Anyone become lactose intolerant out of nowhere?

[Anonymous]

What were your symptoms?

[Anonymous]

Yes. When I was in my early 20s. Symptoms were extreme GI distress when eating certain dairy foods---especially ice cream or cream based soups and sauces.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Stomach aches, really bad painful gas.

[Anonymous]

Yup. Immediately post partum. Had a grilled cheese one day by the end of the week all dairy made me throw up. It has never resolved. Instant fatigue to the point I have to go to bed, wheezing, nausea and then 10 —12 hours later I vomit.

I was nearly a cheeseaholic prior to this with zero issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup. Immediately post partum. Had a grilled cheese one day by the end of the week all dairy made me throw up. It has never resolved. Instant fatigue to the point I have to go to bed, wheezing, nausea and then 10 —12 hours later I vomit.

I was nearly a cheeseaholic prior to this with zero issues.

Lactose free doesn’t change anything either.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's very common as you age to be less tolerant to lactose. Milk was supposed to only be a food for the young of the species. Humans evolved a growing tolerance to drink it for much of their lives, which is very interesting! But apparently that tolerance differs from human to human.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but it was temporary, lasted about 6 months. It happened after some kind of virus. It was relatively easy to switch to lactose free stuff . Eventually I tried incorporating small and later larger quantities of dairy back into my diet and it was completely fine. This was around 5-6 years ago (just before the pandemic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. Immediately post partum. Had a grilled cheese one day by the end of the week all dairy made me throw up. It has never resolved. Instant fatigue to the point I have to go to bed, wheezing, nausea and then 10 —12 hours later I vomit.

I was nearly a cheeseaholic prior to this with zero issues.

Lactose free doesn’t change anything either.

That sounds like an allergy, not a lactose intolerance. You might want to get tested for that, because you seem have anaphylactic symptoms.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I went on a work trip that was almost two months long and didn’t have access to dairy. I was lactose intolerant when I came back. It took about two years to regain the ability to process it. This was in my 20s. I’m 50 and am fine now. I make a point of consuming foods with lactose regularly to keep my enzymes up. That lactose intolerance period was explosively unpleasant to say the least.

[Anonymous]

Yes, in my early forties. I had a stomach virus and seemingly never recovered. Hard distended stomach, diarrhea, constipation for over a year before I figured out what it was. Interestingly, my preschooler developed lactose intolerance around the same time. Made me wonder if it was indeed caused by the virus that we both had had.

[Anonymous]

Yes—dairy and gluten. Hit me as I approached menopause.

Bloating, abdominal pain, constipation.

I can tolerate small amounts of one or the other. Hard and aged cheeses seem ok. But I mostly just avoid it all.

[Anonymous]

Yes, in my 60's. Both my GI and primary care said that as we get older, our ability to process lactose is reduced. I'm surprised it took this long. I take 2 lactaids and that seems to help.

[Anonymous]

Yes, early 50s. About two hours after a meal with lactose, I’d feel like I was doing colonoscopy prep. Totally emptied out. Also know lactose is in many places, including sausage/bacon and some medications.

[Anonymous]

I read a memoir by a woman who was allergic to most foods. Apparently a person can become allergic to anything at any point in their life.

[Anonymous]

At menopause.