Question About Lactose Intolerance

[Elfbaby]

I posted recently asking how long it would take after ingesting gluten to feel the effects, and many of you mentioned that I might be having a problem with lactose intolerance. This seems to have some merit as I consistently have the trouble about an hour/hour and a half after I eat my morning cereal. So my question is this. If I am having lactose tolerance issues, is it important to avoid all milk products like it is to avoid all gluten products? Or do I only need to avoid those products which cause me problems? For instance, my stomach doesnt seem to agree with me drinking my whole bowl of cereal milk, but doesnt seem to take issue with me drinking a latte or eating potatoes with cheese on them.

Thank you in advance for your responces. How wonderful it is that there is an entire community of people to offer voices of experience!

[psawyer]

Regular milk is relatively high in lactose. Cheeses, especially harder ones like cheddar, are low in lactose because the process that ferments the milk into cheese consumes the lactose. As a result, you may be able to tolerate cheese but not milk. If your lactose intolerance is a result of celiac disease damage, you may be producing enough lactase to handle small amounts of lactose. As the villi heal, you may be able to handle more and more.

[GFinDC]

What Peter said.

You can also try taking lactase pills, but watch out because some brands have gluten in them. So like with everything else, check the ingredients closely. They also sell lactaid milk many places, which should help.

Many people with lactose intolerance switch to soy milk, hemp milk, or almond milk. I don't think soy is good for anyone, so I don't recommend it. Also some of us have reactions to Soy-Dream etc Dream branded products.

Tempt Hemp milk works ok for me.

[sa1937]

Lactaid tablets never did much for me but I was able to use Lactaid milk right after diagnosis. In fact I still buy Lactaid milk but don't trust dairy too much even now. I have started eating more cheese and I missed it far more than I ever did gluten.

[mushroom]

I had to eliminate only milk, cream, ice cream and frozen yogurt; I could tolerate cheese. butter, real yogurt, sour cream, everything cultured where the lactose was mostly consumed or eliminated.. We are all different on what we can tolerate. After I had done some healing I was gradually able to have some milk in a capucchino. Didn't try ice cream until I was certain it was okay again - about three years