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Am I Lactose-intolerant?
dodos
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My stomach has been upset for the past month, and it's taken me forever to try and figure it out. I've eliminated one part of my diet almost every day and it wasn't until recently that I figured out what it was.
Milk. Skim milk. I've been drinking it all my life, and lots of it. In fact, over the summer my parents had to get 2 gallons a week for our family. Anyways, whenever I drink milk I get very unpleasantly and unnaturally gassy. It's awful. While I've tried gas things, nothing has worked. Today I bought some Organic milk in hopes that it was just the type of brand of milk I'm drinking since I've moved into a new apartment this year and am drinking midwestern milk instead of Californian milk. Anyways, it didn't help and I still have a sour stomach.
Can lactose-intolerance happen at any time? Should I see a doctor? Should I try and buy the lactose-free milk from the same store and see if it gives me the same symptoms?
Milk. Skim milk. I've been drinking it all my life, and lots of it. In fact, over the summer my parents had to get 2 gallons a week for our family. Anyways, whenever I drink milk I get very unpleasantly and unnaturally gassy. It's awful. While I've tried gas things, nothing has worked. Today I bought some Organic milk in hopes that it was just the type of brand of milk I'm drinking since I've moved into a new apartment this year and am drinking midwestern milk instead of Californian milk. Anyways, it didn't help and I still have a sour stomach.
Can lactose-intolerance happen at any time? Should I see a doctor? Should I try and buy the lactose-free milk from the same store and see if it gives me the same symptoms?
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I had the same problem as you, except a more extreme case of lactose intolerance, once I started drinking milk that actually has the enzyme added, all problems disappeared. It's a little more expensive, and tastes slightly sweeter, but other than that, its just like drinking normal milk.
Another benefit of lactose free milk is that it tends to have a much longer shelf life. I highly recommend either lucerne brand reduced lactose milk (Safeway dairy brand), or Lactaid Lactose free milk, I've tried and liked both.
Yeah there are pills you can take. Lactose is a sugar and they make these pills called lactase enzyme pills that can help you to a degree digest them.
But as far as i know you'll always have problems with it, just a varying degree.
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/lactoseintolerance_ez/
They work for both. They even have a chewable variety with vanilla mixed in.
Up to you to make the call, but a good starting ground would be to either cut milk completely out of your diet or try the tablets to see if they subside.
You can get the pills that you take before ingesting something lactose heavy. Problem for me is I have to take 3-4 of them for a glass of milk so I've just switched to soy.
Yogurt is usually okay because it still has the enzymes in it to break down the lactose. Lot's of cheese also has it added back in. I can eat some amount of cheese, but large amounts will make me ill.
I developed Lactose Intolerance over the summer at 25 and it's been a challenge finding the right stuff to avoid the symptoms. The best you could do is buy the lactaid pills and take a bunch before you eat or drink lots of dairy. Just one is not enough for me I found out, even with a single glass of milk.
I've actually switched to Rice Milk since my mother can get them by the crate load, and it tastes rather good with cereal, and other things. Soy is too much of a change in taste to switch to, but lactose free milk is good like others have said.
The best thing sadly is just avoid dairy.
And what will I do to get the necessary calcium I need (along with protein) from taking dairy out of my diet?
Also: can aspartame give gas? It's an artificial sweetener.
Some types of sugar alcohols can have nasty effects on your system. Have you introduced anything like sugar free candy lately?
The wife and I ran into a night where we had some and were almost ready to drive to the hospital because we both had a such a bad reaction
And bowen, why might I not have lactose-intolerence if small amounts of cheese don't affect me (as of current knowledge)? From a link posted in this thread it said some lactose based edibles could affect me some might not.
I'm somewhat lactose-intolerant myself, and I do find that cheese (particularly aged cheddar or other such varieties) doesn't really bother me unless I eat a huge amount.
pasteurized milk will probably affect you the most because the enzymes that aid in the digestion get removed as part of the process.
For Yogurt stick with "live" types that still have the good for you bacteria in them
For cheese just try cutting down to a smaller amount to see if that helps.
Should I avoid drinking it?
I myself am lactose intolerant (hooray genetics!), and that is what I do.
The part in milk that is bad is Lactose the sugar which gets broken down properly in normal people, poorly in those intolerant.
Yogurt has varying degrees of lactose depending in the brand and the culture they use to make it; yogurt cultures are proprietary, so you'll find it differs by brand.
Lactaid (TM) is an off the shelf, fairly cheap pill to take to help with milk digestion. Different brands come in all flavours and colors. It's an incredibly common problem, and can show up at any point. They even make milk with the problem cured for you, as someone mentioned.
You'll probably find (just due to cost and availiability) that you naturally wean yourself off of milk, I'd recommend switching up to something healthy like fruit smoothies instead of pop, which will help keep those vitamins flowing. Calcium tums or a multivitamin will top you up on your calcium needs- you don't actually need all that much, and surprisingly the calcium in milk isn't easily processed by the body, so it doesn't take very much supplement to offset an assload of dairy.
