Developing lactose intolerence?

Hi Everyone

I was wondering if (by a long shot) someone had experience with lactose intolerence?

DH was thinking maybe it could be developed later in adult life somehow (while I always thought it was a childhood development) however, recently I have been getting sick- throwing up etc, and it seems to only happen after I have had a dairy product. Really odd... Any thoughts??

I never had a problem with dairy until I was about 20. Now it upsets my stomach if I eat certain dairy products. Milk, ice cream, some cheese and some yogurts are the worst for me. I can eat small amounts of cheese and lower fat yogurts without feeling sick. Chocolate bars that have added lactose really upset my stomach too.

I was born lactose intolerant, but many people can develop it as they get older. And often times if you already have it, it gets worse as you age. I used to be able to eat a little bit of cheese without much discomfort, but when I turned about 20 it got worse. Luckily, there are now a ton of options for lactose intolerant people.

First of all, Lactaid pills are a MUST! I've been taking them since I was a kid, and I can eat just about anything I want when I take them. You take one right before you eat, but a lot of times I take two because I have a bad intolerance. Sometimes I'll take one before I take a bite, then another one halfway through the meal just to be sure. Lactaid brand milk tastes great, my boyfriend even drinks it without noticing a difference. It's just a little bit sweeter. They also have generic lactose free milk as well. Yoplait just recently created lactose free yogurts which taste just like regular kind! I swear you can't taste the difference at all. Lactaid also has yogurt, but the Yoplait is much better in my opinion. Although because of the bacteria in yogurt, it doesn't bother a lot of lactose intolerant people. Also, a lot of cheeses have little lactose in it, usually more aged kinds. Most Cabot brand cheeses are lactose free (it'll say so on the side in a little box), while Borden's naturals and Kraft natural shredded cheeses contain 0g per serving, but I'd bet there's still a little bit in there because it bugs me a bit. Nothing compared to what regular cheese does, though! They will say "0g of lactose per serving" in little letters on the back near the nutrition facts.

I'm going to do a process of elimination diet. Basically cut out all dairy and see how I feel. But even this morning, i ate cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing- dairy- and didn't even think about it so have been feeling yucky all day

Not only is it normal to develop a lactose intolerance in adulthood, over half the world can't digest plain milk in adulthood. Link here.

Europeans are the largest group that can drink milk as adults, but most other ethnic groups largely cannot.

Nebula said:

I'm going to do a process of elimination diet. Basically cut out all dairy and see how I feel. But even this morning, i ate cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing- dairy- and didn't even think about it so have been feeling yucky all day

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I didn't discover that I was lactose intolerant until 1995.  

I was breaking out in hives and having asthmatic problems, and I tried to get a referral to an allergist but my doctor wouldn't give me one. I found one through the yellow pages that didn't require a referal. My test showed that I was allergic to nearly everything under the sun (beef, chicken, pork, fish, seafood, rice, potatoes, corn, celery, carrots, milk, strawberries, dust etc etc etc etc  It was a prescription page filled with 2 colums on both sides of foods/things I was allergic to.)

I went to a dietician and she told me that the list was ridiculous.

I knew I had an allergy to something, but I obviously couldn't eliminate everything from my diet because that would have left me with air and water to live on.  So I did the process of elimination. I eliminated a food group from my diet for 3 weeks and then introduced it again.  I started with dairy because I was never much of a dairy fan other than ice cream and sometimes cheese. So eliminating dairy was easy.

I had a tendancy towards crampiness and loose to diarrhea-like stools. I didn't realize it at the time, but I didn't have those symptoms for the 3 weeks I was off dairy.  When I introduced dairy again I got the symptoms back. When I stopped, they went away.

I remember my Mom telling me that I was a very colic-y baby.  We were raised on whole milk even as babies. If I was lactose intolerant way back then, no wonder I was having colic!!!

I find that I'm getting more and more lactose intolerant the older I get.  I use "Lactaid" milk or soy milk.  I find that I can have about 1/2 cup of low fat yogurt per day about 4 times per week.  Mild cheeses make me very sick.  However, I find that I can eat small amounts very aged cheeses such as blue cheese, old cheddar, feta etc.  If I want to have milk/cream, ice cream or chocolate, I have to take lactaid tablets.  The number of extra strength tablets that I take depends on what it is that I'm consuming.  For ice cream, I need 6 extra strength tablets. 3 at the beginning and 3 in the middle. And even then it isn't a guaranty that I won't feel mildly crampy/gassy.

speakhandsforme said:

Not only is it normal to develop a lactose intolerance in adulthood, over half the world can't digest plain milk in adulthood. Link here.
Europeans are the largest group that can drink milk as adults, but most other ethnic groups largely cannot.

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The link doesn't work.

  This is one of the first signs of Celiac disease, allergic to gluten........

Natalie_ca said:

The link doesn't work.

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Oh, sorry! It still does for me. Here's the full thing, maybe that will help? http://www.usatoday.com/tech/scienc...htm?AID=4992781&PID=4003003&SID=122f04b35m3wg

If not, just google "USA Today 9/15/09 lactose intolerance" or something to that effect.