Lactose Intolerance

Lactose Intolerance

 

I have known people with this problem and have watched them suffer when they try to just be like one of the gang and eat some foods with milk and/or cheeses in them.  Some of them told me they were "allergic to milk".  So this is what motivated me to look into this more and do a bit more reading...

 

It seems as if there are millions of men and women that are not able to drink a glass of milk, other milk products, or even just a slice a pizza.  This is not just a problem in the United States, but many other people in the world suffer from this problem!  It's called Lactose Intolerance.

 

Symptoms vary but include nausea, bloating, stomach pains and cramping, diarrhea and just a general gassiness.  So you're feeling pretty badly!

 

This intolerance comes from a shortage of the enzyme Lactase.  This is usually produced by the cells in the small intestines.  Lactase is supposed to break down the milk sugar into a simpler form and then it should be absorbed into the blood stream.  If there isn't enough Lactase to help digest the lactose that is eaten, it can end up like the symptoms that I described above...not very pleasant!

 

One source that I read actually said that a "Lactose Intolerance isn't an all-or-nothing condition.  Some people who are genetically Lactose intolerant don't have symptoms, because their large intestines have adapted to undigested sugar.  Others have found through trial and error that not all dairy products cause them discomfort.  Yogurt is expecially tolerable because the bacteria cultures used in making it produce lactase.  Research has also shown that many people diagnosed with lactose intolerance can still enjoy foods like ice cream and cheese, as long as they eat them in small amounts or with other foods."

 

Some of my sources for this article came from;

The Ladies Home Journal, or lhj.com

Diagnosishealth.com

gastro.org

 

Teri

Hi Teri,
I am lactose intolerant and you hit it on the head. The gassiness and bloating is intolerable. Unfortunately I believe my daughter has developed an intolerance as well. She used to complain about tummy pains all the time and finally pinpointed the culprit to dairy products so now she is doing much much better. It's hard on her when she is in school and her class decides to have an ice cream social. Unfortunately, I sometimes don't know about this ahead of time or I would send in sherbert for her instead. I've had her try the lactaid pills but she has a hard time swallowing them. Oh well, at least we can still enjoy some ice cream, but soy instead which is still yummy!

Teri, my daughter is 9 turning 10 on August 29th. But after hearing about the ice cream social fiasco, I talked to her teacher and told her that if something like that comes up again, to please let me know so I can have something there for her. Unfortunately they didn't have it again, but we made a deal with the teacher that if someone brings in dairy related food, that my daughter will have a secret stash of candy or something in the teachers cupboard so she won't feel left out.
It was kind of cute a few weekends ago....me and my daughter went to girl scout camp and they had ice cream for dessert. So of course my daughter started crying because she couldn't have any so we went back into the kitchen and asked one of the helpers if they had something else for her. She showed the freezer to my girl and her eyes lit up because the freezer was full of pies, cakes, cookies....dessert galore and she had her pick of anything in there! She picked out a piece of pie and brought it back to the table with her chest all puffed out like she was soooooo proud of herself for having something different then everyone else. It was kind of funny.

teri we also use light soy milk and it doesnot make stanley get congested easy hemloves it but once he tried skim milk and he was sick for a few days so no more regular milk only soy milk I get plain and in the winter time I buy the chochlate kind for tea and I also make a good cholocate cake using the soy milk too.
Heidi
P.S teri you are so right with young ladies and their body types they se what they se on tv and it is so bad they are seeing the wrong images we need to tell ur kids boys and girls we love them just the way they are.

Why thank you for that fun fact, Ali!!   I enjoyed the

lesson it is an interesting theory!

 

You can add those tidbits anytime you want. lol

 

Bunches of Hugs, Teri

The lactose free milk is actually sweeter then regular milk. I am not a big milk drinker but this stuff is pretty darn good. I don't like the soy milk though, it leaves a funny after taste in my mouth.

I don't really like vanilla but the chocolate soy isn't too bad. I just don't like the regular stuff.

hi i'm new here and 24 years old. i just got my tonsils removed last week and am reminded of when i was 15/16 and had both my wisdom teeth removed and my gums cut where my 12 year molers had not yet come through in order to hopefully help them come out.

likewise i have been eating a diet high in yogurts, pudding, and frozen yogurt and low in everything else. as when i was 16, after a while a developed bouts of nausea and irritable bowel type problems. consisting of diarrhea yes, about as much as can possibly be mustered by someone eating as little as i have been.

when i was in high school i suffered from eating disorders and at 16 after the issues of mouth surgeries i had gall stones calling for my gall bladder to be removed. since then i have had on and off bouts of irritable bowel occurrences but never noticed any concrete patterns except for the richer the foods were i ate, the more problems by stomach had handling them.

my question is, is this a type of lactose intolerance that i am experiencing? could i maybe have not noticed this to be as big a problem at other times except for when my diet is primarily dairy?

i appreciate any help i could be given on this matter.

<3 katie

thanks so much teri! yes i do take care of my body now despite the years of abuse when it came to nutrition and diet. i've been eating disorder free since i was about 19 and am actually actively pursuing a health education degree and working in a field in which i help women discover the true happiness in treating our bodies the way we should!

i've had issues with allergies and asthma since an infant and despite my outside of appearance of picture perfect health have had several issues with all kinds of medical problems. obviously not more serious debilitating ones, but you name any problems not easily seen, i've probably had them! ha. i understand the importance of treating ourselves as best we possibly can.

anyway, i have been seeing my ear nose and throat doctor for about 4 or 5 years now. i believe i had seen him on and off again when i was young. mainly for a problem i had with my ears as an infant (after tubes were taken out i had small holes and cracks in my ear drums which took years for any physician to realize why i would cry and scream when after going under water!!) a few years ago i had my second allergy scratch test done which i am not sure of included dairy but i think it did? is this how they test it? i was unbelievably allergic to basically nature. trees, grasses, and most of all MOLD. of course i am born and raised in the new orleans, la area which is the absolute worst place to live for these types of allergies and problems. the past few years i have had tonsilitis and strep so much i can't even tell you. i've been getting 3 allergy shots a week (or appx 3 x's a month) for a couple years now as well. mainly whenever i am outdoors is when these problems arise. exercise outside is a no no for me. i don't have issues with asthma anymore all the time (both my brother and i used to suffer every winter and be stuck on the breathing treatments) but when i do i do. i definitely need to keep the alburerol asthma inhaler on hand.

each semester in school has become harder and harder with my allergies and tonsilitis problems. my doctor has been wanting to take my tonsils out. ha. i also need a foot surgery however so it was a toss up between which one i needed more. lol. but overall this is the one that would affect me in missing class during my last year of school so i knew this was more important. i had both tonsils and adenoids removed.

i will be seeing my doctor next week for my second post op appt. although i've already seen him once since i was so out of it and pretty miserable i totally forgot to mention to him i started having some issues with diarrhea. but i definitely will bring it up next week. lord knows he won't be surprised!

sorry so long, i thought a quick briefing on me would be good because this definitely seems like a site i will frequent on from now on!

thanks for your reply again and god bless!

<333 katie