I think I might be lactose intolerant. :(

hayliemarie427

Slowly but surely, my body seems to be reacting negatively to milk products. Mainly straight milk, but working at a coffee shop and trying our new drinks alot, I've noticed that every day that I try something with milk, ESPECIALLY our really sweet drinks, I get this horrible stomach ache. Coffee and creamer doesnt seem to do this, and less so with fat free milk. But whipped cream, whole milk, frappachinos, any of our lattes, etc are terrible.

I feel I should also note that I have over the years developed and allergy to egg whites.

Does anyone have any information or links on this that could help me figure this out?

kiwi1855

Watch the ingredients... a lot of creamers are oil based, not milk...

As for figuring it out, I went through trial and error finding out that I'm lactose intolerant. Cut out anything dairy for about a week. NO exceptions. Then, have a day or two with milk products. You'll figure out pretty quick!

If you are one of those "cheese is a food group" people who can't live without milk, fret not! Lactaid is a wonderful, wonderful thing!

EDIT: intolerance is a tricky beast. You may be able to tolerate small amounts of lactose at once (ie, why skim/fat free milk isn't bothering you as much), but a lot (ie full fat, regular milk) is.

papastu

a Doctor is the person to see on this ...........

hayliemarie427

a Doctor is the person to see on this ...........

well, obviously. If I could see a doctor, I would. No insurance.

rachelbethany

Over 90% of adults in the world are lactose intolerant to some degree. Lactose is in almost all dairy products (with a few weird exceptions, like Cabot cheese, which is made with a process that naturally produces no lactose).

When you ingest lactose, your body digests it with an enzyme you're supposed to have called LACTASE. But as you get older, your body produces less and less lactase, because adults are not meant to drink milk. (Babies have much more lactase in their bodies, since it's necessary to digest all the milk they drink.)

There are some tests that can be done to see if you're lactose-intolerant, but my advice is to just go without ALL dairy-- I mean EVERYTHING-- for a few days. You will notice a HUGE difference if you are lactose-intolerant. I am severely lactose intolerant. Even those lactase tablets they make for lactose intolerant people don't work on me. I have a theory that all the many bowls of ice cream I used to eat after school as a kid burned up my lactase supply faster than a regular person's.

I still eat products with dairy in them, but I am either super constipated/have an upset stomach/bad stomach cramps when I do. I've gotten used to it over the years. I never realized before that feeling so crappy (ew, no pun intended) wasn't NORMAL. I still absolutely love milk, butter, all kinds of cheese, ice cream and all of that stuff, but there ARE some fabulous substitutes out there. Almond milk, rice milk, and coconut milk are all great. I try to stay away from soy products due to their effect on estrogen, but there are some good cream cheese soy substitutes and stuff too, which is great for baking.

rachelbethany

I also disagree about seeing a doctor. I have seen many doctors over the years, and the thing is, MOST people are lactose-intolerant. Some people just get tired of it, and others just deal with the stomach problems or have such minor side-effects that they don't even notice them. But doctors will usually just advise you to try removing dairy from your diet; they won't be doing any blood tests or anything to test for lactose-intolerance. If you remove dairy and you STILL feel terrible, then maybe a doctor is a good idea.