I've always been mildly intolerant, but only of "soft" products. I can't have cream cheese, ricotta, and only sour cream in small doses with other things. While I don't know if this causes the reaction with Metformin (tomorrow will be a week I've been on it), I do know that I've been told by others that anything with sugar or simple carbs will make the reaction worse, and the primary component of a lot of a dairy is natural lactose/sugar. So rather than lactose intolerant, it might be the sugars causing the reaction - this is a KNOWN trigger for many.

What is weird with me right now is that I seem to be alternating from diarrhea to almost constipation on a totally random basis, which is bad for my POP/rectocele (straining to #2 can further push through the wall), not to mention for my sanity. I've also been told it can take around 12 weeks for your body to accept the metformin completely, adapt to it, particularly if you don't take it at exactly the same time each day, miss days, or change dosages. You might try limiting sugar, too, in alternation with dairy, because it seems like it could be one issue or both!

Thanks for the food for thought of something to try to moderate my own side effects...

I read that the best way to test it is to have two containers, marked A and B by someone else so that you don't know which one is which. Have regular milk in one and lactose free milk in the other. Mark your reactions after eating. Supposedly a large # of people who think they are lactose intolerant aren't really.
As for being lactose intolerant, even before I went on the Metformin I did notice that sometimes I would have diarrhea after eating dairy, but especially if I just ate dairy alone (like cheese by itself or milk by itself).
Interesting about the metformin though. When I had gestational diabetes, we were really encouraged to do dairy if it was a decent protein source too (like cheese) but not really to drink milk by itself. I think it was because, as Dragonwolf said, it does tend to cause some issues with blood sugar and/or insulin in sensitive individuals.

DragonWolf, I haven't tried that, but I have tried most "positions," so I guess I'll have to research the squatty potty...or bring one of my footstools into the ladies' lounge. Thanks for the suggestions.

Awesome. I hope the results continue for you!

Hi all! I had to join this group because I feel like I'm going crazy. I was diagnosed with Hidradenitis suppurativa a few years back. It's a pretty ****ty skin disease. Then two years ago when I started trying to get pregnant, I was diagnosed with PCOS.

I recently went to the dermatologist who suggested I try Metformin as its shown good results in folks with both hidradenitis and PCOS. I got very excited when it changed my cycle and helped calm my skin down.

Even more exciting though is my lactose intolerance which had been worsening throughout my life and eventually caused me to completely give up dairy about 4 years ago - it seems like Metformin has made my lactose intolerance disappear.

It all happened by accident. I was at a concert a few weeks ago and decided I didn't care how bad it hurt my stomach, I was going to eat some pizza. By some miracle I had no issues from eating the cheese. I've now had pizza several times, mashed potatoes with milk in them and last night I tried ranch dressing.

I'm just confused because nothing I'm finding on the internet substantiates what I believe is happening. Everything I find about Metformin and lactose intolerance is just what I found here - that those who react badly to Metformin, also experience bad effects from dairy.

I'm beginning to think I'm crazy. Or that instead of the Metformin causing this change, its the antibiotic my dermatologist put me on for a few months to help calm my skin down. Has anyone else experienced this? Anyone?