Lactose intolerance help

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2004
Lactose intolerance help
3
Wed, 07-11-2007 - 12:56am

I hope I am in the right place here. I am 32yrs old and have known for a few years that I have trouble with dairy. A bowl of ice cream or cereal with cow's milk would send me running for the bathroom about 30 minutes after consumption. I never went to the dr, I just cut straight milk and ice cream out of my diet and was fine. I haven't drank a glass of milk in over 10yrs because I always thought it was gross, but I did like milk with cereal.

In the past months I seem to have gotten worse with dairy though. I used to be able to eat a few pieces of pizza, have cream in my coffee, eat alfredo sauce, etc. but now I am getting sick everytime I have a small amount of any dairy product. There are days that I will cut out all dairy products and I am fine, but then I will try to have a small amount of dairy like a grilled cheese sandwich or 1 piece of cheese pizza and I will be in the bathroom for the next few hours.

I am not sure where to go from here as my dairy issues were never a big problem with me, but now they have gotten much worse. I also am vegetarian so my diet is limited as it is. Now with not being able to have a grilled cheese sandwich or whatever my diet is becoming so limited that I am struggling to find foods that I can eat without feeling sick.

I guess my question is, what do you ladies who have lactose intolerance do? Do you see a dr and is there any meds that you can take so you can tolerate some dairy products. Thanks for any help or advice that you can give.

Heidi


Emma  05/20/09


Tyler 02/17/04


Bayleigh 07/14/98


Always missing my angel Austin    01/30/95-03/19/95


 

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2004
Wed, 07-11-2007 - 9:33am

I'm also lactose intolerant and mine did get worse several years ago.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-04-2005
Thu, 07-12-2007 - 9:32pm

Beanygurl already gave you some great information; the only thing I can add is that Breyers does have a vanilla ice cream that is lactose free.


As she said, lactose intolerance can get worse with age, but a trip to your doctor might be a good idea. You mention that eating dairy sends you to the bathroom, but my symptom is extreme bloating and gas which is very painful.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket














CL of

Photobucket

<
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-11-2005
Wed, 07-18-2007 - 1:06am

Hi I'm Sam, and I have IBS with Lactose intolerance too (and GERD on top of that!) I have to watch how much dairy I take in. Have you tried any of the lactose products: I use the milk and margine. Now if I want a piece of pizza, I have to go without dairy for entire week~~and then I can only eat 2 pieces and then I am in trouble. I use soy coffee creamer~~it's not bad. You could try soy milk too.

You could have the lactose test done, I did it~~within 20 minutes of drinking the lactose, my face turned a very interesting shade of green, and it's a 3 hour test~~wasn't alot of fun for me. I am missing a lot of the enzems that you need to process lactose (there are Native American in my family and my dad was LT too)

~Sam

~~Sam stitches well with others, runs with scissors in her pocket. Cheerful and stupid.