lactose intolerance?

Post Reply New Topic

Sunday evening, not long after eating dinner, I had to go a number 2. All went well, but 20 minutes later I had to go again very urgently, and it was very watery. Then while still sitting on the toilet about a minute later the urgency returned and more watery stool came out. When I wiped I looked and saw it was green. I had bloating and stomach cramps for most of the night, and then the next day I had a lot of gas, the kind that burns a little when it comes out.

I went to the doctor, but couldn't get any answers, and she suggested a probiotic. I was then speaking with my landlady, who has lactose intolerance, and she suggested that all the milk I had Saturday night into Sunday morning might have caused that due to lactose intolerance. Saturday night, I had eaten several bowls of Fruity Pebbles with fat free milk, and even added more milk to top it off again. I repeated the same thing Sunday morning. That's a lot of milk.

I seem to have bloating and gas and diarrhea off and on. I was thinking about the times I'd go to McDonalds and get a meal with a strawberry milkshake. I'd suck up the milkshake in no time flat then I'd go to work on the burger. Not long afterward, I would start to feel bloated and have gas and often have to go a number 2. I know I've had lots of other times where I'd feel like this.

I thought maybe I had lactose intolerance a few years ago, but dismissed it. I wonder again if I have it. I'm cutting out the milk for a few days see if I get better.

Lactose free milk, or taking lactase enzymes can get around lactose intolerance pretty easily though both aren't cheap here.

I was going to try them, but I wonder if I can ask my doctor to test for it to make sure I'm not wasting my money.

Anyway, I know I've had lots of digestive issues since elementary school at least. I would often have bouts of constipation (not related to lactose intolerance), but I remember having bad stomach cramps at times, especially in later elementary school.

I don't know if this was caused by milk or something else, but I remember when I was in 4th grade or so and we went on vacation with my grandma to Bald Mountain, Georgia, I started getting really bad stomach cramps one day, like unbearably painful. I remember I learned that if I bring my knees up to my chest, it'll relieve the pain somewhat. It made sleeping difficult, though, because I could have these cramps for hours.

I've read that if bringing your knees up to your chest relieves stomach pain, then the problem is likely gas pain.

I would get these pains now and again but remember to bring my knees up to my chest. I wouldn't get this all the time and we never connected it to milk consumption (then again, we never explored that route as far as I know). I've read, though, that the symptoms of lactose intolerance are not always consistent and much depends on what you ate and other factors at the time you drink the milk and the time afterward.

I know I have not been much of a stranger to flatulence ever since elementary school, and that I would often get the kind that burns a little.

EDIT: And on Bald Mountain toward the end I remember having a lot of flatulence which relieved the pain. I know, this might be TMI, but it is relevant to the thread.

Alright, I gave milk another go last night and now I'm regretting it. Within an hour of drinking it, I started feeling pain in my abdomen and a sense of being bloated and the feeling persisted. I had a number 2 last night, but not much; however, my bottom started itching. The same sense of abdominal discomfort continued today until I went out. I started feeling worse pain in my abdomen this afternoon. I got a Sprite, lemon-lime soda, and drank it. I got home and I started having gas, the burning type. I just went a number 2 again and the stool was a bit loose and burned as it came out. Now my bottom burns in addition to itching.

In the past, I might have blamed this on the Sprite, but Sprite doesn't cause it, it only makes the digestion move faster. It just moved all the crap in my intestines out. It didn't cause the crap to get like that.

I am going to cut milk out or at least take lactase with it. I've got a package of lactase, and I'm going to at least finish the milk I have with it. After that, no more milk except with lactase or the special store brands like Silk without lactose.

EDIT: I read that an itchy bottom is a common symptom of lactose intolerance (I had no idea), and I know I've dealt with that since at least like age 19 and probably earlier. I even went to the doctor once about it at 19 and he said it was just genetics for me to have an itchy bottom and offered no solutions.

EDIT 2: Now the pain is concentrated on my right side. Bending my legs up to my chest helps. This has impacted my mood and increases my sensory sensitivity. Have a lot of my problems being moody and unwilling to do stuff for years and years been because of lactose intolerance worsening my sensory issues? Jesus. What a waste of so much of my life. If I had known.

Noca,

Did the results come back positive?

Anyway, I'm trying to eliminate lactose for a couple weeks to see how I feel, but I already got off to a bad start because I was eating some muffins, which turned out to have milk in them. And I ate a good number of them. I have had abdominal discomfort for much of the day and now gas and bottom itching.

Lactose, food coloring, sugar, and neuro toxins. Yummy! You eat well.

80% of the world population is lactose intolerant. The enzyme that digests it goes away a couple years after birth for most people. White people are the least intolerant because they have been sucking on a cows teet for soo many generations.

Stop drinking it, and see what happens. If that doesn't work, try limiting your diet.

When someone tells you you should be drinking milk, or more milk, don't believe it.

Yes, you might say the real problem is that there is too much milk in the American diet.