# Lactose intolerance



## itsallgood (Dec 14, 2011)

Hi All,

I wonder if anyone can advise me on this... Since being diagnosed I've been taking metformin, slow release 2000mg a day, and it has never really been a picnic as far as bowel movements go. This seems to be a common thing as far as I can observe on here.

At about the same time I modified my diet to include porridge, exclude sugar as far as I can, count the carbs etc. all the usual stuff. Though not massively overweight (5ft 8in tall @ 13.5 stone) I've not lost an ounce but predictably I do generally feel better.

Cutting to the chase, I think I've become lactose intolerant. After trying a few days without the porridge my rear-end became much better behaved so I left it out completely (the porridge that is). Now whenever I have a substantial amount of milk, always skimmed, or a piece of cheese the next day I get the familiar anal mayhem returning for a while.

This never used to happen before DX and I was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences with metformin/milk?


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## trophywench (Dec 14, 2011)

I should have thought dropping porridge causing improvements would be the drop in carbs not the drop in milk? - have you tried making it with water to see if the effects come back?

I know that doesn't explain the cheese, but are you eating that on its own or is it perchance something you'd have with the cheese?

Just trying to be scientific LOL


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## itsallgood (Dec 14, 2011)

It's a fair point trophywench - whilst I haven't tried making it with water I have tried just drinking the equivalent amount of milk but without the oats. Running shoes were required. Cheese I would normally have cut off the block (cheddar) and eaten as is. Similar effect.

It's easily controlled with imodium, that calms it down straight away, but I do like the occasional bit of strong cheese when I get in from work as a little booster. I'm already rattling with tablets and don't really want to have to take imodium just to tolerate it.


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## David H (Dec 14, 2011)

itsallgood said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I wonder if anyone can advise me on this... Since being diagnosed I've been taking metformin, slow release 2000mg a day, and it has never really been a picnic as far as bowel movements go. This seems to be a common thing as far as I can observe on here.
> 
> ...


.

It may not be lactose (the sugar in milk) because the higher the fat content the lower the lactose.
Cheese, cream, butter etc would be lower in lactose than skimmed milk.

Having said that have you tried *lactofree milk* and see if the reaction is there still? 

If it's Casein that's the problem (the protein in milk) then you may have to switch to rice, almond or soy milk substitutes.


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## itsallgood (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks David, I'll try the lactofree stuff and see what happens, though it sounds like I might as well just use water. To be honest I don't really miss the porridge, I have a banana instead for breakfast now. Can't do without a bit of cheese now and again though - don't get many treats these days.


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## Martin-Parent (Jan 4, 2012)

I am lactose intolerant and use a product called "Prolactazyme Forte" by BioCare.  The instructions say take one tablet per day, but as I don't have lactose products every day I find that taking one tablet about 5 to 10 minutes before consuming milk based products and I can eat or drink away with no problems.

I gave it a real test shortly after purchasing them as I really missed cheese as I hadn't eaten it for years so one Sunday I bought about 6 different cheese products, popped a tablet and ate them all.  A tentative wait ensued as I dared not travel too far from the facilities, but nothing.  The tablet worked a treat.  I then thought, maybe I am ok with cheese now and a few days later ate a small tiny piece with no tablet and my stomach went mad at me!


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## itsallgood (Jan 6, 2012)

That sounds really good, I'll check these out, thanks.


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