Is anyone Lactose Intolerance?

[HeartofSteel]

I am suspecting that I may have a slight lactose intolerancy (sp?). For a few weeks now my stomach has been hurting, very tight/overly full and bloated. I hadn't thought much of it until a few days ago when I was reading on bloating online. A few days ago I had a smoothie (it had milk) and my stomach kinda hurt, then later I had a glass of milk with dinner and it was the same way (bloated and hurting), I later had a small cup of yogurt and it made it worse. I usually have cereal for breakfast and it doesn't seem to make it hurt as much but it does seem to bloat a little bit. I tried not eating cereal/dairy for breakfast one day and it did seem to help. Today I had a candy bar and that made it really bad. I also eat pretty fast so I have been trying to figure out if that has anything to do with it but I have always eaten fast so not sure why it would come up now.

[John Boy]

1/2 gallon of Lactose free (fat free ) is about $3.45)

I was advised to use it by my doctor , and ironically breakfast can be doable.

Ironically past breakfast , I am o.k. with Fender's treats.
only suggestion is try it for awhile and stay away from diary products.

[BalooEyes]

I am! I can definitely tell if I had anything dairy. I get really bloated and have an upset stomach and sometimes can get really gassy (yuck!).

I find yogurt hits me worst.

I take calcium supplements and try and eat other things with a lot of calcium to make up for the milk. I eat soy yogurt. I LOVE cheese-less pizza (with pepperoni). Its fun to ask the pizza people for pizza, no cheese, with pepperoni. they get really puzzled. I've had one laugh at me once. I ask for soy milk in my hot chocolate and smoothies.

I agree with John Boy, try avoiding dairy for a couple days and see how you feel. If you are lactose intolerant, you'll probably feel pretty different.

[FoxFireEMT]

Yep, I am but seem to get better or "less" worse as I "age". LOL. When I was in high school I barely ever made it to school on time because I was always turning around to head back home to "use" the bathroom. I'm the totally opposite! Nothing of that sort STAYS in me. I started dropping down levels (i.e. whole milk-2%-1% to skim) with my stomach tolerating each better for a few months but then going back to full blown "UPSET". I have really changed my diet for the better in many ways (for my own goals). I never drank milk ~ hated it, so the lactose free stuff wasn't much of a better selection. Recently someone told me to try the "organic" milk. I have (knock) on wood have not had any "real" problems with it. Like I said I'm not much of a "milk" type drinker anyway so I only eat it on cereal which I eat very little of. Also when I had my surgery for my endometriosis my tolerance of milk products had become better. (Apparently I had some endometriosis on my bowels that didn't help the whole situation. I know it stinks & I hope you are able to find ways to eat the foods you still enjoy with less irriation. I also found a nutritionist can help you find better substitues! Best of luck!

P.s. The organic Milk lasts for a LOOOOOONG time too, if your like me & don't drink much milk its nice!

[oursarge]

I guess I am. I can't drink milk, can't have ice cream or some cheeses. I can eat frozen yogurt though. If I eat regular ice cream I'm sick for days. I'm not supposed to have any sugar so I don't eat anything like that anymore. They have those little pills you can take before you eat something with milk, they never helped me though but then I found out I had a problem with both sugar and lactose so that's why the pills didn't help me.

[SedonaThunder]

I used to be... strange, huh? It took me awhile to figure out but every time I ate yogart or had a milkshake or a cream based soup - I got so bloated... and I too had stay near the bathroom. I took the lactaid pills for a while and started adding a lot more vegetables, fruits and water to my diet and over the years the problems just went away.

[luv2show]

I am! I just take the pills like Sedona said. Mines also going away... wierd! lol

[starkitten]

I am now after my surgery and it stinks :( I can do cheeses just fine, but milk or ice cream no way. I can't leave the house ;)

[AUEquine]

I think I'm developing it as I'm aging. But it's not all the time. It's like my body has to build up a resistence to it. Normaly I'm a huge milk drinking, but when I run out of milk sometimes it can be a few weeks before I make it back to the store for some more. And then when I start drinking it again, it will upset my tummy!
I do find that cereal with milk doesn't really do anything. And that eating ice cream does the most damage!
But usually after a few days of consuming dairy I go back to normal, and can have all I want!

[lisakaye]

After my many abdominal surgeries I have found that I am extremely intolerant. I get very bad cramps and can't leave the bathroom. I take meds for it but in general I just stay away from anything dairy.