What is wrong with me?

[MuffinToptheMule]

I posted here before a few months back as I suspected I was lactose intolerant. However, I'm not so sure anymore.

A few months ago I went to the doctors and had blood taken for allergy testing and all the results came back clear.
I noticed that I couldn't eat cheese otherwise I would be bent over with stomach cramps and then I would have diarrhoea. This was especially worse if the cheese had been melted, for example on pizzas and in lasagne.

I cut out all cheese but was still eating dairy and I was okay but still suffering from diarrhoea every few days. I then ate ice cream which I hadn't had for a long time and that caused the same reaction that I have with cheese.

My doctor told me about lactase tablets and I began taking those. I ate lasagne and was so happy as afterwards I felt completely fine and had no diarrhoea. For the next few weeks I took these tablets when I ate dairy foods and everything was fine.

Then one evening I took some tablets and ate some pizza. About an hour later I started to feel really sick and was finding it hard to breath. This happened the next time I took the tablets. So I stopped taking them.

I avoided cheese but kept eating little bits of dairy, e.g. in chocolate and other products and I have been fine. However, the diarrhoea has now come back again and I'm not sure what to do.

I have never been dairy free and the thought of it scares me as it sounds so hard. It is hard enough cutting out cheese, cream and ice cream right now.

Can anyone give me some advise please? I'm scared to eat in case I get diarrhoea. I can't go back to having it all the time again.

bump

You don't think that maybe its a gluten intolerance/allergy rather than lactose? Only some the foods you mentioned that gave you diarrhoea have gluten (lasagna, pizza - prob ice cream too) Especially as bloods were all clear.

Might be worth trying an exclusion diet to see.

How do you do an exclusion diet. Also, cheese is by far my worst thing. Can gluten intolerance cause diarrhoea?

Hi, just a thought but could it have something to do with cows milk rather than cheese itself? i think the ingredients in cows milk cause a lot of dairy intolerance problems so could you possibly try an alternative? soya? goats?

have you had your gallbladder checked as well? High fat foods could cause similar symptoms with gallbladder probs.

DLI - I can drink a small amount of milk without it affecting me much, so I'm not sure about that.

Thumbwitch - not as far as I know. How do you get your gallbladder checked?

cheese has less lactose than milk so if your problem is mainly cheese it probably isn't lactose. It could be an intolerance to milk protein but sounds more like it may be fat that is the issue. Have you tried low fat cheese to see if that bothers you less?

Lactose intolerance can be secondary to gluten intolerance so you could try gluten free but it sounds like a low fat diet might be better.

Oh gosh, feeling very 'fat' now.

Just echoing Thumbwitch about possible gallbladder problems. It sounds very similar to problems I had which was my gall bladder. Mention it to your gp & see if they could refer you for an ultrasound scan.

don't have to be fat to have a problem with eating it.

gallbladder probs can be checked first by doing liver function test (a blood test) and then by a scan. If it is stones then can get moderate to severe pains, usually on the right side, sometimes in the back and up to the shoulders.

Stones cause interruption to the flow of bile from the gallbladder - bile is used to emulsify fats and help absorption, so lack of this can cause undigested fat to travel through the bowel, often causing diarrhoea or loose stools with offensive smell (more so than usual!)

Common offenders to bring on symptoms are cheese, rich pastries, cream, very fatty meals.