Sadly, I am lactose intolerant. Eating just about any dairy product causes … unpleasantness. The problem? I love the stuff! Not only that, it’s nearly everywhere in the food I see here in the USA.
Here’s the question: is it harmful for me to eat milk-based products other than inconvenience and possible loss of liquids?
I can handle the periods on the toilet, and it even works as a laxative. I know there are supplements on the market, but that isn’t the question here. Does it vary between people? For some reference I am an 18 year old male originally from Taiwan.
I understand the main concept of lactose intolerance, and its effects on the water retention of the large intestine. I am looking for any side effects which are perhaps not obvious.
Hey! I am also an 18 year old who is lactose intolerant. I am not aware of any damage that dairy products can do to you. But I can assure you that there are differences in degree of intolerance. If I have any straight milk or cheese, or anything too strong, my insides feel as if I am passing razor blades. You probably know what I mean. And the supplements on the market haven’t really worked with me. They just seem to delay the inevitable long and painful trips to the toilet that haunt us. I am not a doctor and cannot tell you if consuming milk can be harmful, but I just felt like chiming in.
I was told, years ago, that it’s not good for your insides to keep irritating your bowels like that, but since the person who told me that was only my mother and not a doctor or a researcher or anybody like that, you may take that advice for what’s it’s worth.
Griffey, the trick to making the Lact-aid/DairyEase pills work is to (a) take enough of them–if the label says that “three” is the dosage, then you have to take all three–just taking one won’t work, and (b) keep the pills proportionate to the amount of food–don’t take a single dose of pills and then eat an entire double-cheese pizza, and © you have to take them before you eat the pizza, but not too long before. If you take them and then wait too long before you start eating pizza, the lactose and the lactase don’t arrive in your intestines at the same time and the trick doesn’t work. And the lactase needs to arrive in your intestines before the lactose, to set up shop or something, I dunno, so it doesn’t work to eat the pizza and then send down the pills. By the time the pills get there, your gut is already well into “oh gawd” flatulent mode.
Signed,
ENTIRE FAMILY LACTOSE-INTOLERANT [sigh]
There’s diarrhea and then there’s diarrhea. Lactose intolerance mostly causes the first kind.
Consequently, there is usually nothing to worry about. You don’t lose nutrients and you aren’t injuring your intestines.
However, it you are constantly straining at your bowels, you may develop hemmorhoids and those can grow to be a major problem. Trust me, you absolutely do not want to have hemmorhoid surgery.
So the solution really is taking as many lactase pills as necessary. DDG’s advice is good. If you want more check this page on lactase.
Thanks for the info DDG, and Exapno for the link to a lot of good information.
My intolerance is adult onset… when I hit about 45 years of age. I think my body must have a few lactase enzymes hanging around because I typically don’t have severe symptoms. Mostly gaseous bloating.
Regarding the OP’s specific question, I have nothing to add beyond what’s already been stated. Namely, that I too have heard that it’s not desireable to irritate the bowels. But is it actually harmful? I don’t know.