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Dairy Intolerance?

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sandyut

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So I have had ongoing Gi issues and finally went to a GI doc. PCP's didnt seem to care much which is a whole other rant.

GI guy ran a battery of testing, all negative/clear/good. Step two: cut out all dairy for two weeks. I was highly skeptical and didnt think it would do anything. It seems that this may be the problem, I have another week to go. On one hand I am happy, but on the other hand I love cheese and pizza and all that. the non dairy products are all Vegan fake crap and they kinda taste that way too. Tried to make a pie with non dairy cheese...not very satisfying.

Milk is an allergen that must be put on all foods like nuts and such.], because its quite common. Add this to the list of things I never thought about and are very common.

If anyone happens to be in the same boat, please share tips. I found the vegan cheese, other than that its just watching label and stop eating dairy?
 
That sucks! Not much help but my son in law is the same way... he stays away from milk and most things dairy but eating pizza doesn't seem to bother him.

Ryan
 
So I have had ongoing Gi issues and finally went to a GI doc. PCP's didnt seem to care much which is a whole other rant.

GI guy ran a battery of testing, all negative/clear/good. Step two: cut out all dairy for two weeks. I was highly skeptical and didnt think it would do anything. It seems that this may be the problem, I have another week to go. On one hand I am happy, but on the other hand I love cheese and pizza and all that. the non dairy products are all Vegan fake crap and they kinda taste that way too. Tried to make a pie with non dairy cheese...not very satisfying.

Milk is an allergen that must be put on all foods like nuts and such.], because its quite common. Add this to the list of things I never thought about and are very common.

If anyone happens to be in the same boat, please share tips. I found the vegan cheese, other than that its just watching label and stop eating dairy?
What were your symptoms?
 
That sucks! Not much help but my son in law is the same way... he stays away from milk and most things dairy but eating pizza doesn't seem to bother him.

Ryan
Thank Ryan!

I have a 100 questions for my GI doc. I have beaten ChatGPT to death over this. It been an issue for at least 10 years, so there is much to heal and get back to a normal state. Right now it looks like more than lactose. But once I get through the 2 week no dairy we will know more.

But once healed, I want to know if its risky to eat a couple Imodium and down big ole pie.
 
What were your symptoms?
horrible diarrhea (sorry). I could eat 4 Imodium and it wouldnt help at all. that was when I said enough is enough.
 
horrible diarrhea (sorry). I could eat 4 Imodium and it wouldnt help at all. that was when I said enough is enough.
Ok here is something, and my wife just went through this, have you had a colonoscopy recently? My wife for a couple years just got what was thought to be lactose intolerance. It ended up being whats called diverticulitis. Basically bouts of diarrhea then fine for a bit. Im not suggesting you have this, but the symtoms can minic lactose intolerance, ibs. She just had a portion of her colon removed because the doctors kept saying lactose intolerance until her colon became completely blocked.

Corey
 
So I have had ongoing Gi issues and finally went to a GI doc. PCP's didnt seem to care much which is a whole other rant.

GI guy ran a battery of testing, all negative/clear/good. Step two: cut out all dairy for two weeks. I was highly skeptical and didnt think it would do anything. It seems that this may be the problem, I have another week to go. On one hand I am happy, but on the other hand I love cheese and pizza and all that. the non dairy products are all Vegan fake crap and they kinda taste that way too. Tried to make a pie with non dairy cheese...not very satisfying.

Milk is an allergen that must be put on all foods like nuts and such.], because its quite common. Add this to the list of things I never thought about and are very common.

If anyone happens to be in the same boat, please share tips. I found the vegan cheese, other than that its just watching label and stop eating dairy?

Dave, I have a co worker that went thru similar issues. Gluten and dairy just tore her up. She went thru so many options and was very frustrated. She finally found something that worked for her… and I was so happy she did.

She is a good friend and I can ask her Tuesday what exactly worked for her.

Not saying it would work for you, but may be worth trying?!
 
Ok here is something, and my wife just went through this, have you had a colonoscopy recently? My wife for a couple years just got what was thought to be lactose intolerance. It ended up being whats called diverticulitis. Basically bouts of diarrhea then fine for a bit. Im not suggesting you have this, but the symtoms can minic lactose intolerance, ibs. She just had a portion of her colon removed because the doctors kept saying lactose intolerance until her colon became completely blocked.

Corey
Hi Corey,
I have had 3 coloscopies, I get them every 5 years because they keep finding polyps. Im due for my next one in 1.5 years or so. if all else fails they will do biopsies to look for something, I forgot what he called it.
 
Dave, I have a co worker that went thru similar issues. Gluten and dairy just tore her up. She went thru so many options and was very frustrated. She finally found something that worked for her… and I was so happy she did.

She is a good friend and I can ask her Tuesday what exactly worked for her.

Not saying it would work for you, but may be worth trying?!
That would be great Justin! I think all options are on the table right now. Many thanks brother.
 
Just for the discussion, I was tested for Celiac, parasites, and just about every other thing. All negative.
 
Hi Corey,
I have had 3 coloscopies, I get them every 5 years because they keep finding polyps. Im due for my next one in 1.5 years or so. if all else fails they will do biopsies to look for something, I forgot what he called it.
That good they are on top of it. Around my neck of the woods you need to be headed for the emergency room before doctors even look up.

Hope you sort this out 👍

Corey
 
That would be great Justin! I think all options are on the table right now. Many thanks brother.


