New lactose intolerance as an adult

[trumpisaflump]

Does anyone have this and can offer any advice? I've had the worst abdominal bloating for around 6 months. I was worried about ovarian cancer it was so bad but luckily that was ruled out with a blood test. During those blood tests my GP picked up I had an underactive thyroid and I've started on medication for this. My bloating is still bad so I've had an endoscopy and I'm just waiting on the results to check for coeliac. In the last few weeks I've cut out lactose and I think this is helping so I'm wondering if I have a new lactose intolerance.
I've switched to lactose free milk. I had some chicken soup earlier today and my stomach has expanded to the size of a house. I checked the ingredients and it contained fresh cream and milk. I didn't even consider this!
Just wondered if I should bother getting this diagnosed or if I simply cut out lactose. Any advice? Thanks

@artisanparsnips that’s great you can still eat some cheeses. Cheese is probably my favourite food of all time and I just don’t know if I could cut it out completely! So I presume some cheeses are lower in lactose than others? I’ll need to read into this. I thought Parmesan and pecorino cheese were just the same so I’ll need to educate myself in this area!

Goat and sheep's milk cheeses don't set me off at all - although that may not be true for everyone. So Pecorino is made from sheep milk, so it's quite an easy swap. And a good cheese shop can give you loads of options.

Hard cheeses are generally lactose free in the way they’re produced. But feta and mozzarella for example have more lactose

I’m trying to be completely dairy free after doing the clever guts diet (have always avoided milk and cream) but found yoghurt was causing the bloating and discomfort.

Oh how I miss yogurt and cheese! However lactose intolerance is apparently common over a certain age (who knew!)

I have found a few good vegan cheeses (but vegan yoghurts are disgusting!). Oh well I do feel much better generally!

I love yogurts too @FreyaMountstuart My favourite is Rachel's Organic coconut Greek yogurt. If I need to give that up I will probably actually cry! I did read that full fat probiotic yoghurts are low in lactose so I'm holding on to that thought!
I've bought Liz Earle's good gut guide book so I'm hoping to heal my gut soon!

@FreyaMountstuart I found I could drink kefir, apparently far more of the lactose and protein is digested.

Yep. When I was twenty four, it was like a switch had been flipped: one day I could eat cheese and foods containing dairy without a care in the world. Then all of a sudden I'm diving for the toilet. Took a week to work it out and a bit longer to actually believe it, but after cutting out the dairy altogether I was absolutely fine (and mourning my lost cheese) talking to my mother I found out that she had something similar happen to her (though being stubborn she's persisted in eating dairy) and gran has been diagnosed with IBS, though her pills don't seem to help her in the slightest, and guess what? She eats dairy too. It's weird how it suddenly changed, but at least it's manageable

@trumpisaflump a friend told me she’d found a lovely coconut yogurt I could eat - yes it was the Rachel’s and no I can’t eat it!

@artisanparsnips should have added I miss kefir too!

I can’t do goat or sheep’s milk yogurts anymore either!

If something says vegan on the label then I’ll give it a try - anything by ‘freaking healthy’ is lovely but not sure it’s available in the U.K. (I’m not in the U.K.!)