Milk Sugar Intolerance

I am hearing that more people are suffering from lactose intolerance. These people suspect that they cannot digest milk sugar in their body. This intolerance can affect anyone at any time when it has never bothered them before. People can go for years without a problem, and then all of a sudden he or she experiences gut-wretching abdominal/intestinal cramping, nausea, and diarrhea.

Yogurt is yummy and good for the body.

I eliminated dairy from my diet a long time ago. A few months after our first son was born in the summer of 1970, I discovered yogurt. I enjoyed the taste of yogurt and the fact that I was trying to bring back my healthy adult body weight; I replaced all desserts with yogurt.

After several months of substituting yogurt for cookies, cakes, and candy, I began to get abdominal cramps and diarrhea so severely I had a difficult time leaving the house. I decided to seek help from my family doctor. I remember sitting in his office for a grueling 30 minutes before the nurse called my name. I was nauseated and bent over with intestinal cramping, while I sat and awaited my turn.

The Good "Old" Traditional Doctors

I like and trust my primary care physician today. However, my doctor today is not like my doctor in the 1970s. I do not think that there are too many physicians who doctor that way anymore.

These Old Time Doctors:

• Could take one look at your fingernails or into your eyes and know what your health problems were.
• They made house calls and hospital rounds.
• These doctors let their pet have free range of their office because they felt their pets were therapeutic for the patient.
• These doctors did not have the privilege of using disposable anything, because there was no such thing.
• These doctors rarely sent you to a drug store or pharmacy to fill a prescription. These doctors had a medical room full of bulk medicines and filled your medication right there in their office.
• These doctors sterilized needles and when they needed to give a patient a shot of antibiotic or other medicine they did so right there.

This doctor knew right away what my problem was and said, "You cannot consume dairy, you have a milk sugar intolerance. I am afraid that even one teaspoon of milk is going to have unbearable consequences, and put you in the position you are now in at this minute."

The good doctor did not know why after 22 years of age the side effects of lactose intolerance were bothering me. He thought that perhaps that I had overeaten yogurt and it created, in my body, the inability to digest milk sugar.

For over 40 years, I had to eliminate any form of dairy from my diet, which included, cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, and much more. I could not eat cream, soups, and any foods containing dairy, and I could not eat bread or cereal where milk was listed as one of the ingredients. Many non-dairy food products still include dairy, and this can cause a lactose intolerant individual a big problem. I had to learn to read food labels,

Upon leaving, the doctor's office, he warned me again that even one teaspoonful of dairy will cause problems. I sure did not want to feel this ill ever again. The doctor handed me an envelope of Donnatol tablets, which is a traditional herbal medication that is still available at the pharmacy with a doctor's order.

After all of these years, I still carry Donnatol in my purse and take it when I travel. I can no longer get medicine from the doctor; I must go to the pharmacy to fill any medication orders. If I have eaten some food that seems to be causing me the effects of lactose intolerance, I take the Donnatol, and it removes any side effects of ingesting lactose.

Never test the doctor's warnings.

There were times that I tested the doctor's warning with just a couple teaspoons of homemade ice cream or a taste of the tasty yogurt and he was right. Diarrhea, immense abdominal cramping, and nausea returned.

Your body changes with time.

Throughout the last ten years, I have become more able to eat dairy, even yogurt, without any side effects. I found that I could enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich or a small bowl of ice cream on a hot summer day. Today I enjoy an unlimited amount of dairy products without any side effects.

Dairy contains essential calcium—is there a right or wrong calcium?

One must remember that if they must forgo any dairy in their diet, they must replace this dairy with a calcium supplement that contains Vitamin D. Calcium does not absorb into the body without the help of Vitamin D, so taking calcium without Vitamin D, you are throwing your money away.

Remember to buy calcium citrate and avoid using calcium carbonate. The doctor explained to me many years ago that even though the body has trace elements of carbon, calcium carbonate is not a good alternative to calcium.

It has always been perplexing to me why most vitamin brands include calcium carbonate in their products. There are just a few brands of multivitamins in the marketplace today that list calcium citrate as the calcium used in the product.

Citracal is one of these brands. I am not promoting any vitamin brands; I am just saying that calcium citrate is far better than calcium carbonate and this brand of supplement uses citrate instead of carbon. Calcium has a lot of benefits such as,

• Calcium keeps bones strong and healthy.
• Calcium with Vitamin D may lower a person's risk for osteoporosis.
• Calcium keeps teeth healthy.
• Calcium reduces the risk for heart disease.

Personal experience speaks.

Lactose intolerance has opened my mind to understanding these same side effects in the geriatric and pediatric patient when the doctor is bewildered as to such a complex yet simple health issue. Many seniors develop lactose intolerance, as do infants whose intestinal tract is too young to tolerate milk, sugar, and seniors can no longer digest this type of sugar.

Both a senior and an infant can become exceedingly miserable, and I have had many modern doctors overlook lactose intolerance as a problematic issue. The doctor may order an array of tests and miss something so simple as intolerance to milk sugar.

I do not how many times I intervened with my suspicions to the doctor that perhaps the patient suffers from an inability to absorb milk sugar.