Have had lots of digestive health problems in the last few years. Because of my job I travel to developing countries a lot and have acquired a number of parasites/infections/general nasties, which got very bad during a few years living in Africa. As a result of a nasty case of giardia, and a series of other illnesses, I realised upon moving back to the UK I had become lactose intolerant, which has progressed to the point where even normal milk in tea will make me ill.
After seeing many doctors a few years ago, and being told that basically, my stomach had been damaged by all the illnesses and I just needed to build it back up, I'm now at the stage where if I avoid lactose (I do use lactofree dairy products) I'm mostly fine, but I realised recently that I still probably have at least one case of bad diarrhea on average once a week - more when I travel, which is to be expected - that does not seem to be stress-related.
Since there doesn't seem to be anything causing this - have had so many tests, I'm confident there are no nasties still lurking - I'm wondering if this is something I just have to live with, or if I should be harassing my GP, or if there's anything I can do myself? I went to a slightly hippy GP with a digestive health specialism a year ago who diagnosed me with candida and I went off yeast and sugar for a bit which helped, but I found it unsustainable. I take probiotics when I remember, but have never noticed much of a change. Is there anything else I can do, or is this fairly normal for someone with a history of dodgy digestive health?