicious ice cream. My smoothies contain mostly fruit (16 oz), with some juice (4 oz) and yogurt (4 oz). So cutting milk out of my diet, albeit unintentionally, could be the cause of this.

I guess I should get my ass to a doctor (no pun intended) and get to the bottom (once again) of these problems finally.

Gdiguy

DodgeBlan wrote: »

The way this works is the more milk products you consume the more lactase (the enzyme that digests lactose) production goes on inside you. This is true for everyone, even lactose intelorant people. This is also why chinese people tend to be lactose intolerant (also genetics probably i guess).

Just to correct the genetics of this - lactose tolerance in adulthood is purely genetic, and is actually a mutation that occurred early on in the European lineage (and I believe one other culture in Asia - Mongolia maybe?). In most people, the gene controlling lactase production turns off in adults; in mutants (Europeans), the gene isn't turned off properly, which leads you to be able to consume milk throughout adulthood.

There's some vague suggestions that there's some sort of feedback mechanism there (where if you don't drink milk for years the gene will get turned off anyway), but at the core it's purely genetic (to the point where it's one of a small handful of genetic traits that are easily testable at a single position in the genome)

Paladin

How recent has it been this troublesome? Did you have a GI tract infection recently?

Are you eating fiber/drinking fluids?

Lay off the dairy but eat normally otherwise - eating times and everything. See if you still feel pain, especially after a fatty meal.

tehmarken

Yah, the lactose intolerance / milk allergy for people of African descent runs about 70%+ My girlfriend falls into that category, while I'm in the superhuman scandinavian-descended milk-chugging master race.

Japanese also seem to have a very low occurence of lactose intolerance, although the amount of adults consuming dairy in Japan may be very low. But they sure do sell a ton of Camembert cheese here.

DodgeBlan

Gdiguy wrote: »

DodgeBlan wrote: »

The way this works is the more milk products you consume the more lactase (the enzyme that digests lactose) production goes on inside you. This is true for everyone, even lactose intelorant people. This is also why chinese people tend to be lactose intolerant (also genetics probably i guess).

Just to correct the genetics of this - lactose tolerance in adulthood is purely genetic, and is actually a mutation that occurred early on in the European lineage (and I believe one other culture in Asia - Mongolia maybe?). In most people, the gene controlling lactase production turns off in adults; in mutants (Europeans), the gene isn't turned off properly, which leads you to be able to consume milk throughout adulthood.

There's some vague suggestions that there's some sort of feedback mechanism there (where if you don't drink milk for years the gene will get turned off anyway), but at the core it's purely genetic (to the point where it's one of a small handful of genetic traits that are easily testable at a single position in the genome)

I did not know this, that is pretty cool.

I am pretty sure though that there is some sort of feedback mechanism due to my ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE.

wmelon

Another thing to consider is that you may also have celiac's disease. It also manifests as "gut pain" commonly and the villi in your intestines that it causes your body to attack are also the parts that secrete the lactase that breaks down lactose.

Not something to be super scared about, but it's certainly something to discuss with your doctor.