Digestive Problems And Lactose Intolerant

CatLover49

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Hey..Im trying to find out some information concerning myself ...I had hiatal hernia surgery twice within the last 6 or 7 yrs..some whereabouts that..And within the last couple yrs...Ive had lactose intolerance n Digestion issues...It Didnt start immediately after the second surgery..but I would say a yr or so or somewhereabouts...I have paid that much attention cause I figured out on my own every time I ate anything or drank anything with milk in it..I had bathroom issues...yikes...So I just been dealing with it..n pretty much try to avoid milk products...And im FINE...But Now I caneat like turkey burger..or hamburger...n have some of the same problem...If I eat like boiled potatoes..or boiled chicken breast....skinless n boneless..Im fine...but I do get little nauseated...but no bathroom problem...Yes im GOING to set up Dr appt ASAP...cause its becoming where I dont know what to eat
..And im drinking only water...And Canada dry ginger ale if i get REALLY nausea...Other than THAT..I drink lots of water NOW....If I eat a piece of cake or an egg..get nausea...Has anyone ever had hiatal hernia surgery...and got like this after wards????I mean maybe couple yrs or so later after surgery???And gotten lactose intolerant???Please any advice???:(:updown::dunno:
 

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While each person's case is different, there might be some useful tips common to most IBS cases. Your response to dairy might be from either lactose intolerance or inability to digest the casein protein in dairy products; you might have sensitivity to the albumin in egg white or you might be intolerant of both the egg white and the yolk. And you may be gluten intolerant and eating wheat, rye or cross-contanimated foods could set off a flare-up that makes you hypersensitive to those foods that you mentioned.
There are several common things that doctors often initially try eliminating for two weeks then try reintroducing one at a time: Dairy (both eggs & milk); Gluten; Nuts and nut flours; Sugar, including high-glycemic fruits. Avoiding raw vegetables is sometimes recommended which is rough if you are a salad lover like me but thankfully tomatoes and avocados are considered low-glycemic fruit! Cooked veggies are fine. Depending on the practitioner, you might have to avoid soy as well which means no soy, cashew or almond milk - just rice or oat milks for your dairy substitutes. And if you have sensitivity to grains, corn and rice might be a problem.
To calm your gut for this, your practitioner might have you go straight vegan for 2 weeks to calm your gut; you will probably be asked to take a good probiotic such as Florastor or Ultimate Flora or many of the others out there - look for at least 10 strains and at least 40 billion CFUs. I always begin my probiotic changes gradually but some people do the full doses immediately; one of my practitioners had me do the gradual dosing because of the potential "die-off" effects (Jarisch-herxheimer effect described here: Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction - Wikipedia ). You can do an elimination diet prior to your medical consult and take your observation notes with you - your practitioner will appreciate the information.

If you have good insurance, INSIST on a food intolerance blood panel! One year, over 80lbs weight loss, a stay in hospital, and continued nausea & diarrhea , 4 doctors, one GI specialist and 2 nutritionists later, my daughter got her blood panel results back and her must-avoid list was pretty much everything we had been directed to feed her to try to regain weight: bakery products (wheat,baker's yeast); dairy, including egg yolk & egg white as well as the whey which we were adding to all her meals; legumes including peas, beans and lentils (she prefers to be vegan); ginger (used regularly to allay nausea), etc. Since eliminating those things, her symptoms have slowly improved and she has been at 116# for almost 2 months (she's 5'6" so needs more).
Myself, for most of my life, I have dealt with probable Crohns, leaky gut, gluten intolerance, an unspecified autoimmune disorder (high RA markers on multiple ANA tests but it's not one of the common AI problems although every tooth that had a root canal w/post has been yanked). My daughter's condition is not believed to be associated with mine.
Some herbs that work for us both, though, as well as for my cats, are lemon balm, red raspberry leaf, tumeric extract, marshmallow root *(marsh as opposed to highland mallow - hollyhock, malva are examples of high mallows found in yards and work well but not as potent), slippery elm bark, white oak bark, licorice root (tastes like black licorice, anise & fennel). Some people prefer bottled tinctures.
Also, monitor ALL your symptoms including your body temperature taken 3-4 times daily, as well as ANY symptoms of pain, tenderness in muscles and joints, dryness, itchiness (skin, ears, eyes) and especially pay attention to vision changes including blurriness or doubled at random times. Note as well, stool color & consistency; the same for urine output - basically the same observations that our veterinarian asks about our cats! i hope this helps! :2cents:
 
