Over the last month and a half, I've discovered that I'm Lactose intolerant. What a pain in the butt, both figuratively and literally.
I had no idea that Lactose intolerance was something that could just start. Not knowing about such things, I thought you either were or weren't intolerant from birth. Boy, how I was wrong!
For several years I've had indigestion and bloating after some meals but never thought twice about, kinda went with the idea that's just life, ya know? But then, about six weeks ago, I had one of my favourite things, an ice cold glass of milk and within the hour I had bad stomach cramps and had to rush to the bathroom several times. (Sorry about the mental images.)
At first, I thought it might be a bug, I didn't even imagine it was the milk. Then, when it happened a couple more times after milk products, I decided to test myself and stopped having any. My digestive problems vanish almost instantly. Just to be sure, I tried milk again and yet again it upset my stomach, as does cheese and butter. So that's cold glasses of milk out and one of my other favourites...a cheese and onion sandwich...sigh.
I then got into research mode and find out what Lactose intolerance is - here comes the technical bit - in milk products there is an chemical called Lactose and it is hard to digest. A human body produces a digestive enzyme called Lactase, which breaks down the Lactose so it can be used by the body. However, for one reason or another, some people have a low amount of Lactase and so when eating anything with Lactose in they become unwell as it can't be digested properly. Got all that?
So all cow's milk products make me ill and painfully so in high quantities. However, a dear friend put me onto Lactaid pills, which are taken immediately before a meal known to contain Lactose, giving the eater a dose of Lactase to combat the incoming Lactose. And presto! I can, very occasionally, have cheese, butter and milk again! Woohoo!
While researching this problem, I came across some information on goat's milk possibly being edible by some people who are lactose intolerant, not all can manage it though. The reason it may be edible is that goat's milk has other digestive chemicals in it naturally, which help to break it down in the stomach and so such a high amount of Lactase is not needed. I haven't tried it yet but I remain hopeful, I don't want to take the Lactaid pills for the rest of my life just so I can have milk, butter and cheese.
One last thing, I've found out that milk solids, hence Lactose, are in so many more products than you can imagine. Needless to say, I now have to do a lot more label watching when I do the grocery shop.
Thank the Gods for Soy and Almond 'milks'!
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