4 ms·

So you discovered you were lactose intolerant after 30 years, and throughout those years, you've presumably been drinking milk. Don't you think you would've bee

by kyro 17y ago

So you discovered you were lactose intolerant after 30 years, and throughout those years, you've presumably been drinking milk. Don't you think you would've been just as fine growing old without knowing you couldn't break down lactose?

starkfist 17y ago
Lactose intolerance is not life threatening but knowing you have it can really increase your quality of life. It manifests itself as feeling bloated, having bad gas, and diarrhea. People who don't know they have it often assume that having the farts and feeling gross all the time is just a normal state of being. Women who have it often guess that it related to PMS. (My girlfriend was diagnosed with lactose intolerance in her late 20s) When they figure out it's the milk and cheese and avoiding it makes the lower GI stuff goes away it can really make them much happier.
- ebiester 17y ago
  The same thing happened to me. Now, luckily I can handle small amounts of cheese, but I overload my body's buffers more quickly than most. That's one of the things I'm most curious about -- am I genetically intolerant, or was I just drinking too much?
ghshephard 17y ago
Heh - you clearly _aren't_ lactose intolerant. Through the simple (and relatively inexpensive) act of popping a lactase tablet before anything with milk, my life got a _whole_ lot better. It's embarrassing how much better things are. When I first got the results, I was like "Woah - 23andMe is broken - _I'm_ not Lactose intolerant" - that's what happens when you live with something your entire life - you baseline off a miserable experience and believe it to be the best you can do. Genomics certainly improved my life. :-)
- AngryParsley 17y ago
  Have you tried finding a pill that looks like a lactase tablet and having a friend choose randomly between the two before you consume dairy? I'd say it's more likely that you aren't experiencing a placebo effect, but it never hurts to be sure.
  - ghshephard 17y ago
    Heh. It's actually pretty easy to identify the people who aren't lactose intolerant by their comments. Trust me, there are three wonder drugs on this planet in my experience - these aren't like "Aspirin" or "Tylenol" in which placebo effect might be possible, these are drugs where there are almost instant and _very_ physical changes: o Tums - when I have a really acid stomach. Typically within 90-120 seconds my stomach clears up. o Amodium - If you ever have the runs (though, you then have this freaky experience of not having a bowel movement for 48-72 hours). Use with extreme caution. I've taken a total of three in my life. o Lactase - Which basically eliminates an entire suite of issues associated with the inability to digest lactose. In fact, the first few times I used them with a milkshake, the impact was so great, I was a little nervous until I did some reading and discovered the underlying mechanisms (basically breaking Lactose down to Galactose + Glucose) - Changed my life.

by kyro 17y ago

starkfist 17y ago

Lactose intolerance is not life threatening but knowing you have it can really increase your quality of life. It manifests itself as feeling bloated, having bad gas, and diarrhea. People who don't know they have it often assume that having the farts and feeling gross all the time is just a normal state of being. Women who have it often guess that it related to PMS. (My girlfriend was diagnosed with lactose intolerance in her late 20s) When they figure out it's the milk and cheese and avoiding it makes the lower GI stuff goes away it can really make them much happier.

ebiester 17y ago
The same thing happened to me. Now, luckily I can handle small amounts of cheese, but I overload my body's buffers more quickly than most. That's one of the things I'm most curious about -- am I genetically intolerant, or was I just drinking too much?

ghshephard 17y ago

Heh - you clearly _aren't_ lactose intolerant. Through the simple (and relatively inexpensive) act of popping a lactase tablet before anything with milk, my life got a _whole_ lot better. It's embarrassing how much better things are. When I first got the results, I was like "Woah - 23andMe is broken - _I'm_ not Lactose intolerant" - that's what happens when you live with something your entire life - you baseline off a miserable experience and believe it to be the best you can do. Genomics certainly improved my life. :-)

AngryParsley 17y ago
Have you tried finding a pill that looks like a lactase tablet and having a friend choose randomly between the two before you consume dairy? I'd say it's more likely that you aren't experiencing a placebo effect, but it never hurts to be sure.
- ghshephard 17y ago
  Heh. It's actually pretty easy to identify the people who aren't lactose intolerant by their comments. Trust me, there are three wonder drugs on this planet in my experience - these aren't like "Aspirin" or "Tylenol" in which placebo effect might be possible, these are drugs where there are almost instant and _very_ physical changes: o Tums - when I have a really acid stomach. Typically within 90-120 seconds my stomach clears up. o Amodium - If you ever have the runs (though, you then have this freaky experience of not having a bowel movement for 48-72 hours). Use with extreme caution. I've taken a total of three in my life. o Lactase - Which basically eliminates an entire suite of issues associated with the inability to digest lactose. In fact, the first few times I used them with a milkshake, the impact was so great, I was a little nervous until I did some reading and discovered the underlying mechanisms (basically breaking Lactose down to Galactose + Glucose) - Changed my life.