Diagnosis as simple, buy the pills and pop a few while you have a big ol glass or two of milk. With cookies. Because cookies are delicious. If you don't have the issue anymore, you can be pretty sure of the cause. The doc is going to do the same thing, just with a sampler size bottle of pills- they're completely safe either way, so don't worry about side effects if you aren't actually intolerant.
That'll actually help you digest milk, to a small degree. This is the chemical added to foods and drinks to boost your calcium intake and to strengthen bones and solidify tooth enamel. It's the same stuff in mouth wash that helps fix your teeth if you have decalcification.
Also - thank you everyone for your contribution and help towards this. It is very appreciated and I am glad I have these forums to turn to in need of help and information.
If memory serves, I believe i've seen it at the CVS' around here (Northern VA) - and pretty much any major grocery store will have the Lactaid milk and possibly even the pills also.
Try not to get too worried - as Sarcastro said, it's an incredibly common problem, and very easily controlled one way or another
For me, I had occasional extreme discomfort, and it kind of hit me one day when I made myself a glass of chocolate milk and it make me feel like I was gonna barf. So I thought "huh, maybe all of these problems are simply due to lactose intolerance."
So what I did was go for 1 week without consuming any dairy. Perfect, no problems, nice & happy. Then I downed a glass of Lactaid milk -- OK, smooth sailing, I seem to be OK. Next day, I drink a glass of regular milk. OH GOD THE GAS THE BLOAT OW OW OW. Well it wasn't that bad, but it was definitely the proof I was looking for.
Ever since, I've cut most dairy out of my life and I'm generally happier and healthier. More regular, less stinky, etc.
Look, unless you get non-cow milk, you're never going to really drink milk again. Lactaid milk has the enzyme lactase added, and Lactaid tablets will also help, but only with the extremes -- you will still get bloaty and gassy and probably ruin any dates you're on if you have a glass of milk with the meal. However, it won't hurt as much and it won't affect you as much on the other side.
I've never been much of a milk drinker, nor an ice cream lover, and after I discovered I was lactose intolerant, it all made sense why I wasn't all that into it as a kid. I enjoyed cereal dry. I was happy with a small portion of ice cream. See, the deal is that human milk is relatively low in lactose -- it's somewhat similar to goat's milk, actually. The high amount of lactose in cow's milk makes it taste sweeter and, arguably, better, but keep in mind that it's intended for baby cows, not people.
Naturally, as animals age, they become less capable of handling their mother's milk, both as part of the weaning process and as part of just aging. A large portion of the human adult population is lactose intolerant without knowing it, actually, because they have mild symptoms or typically only consume dairy in the form of cheese, which naturally has less lactose in it thanks to the "cheesing" process.
So, cut out the glasses of milk, or look for a non-cow substitute if you MUST have it. For coffee, use a non-dairy creamer.
What I do to compensate is use heavy cream for almost everything. If I'm making mashed potatoes, or a food recipe that calls for milk, I use cream. I use heavy cream in my coffee instead of half&half. Why? I need less to enjoy the flavor, and the flavor itself is more rich. So I need less to feel satisfied, and by consuming a lot less I don't run into any serious problems. I pop a Lactaid pill if I'm eating a lot of melty cheese (like pizza), don't worry if i'm snacking on a bit of cheese with wine, and DEFINITELY pop a pill if I'm going to have any ice cream. No glasses of milk for me, either, although I do occasionally sip from the carton of heavy cream ;D
The reason I like milk so much is because it's a great source of vitamins and protein, I don't know how else to get those (as easy). I do eat chicken and the like but...I've drank milk all my life. It's been a big part of my diet from little guy to college guy. Any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate.
I don't eat all that much ice-cream, and cream used in coffee has always given me gas in the past. Huh...guess I should've realized it sooner.
Similar-ish thing - I haven't really drank milk in a long time, but during college they opened a new pasta stand thing in one of the cafeterias, and I started getting chicken alfredo with a really thick creme sauce for lunch, and then started having really bad stomach problems... it took a (far too long) couple of weeks before I was like "huh, maybe I should, you know, stop eating that and see if it fixes it". And, what do you know, it did. Cheese and ice cream-type stuff is still fine for me, but heavy creme sauces hit my soft underbelly for massive damage.
I think your best bet in terms of milk would be switching to whatever soy/rice/lactic acid- milk you think tastes the best; I had a friend who would take the pills before eating things like pizza, but you probably don't want to have to do that every night to drink milk (though more because it'll be an extra expense & if you forget / run out you're in for owies, I doubt there's any long-term problem with taking the supplements)
All I've really had to do is stop having hot chocolates, which makes me pretty sad. I subsituted soy milk in for my porridge (which tastes alright if you add a bit of brown sugar), and I don't eat pizza or anything else that has a lot of melted cheese. A little bit of hard cheese is alright, and a very small amount of squishy cheeses if I can. Never any cream of cheese sauces though, they make me feel awful.
I might try this Lactaid stuff myself - I'd really like to be able to have a decent cup of hot chocolate (does not work with soy milk!)
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Peanut Butter is just ground peanuts+oil. You'll be fine.
It should actually just be peanuts if you're not buying trash. The oil is the oil from the peanuts
I mean unless milk is the bond that holds your family together.
Its not so bad anways, milk is disgusting(:-P)