You bet bud, hoping her info will help. She told me when she battled the issue that she did not want any drug or Rx to fix it… she wanted to fix it natural.

Again, I will touch base with her Tuesday and let you know.
 
You bet bud, hoping her info will help. She told me when she battled the issue that she did not want any drug or Rx to fix it… she wanted to fix it natural.

Again, I will touch base with her Tuesday and let you know.
Thanks again! Have a good weekend my friend.
 
horrible diarrhea (sorry). I could eat 4 Imodium and it wouldnt help at all. that was when I said enough is enough.
Reason I asked is because my wife struggled with dairy, but loves it, and eventually started to think maybe some kind of allergy to beef. Finally she went to ER with pancreatitis. That got the referral to a gastro. First thing he did was endoscopy of her gut. The pancreas secretes enzymes to break down fats in digestion, otherwise they don’t digest. You have two bile tubes coming from either end of the pancreas, those merge into one tube and attach to the small intestine as one bile duct.

Well in her case she had two bile ducts (meaning the tubes never merged) and they were to small. So the gastro did a procedure where he went endoscopy and enlarged both ducts and flushed the tubes. Her dairy and beef problems stopped. The problem was the enzymes were not getting into her gut sufficiently to digest the fats, which caused diarrhea and general gut discomfort, as well as an irritated pancreas but that took 53 years to show up.

I tell you all this to say have them test enzyme levels or at least keep this in mind. May not be your problem but we cannot digest dairy and greasy fats without those enzymes.
 
Reason I asked is because my wife struggled with dairy, but loves it, and eventually started to think maybe some kind of allergy to beef. Finally she went to ER with pancreatitis. That got the referral to a gastro. First thing he did was endoscopy of her gut. The pancreas secretes enzymes to break down fats in digestion, otherwise they don’t digest. You have two bile tubes coming from either end of the pancreas, those merge into one tube and attach to the small intestine as one bile duct.

Well in her case she had two bile ducts (meaning the tubes never merged) and they were to small. So the gastro did a procedure where he went endoscopy and enlarged both ducts and flushed the tubes. Her dairy and beef problems stopped. The problem was the enzymes were not getting into her gut sufficiently to digest the fats, which caused diarrhea and general gut discomfort, as well as an irritated pancreas but that took 53 years to show up.

I tell you all this to say have them test enzyme levels or at least keep this in mind. May not be your problem but we cannot digest dairy and greasy fats without those enzymes.
Makes sense. I did have my stool pancreatic elastase checked. It was normal. So theoretically my pancreas is doing its thing.

I feel like there is much more to sort out, but dropping dairy did help some almost immediately. I used to put milk or half and half in my coffee (likea TBSP or two) in the morning and within a short amount of time I was camped out on the toilet. But there could surely be more going wrong.

I appreciate the insights. Many thanks!
 
Sorry to hear Dave.
Elimination diet is the best way to find out what is causing the inflammation.
Have you checked out the A2 milk products? The moo juice is getting very common, but cheese from A2 is very rare and very expensive.

I limit my dairy (milk and cheese) due to mucus production. I'm going to pay the toll tomorrow as we had pork chops for supper and I made milk gravy to smother mine.
 
Sorry to hear Dave.
Elimination diet is the best way to find out what is causing the inflammation.
Have you checked out the A2 milk products? The moo juice is getting very common, but cheese from A2 is very rare and very expensive.
Thanks John, Elimination diets seems to be the path I am on. Hopefully we get to the bottom of it.

Never heard of A2 milk. I just found their site and am reading up. Sadly I would want the cheese more than the milk, but at least its another option (and one I had not heard of).

Many thanks! Have a good long weekend brother.
 
With everything being said already the most likely issue is lactose intolerance.

Living it for 35+ years. Good news is you don't have to give up all cheeses just got to read the label and determine the amount. Cabot cheddars have 0% but here's a list worth looking at:


Outside of that the easiest thing to do is take a lactase enzyme supplement or use lactose free products like Lactaid and just not worry about it. I personally only worry about cheeses and buy Cabot cheddars instead of taking a pill. The above is a much cheaper option than A2 products and the end result is the same.

The only other issue not mentioned in this thread is EPI. Might want to ask the doc about that.
 
Last edited:
With everything being said already the most likely issue is lactose intolerance.

Living it for 35+ years. Good news is you don't have to give up all cheeses just got to read the label and determine the amount. Cabot cheddars have 0% but here's a list worth looking at:


Outside of that the easiest thing to do is take a lactase enzyme supplement or use lactose free products like Lactaid and just not worry about it. I personally only worry about cheeses and buy Cabot cheddars instead of taking a pill. The above is a much cheaper option than A2 products and the end result is the same.

The only other issue not mentioned in this thread is EPI. Might want to ask the doc about that.
I started on lactose free milk, things improved a little but not completely. Ive been dairy free about a week and the difference is pretty obvious.

That said, I think after the two weeks he may want me to try introducing some dairy back, like lactose free milk and or cheeses. A few folks on our local FB group said they are intolerant but cheese rarely causes them problems. AI says its the soft cheeses that are the big triggers, cream cheese, fresh motz, etc. Time will tell, much more to learn and sort out for sure.

I appreciate your input!
 
I read a study that the older a cheese is the less lactose is in it. My wife cannot fathom a scoop of sour cream, firm cheeses she can tolerate with a Lactose pill, hard cheeses rarely cause an issue.
 
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