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Hello All

This is Meg and I have a jpouch since August 2008 . I have struggled with pouchitis on and off during this time . After the surgery to reduce the frequency and gas I started using lactose free milk even though I was never diagnosed with lactose intolerence per say . So since August 2008 I only used lactose free milk with cereals , or tea or milkshakes etc 

But I never knew at that time that milk is in many other products like baked goods or fillers in lots of medicines or other processed foods so I kept on eating them and every once in a while when Lactose free milk was unavailable I would drink normal milk and did just fine .

But , since last year or so I slowly started having problem digesting few things like cottage cheese or ricotta cheese and few milk products . So I started avoiding those . Then I wanted to go organic so switched to organic valley lactose free milk .

After switching the milk brand within 3-4 months I started having severe symptoms of lactose intolerence .

Now it is to a point that I cant even digest one spoon of normal milk . I cant eat anything which has milk products in it because if I do I have lot of bloating , gas , bubbly diarrhea and cramping .... Almost like my body s getting rid of something nasty . It takes a while like coupke of weeks for my pouch to settle down . I am feeling very sad and frustated since I never had this issue and could eat any processed food with milk products in it . Did I make a mistake switching to lactaid after surgery ?

is there any way to solve this issue without using lactaid pills ? I usually dont do good with pills and always suffer from side effects more . Can my lactose intolerance be temporary ? How come it was aggravated suddenly ? One day suddenly I started having issues out of no where . Yes I did swtich to lactaid when maybe it was not necessary but I was having milk products in other forms so my body wasnt completely deprived of lactase so why this is happening suddenly ?

is there any way to reverse this naturally and could it be temporary ? Did anyone have lactose intolerence for sometime and it went away or self correct itself over time . It would be really difficult to deal with this since I end up travelling a lot and when I have diarrhea I get dehydrated very fast to a point of fainting and need fluids thru IV  . So its scary especially if I am travelling to a foreign country . Yes I cant take non dairy creames and take be careful to avoid the symptoms but since it very new thing its hard to adjust to the change and very frustrating . Also its not always possible to avoid food with milk in it and sometimes when I go to a friends place or restaurant I am not aware of presence of milk till I get symptoms .

please share your experience of lactose intolerence managment and any remedies or cures or insights 

I have been dealing with so much health issues since last decade UC , avascular necrosis (long term steroid use ) of right hip,both knees ,ankle ,wrist been thru hip replacemnt and knee replacement and have future surgeries waiting for me when avn progress more in the affected joints 

plus migranes ,psoriasis , hidradenitis suppurativa , chonic hives I am emotionally and physically exhausted already so cannot handle anymore issues now �� 

thank you all for listening and reading thru a long post  

 

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Hi, Meg. I don't think your avoidance of lactose likely had any effect. I know of two things that alter lactose tolerance. The first is age. Most infants are tolerant of lactose, but in some ethnic groups particularly they tend to become less tolerant as they enter adulthood. The second is diarrhea/rapid intestinal transit. The intestinal cells that digest lactose tend to get "washed away" when things are moving too fast, and it can take a while for them to recover.

Lots of people avoid lactose. It's not impossible, it's just a nuisance. You have to know what's in your food, but anyone with a food allergy or intolerance has to deal with that. Sometimes you just have to skip the food if its ingredients are uncertain.

Thanks so much for replying... Sorry couldnt get back to You earlier since I am too tired due to too much watery diarrhea ...

You gave some useful information . I didnt know that intestinal cells that help digest can wash away due to increased input ... That means with increased diarrhea there no chance that it can heal ... Also You mentioned that ot takes time to heal . Does it take years for them to build back on the walls ? Do they heal at all ? And is there anything that I can take or do to help it heal faster ? 

I know lot of people are lactose intolerant and avoid food which has it . My problem is I have a long list of food items that I cant eat bcoz they are migrane triggers for me and other list which my jpouch doesn't agree with . So now avoiding foods with milk , n milk products or derivatives or additives eliminates lot more food items . As a result I have very less food items that I can eat ... Hence the frustation ... 

I have started taking flagyl to control the output since its just too watery and I dont want to go to Er again for iv fluids. Its been 2 days and hasnt helped at all .

Lets see . I will have to see the doc if this doesn't get resolved . I usually dont like to go to the doc as well since its too time consuming and he always follows the same steps of stool tests , them the camera pill n pouchoscopy and endoscopy n then gives me  antibiotics after all the tests .. This all process takes 2-3 months so I dont get immediate help . Maybe Doc needs to do that coz of insurance .

Anyways Thanks for Your response 

You have a good one ! 

Meg 

 

 

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