It took me months (when I was much younger) to learn I had developed lactose intolerance. When you have gas, cramps, diarrhea but no other symptoms (no temperature, otherwise feeling normal) it is LI. I saw a doctor for my symptoms and he NEVER raised the possibility of LI!!!!!So I went off all dairy for three days and all the symptoms disappeared. Duh. You can still eat cultured dairy products: cheese, yogurt, sour cream, because the lactose has been converted to lactic acid. LI takes years to manifest. I drank milk and chocolate cake every day for most of my life. Then all of a sudden you get terrible gastrointestinal problems and no other problems......thatsLI, not a horrible disease. Before breakfast coffee or any other dairy product,
buy lactaid pills and pop one just before breakfast, or before you want to eat ice cream.
Thanks for your insights! I'm stumbling my way through this, so nice to hear about other folks' experiences (and that I'm not crazy for taking a while to figure out what's going on) :)
If you haven't already, experiment whether it's lactose of dairy you're intolerant to. The way to tell is if you get the same gut symptoms after consuming lactose-free milk/ice-cream etc, it's the dairy, not the lactose, meaning lactase and other lacose tablets won't help.
I'm dairy intolerant so it's plant-based milks, ice creams, chocolate, and cheeses for me.
However, if you discover it's just the lactose that bugs you, there are certain cheeses (e.g. parmesan) that only have tiny amounts of lactose, so you don't have to cut cheese out completely.
A fascinating essay, Colin!
It took me months (when I was much younger) to learn I had developed lactose intolerance. When you have gas, cramps, diarrhea but no other symptoms (no temperature, otherwise feeling normal) it is LI. I saw a doctor for my symptoms and he NEVER raised the possibility of LI!!!!!So I went off all dairy for three days and all the symptoms disappeared. Duh. You can still eat cultured dairy products: cheese, yogurt, sour cream, because the lactose has been converted to lactic acid. LI takes years to manifest. I drank milk and chocolate cake every day for most of my life. Then all of a sudden you get terrible gastrointestinal problems and no other problems......thatsLI, not a horrible disease. Before breakfast coffee or any other dairy product,
buy lactaid pills and pop one just before breakfast, or before you want to eat ice cream.
Thanks for your insights! I'm stumbling my way through this, so nice to hear about other folks' experiences (and that I'm not crazy for taking a while to figure out what's going on) :)
If you haven't already, experiment whether it's lactose of dairy you're intolerant to. The way to tell is if you get the same gut symptoms after consuming lactose-free milk/ice-cream etc, it's the dairy, not the lactose, meaning lactase and other lacose tablets won't help.
I'm dairy intolerant so it's plant-based milks, ice creams, chocolate, and cheeses for me.
However, if you discover it's just the lactose that bugs you, there are certain cheeses (e.g. parmesan) that only have tiny amounts of lactose, so you don't have to cut cheese out completely.