I worked in the mall for the better half of my college career. Along with the long hours I put in as the manager of a cell phone company came the temptation of keeping my belly full with plenty of good food. There were chocolate-filled double doozy cookies made just for me, fresh out of the oven because the lady there became my friend since she was right across the way. I got 20% off at the pretzel and ice cream store just as all the mall employees did, but I was in very close vicinity of it. I could smell the cheese sauce. Then there opened up a coffee shop, and lattes are my weakness. Every day I had myself scheduled I ate tons of this junk food, consumed massive amounts of coffee, and sampled new types of ice cream. So when I suddenly started having sharp stomach pains and the immediate urge to run to the restroom half bent-over at the waist, I didn’t know what was wrong. I felt like I’d overdosed on over-the-counter laxatives. The pain at its worst has to be comparable to weak labor pains (I’ve never had children so I can’t be sure, but I know what I’ve heard).
Since my pain and sickness didn’t hit me every single day at the same time, I started watching what foods I ate. The only thing I can pin it on that wouldn’t make my stomach act up normally was the mint chocolate ice cream. I’d eaten it plenty of times before with no discomfort. I’m an ice cream hog. Once I get started, I keep going and going. I wouldn’t have been surprised to look up one day and find that I had a green nose with a smushed piece of chocolate on it. I loved loved LOVED my ice cream. Suddenly, though, every time I ate it, I had to rush to the restroom. That was not a pleasant experience, because we all know how thoroughly mall restrooms get cleaned, and how often (definitely NOT after every customer uses it).
I finally gave up and stopped eating my beloved mint chocolate chip and butter pecan; I cut back on my deliciously large lattes (didn’t trust soy to taste good, so I never substituted). I didn’t eat yogurt for breakfast in the mornings. I turned my back on the cheese that taunted me from my salad-tops. I’d even started having problems eating my breakfast cereal with milk (and I can’t live without the two most important men in my life besides my husband: Count Chocula and Captain Crunch). Would I forever have to live in dairy-avoidance misery? It was almost as bad as discovering I was a diabetic (I’m not, but I’m always scared I’ll become one when I have babies).
My husband, more of a television fan than I, brought to my attention a product for lactose intolerance he saw on a commercial. They sell it in all drugstores and it’s supposed to stop the bloating, the diarrhea, and the pain. It’s supposed to help your body break down the lactose in dairy products and keep those horrible effects at bay. On our next shopping trip, I picked some up. It says to take it with your first bite of ice cream, yogurt, cereal with milk, etc. I tried it, then ate some cheese dip at the local Mexican restaurant here. I kept waiting for the pain. It didn’t come. I took another over-the-counter lactose pill afterwards and ate ice cream. Still no desire to run to tell my husband to risk getting pulled over for speeding to get me to the comfort of our master bathroom. I was a believer.
If you think you may be lactose intolerant due to lower abdomen pain, nausea, gas, diarrhea, or sometimes even constipation after consuming dairy products, take a stroll down the aisle in the drugstore where those over-the-counter lactose pills can be found and see what happens next time you drink a milky latte or eat a bowl of cereal. Sometimes people may need to take a second pill halfway through the dairy-loaded meal, but start with one and see how it goes. If you feel a little better than usual after your first dose, but still have mild pain or another symptom, try taking a second one after you get a good start on your dairy snack or meal. They really do work for decreasing discomfort.
