Common Lactose intolerance Questions

8. Common Questions about Lactose intolerance:

 

1. What is it? An allergy?  - Lactose intolerance is NOT an allergy. If you are allergic to dairy, it is my understanding that you would have a reaction to dairy in a different way. You would have a reaction to dairy the same way that someone with a peanut allergy would have a reaction. You could also have a problem with reactions if dairy touched your skin. If you are lactose intolerant you are not suffering from this type of affliction. Lactose intolerance is an ENZYME DEFICIENCY. An enzyme deficiency means you do not have the enzymes in your body to break down lactose. Lactose is “Milk Sugar”. So, if you are lactose intolerant you either  have a hard time or you cannot, break down the sugar that is found naturally in milk.  (picture below found Via google images).

2. If it is not an allergy, why do you tell people it is? – Why? Because it is hard to explain. As wonderful as it is to FINALLY have the chance to tell people what it is, and what it is like to live with, every few people understand what an enzyme deficiency is. People understand the term allergy, and as soon as you say it they take you seriously. It is just a fast way to get a stranger, like a weightier to take it seriously.
3. Is it a “big deal”? I mean come on you just get a little gassy, right? – As I said before this is an enzyme deficiency. This means people can have varying amounts of the enzyme needed to process lactose. It means that people have different severities of lactose intolerance, (sorry for the science answer).  My Dad used to make fun of term “Lactose sensitive” but that is what some people are. It can be hard for those people to digest dairy, but they can do it. However, those people may get a little gassy or bloated. Then there are people with severe lactose intolerance. These people, like myself, cannot process lactose at all. (picture below found Via google images)

4. What are the symptoms? – Because, there is a range of how this deficiency can affect people there is a range of systems. Again, some of those with this affliction just deal with gas. This is one end (pardon the pun) of the spectrum. The other end of the spectrum is food poisoning-like symptoms. Symptoms include, stomach discomfort, pain, or cramps. Severe symptoms are vomiting, and diarrhea, sometimes both at the same time. Sometimes symptoms can last a few days. My Mom likes to say, “It is as if you ate plastic. Your body doesn’t know what lactose, “the plastic”, is so it is trying to get it out of your system as quickly as possible”.
5. You can grow out of it, can’t you? – No, it is highly unlikely that someone can “grow out of” lactose intolerance. I am sorry, but this question is one of my biggest pet-peeves. I growing up I had a few family members say this too me over and over again. All the while my symptoms and sensitivity were worsening. As a kid, it makes you feel like something is wrong with you. As if dealing with this issue isn’t hard enough. I am not sure what the medical answer is, but I can tell you my lactose intolerance has gotten WORSE with age. Again, this is an enzyme issue. If your body does not have the means to process a material it is very unlikely it will start “magically” producing something it could not before.  I only know of one case where there was such a change in a person. My cousin-in-law was lactose intolerant, (among other issues, more on that to come), until her pregnancy. It was like the baby taught her system how to produce the enzyme. While this is awesome for her, don’t go getting pregnant so you can eat a pizza. The chances of that happening are few and far between.(picture below found Via google images)

6. What can affect you? What can you not eat?  - You will want to avoid any Dairy products or product made with Lactose if you have this issue.  Anything  made with milk, cheese, cream, butter, sour cream, ice-cream, whipped cream, and butter cream frosting… the list goes on and on. If it is baked in bread or a cake, or crust, some people are able to handle the amount of lactose in those. Not sure why perhaps it cooks out some.  
7. What do I need to look out for? – Anything with the words, Milk or Lactose in the label. READ FOOD LABELS, I cannot stress this enough. Do not just read the nutrition facts, you know the thing that looks like (picture below found Via google images):

While these facts are important, you really need to be looking at the list of ingredients. This list is MORE important to you than the nutrition facts. Companies have started to add milk sugar in places it does not belong. The other month I kept feeling sick. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. It would happen after lunch every-day. I would make myself a turkey sandwich and an hour after all I wanted to do was lay down. I didn’t understand until I read the back of the turkey package. They have started to add lactose to the pre-packaged turkey. They already added it to flavored potato chips and now lunch meat. Lactose has now been added to a lot of different lunch meats. So beware of what the list of ingredients on the back of the label says.

8. Is there a way to combat it? – If you are Lactose intolerant there are ways to make sure you feel your best, and eat the foods you like. 1) depending on your sensitivity, cut down on your dairy intake or avoid it when you can. 2) Take “Lactaid”. These are enzyme pills that allow you process lactose for short periods of time. You should meet with a doctor before taking them, but they are an over the counter product. These do not work for some people. This could be because some brands work better than others or because these people have a hard time processing milk Protein, not milk sugar, (lactose). Not being able to process milk protein is a whole different issue. However, I digress. My point, it if you can take it and it works for you it does make life a little easier. I will post more information about “Lactaid” later. 3) Look for dairy substitutes and swap them out when you can. 4) Give yourself breaks from dairy when you can. You cannot stop or reverse lactose intolerance but I hope this helps!