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CatLover49

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While each person's case is different, there might be some useful tips common to most IBS cases. Your response to dairy might be from either lactose intolerance or inability to digest the casein protein in dairy products; you might have sensitivity to the albumin in egg white or you might be intolerant of both the egg white and the yolk. And you may be gluten intolerant and eating wheat, rye or cross-contanimated foods could set off a flare-up that makes you hypersensitive to those foods that you mentioned.
There are several common things that doctors often initially try eliminating for two weeks then try reintroducing one at a time: Dairy (both eggs & milk); Gluten; Nuts and nut flours; Sugar, including high-glycemic fruits. Avoiding raw vegetables is sometimes recommended which is rough if you are a salad lover like me but thankfully tomatoes and avocados are considered low-glycemic fruit! Cooked veggies are fine. Depending on the practitioner, you might have to avoid soy as well which means no soy, cashew or almond milk - just rice or oat milks for your dairy substitutes. And if you have sensitivity to grains, corn and rice might be a problem.
To calm your gut for this, your practitioner might have you go straight vegan for 2 weeks to calm your gut; you will probably be asked to take a good probiotic such as Florastor or Ultimate Flora or many of the others out there - look for at least 10 strains and at least 40 billion CFUs. I always begin my probiotic changes gradually but some people do the full doses immediately; one of my practitioners had me do the gradual dosing because of the potential "die-off" effects (Jarisch-herxheimer effect described here: Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction - Wikipedia ). You can do an elimination diet prior to your medical consult and take your observation notes with you - your practitioner will appreciate the information.

If you have good insurance, INSIST on a food intolerance blood panel! One year, over 80lbs weight loss, a stay in hospital, and continued nausea & diarrhea , 4 doctors, one GI specialist and 2 nutritionists later, my daughter got her blood panel results back and her must-avoid list was pretty much everything we had been directed to feed her to try to regain weight: bakery products (wheat,baker's yeast); dairy, including egg yolk & egg white as well as the whey which we were adding to all her meals; legumes including peas, beans and lentils (she prefers to be vegan); ginger (used regularly to allay nausea), etc. Since eliminating those things, her symptoms have slowly improved and she has been at 116# for almost 2 months (she's 5'6" so needs more).
Myself, for most of my life, I have dealt with probable Crohns, leaky gut, gluten intolerance, an unspecified autoimmune disorder (high RA markers on multiple ANA tests but it's not one of the common AI problems although every tooth that had a root canal w/post has been yanked). My daughter's condition is not believed to be associated with mine.
Some herbs that work for us both, though, as well as for my cats, are lemon balm, red raspberry leaf, tumeric extract, marshmallow root *(marsh as opposed to highland mallow - hollyhock, malva are examples of high mallows found in yards and work well but not as potent), slippery elm bark, white oak bark, licorice root (tastes like black licorice, anise & fennel). Some people prefer bottled tinctures.
Also, monitor ALL your symptoms including your body temperature taken 3-4 times daily, as well as ANY symptoms of pain, tenderness in muscles and joints, dryness, itchiness (skin, ears, eyes) and especially pay attention to vision changes including blurriness or doubled at random times. Note as well, stool color & consistency; the same for urine output - basically the same observations that our veterinarian asks about our cats! i hope this helps! :2cents:
Right NOW im taking RenewLife Ultimate Flora Probiotic Adult 50+....25 Billion Live Cultures...6 Probiotic Strains...It SAYS 1 a day....I started this on my own...What do u think of this probiotic????
 

kashmir64

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Sound a little like it may be your gall bladder. Ask your doctor when you see him/her about this.
Eggs, milk, red meat...all this screams gall bladder to me.
 

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Excellent! It was recommended to me by my doctor. For flare-ups, I use their Ultimate Flora Extra Care 50 billion.
kashmir64 kashmir64 might be onto something - maybe it is gallbladder. My daughter was 29 when she had to have her gallbladder out because it was functioning at about 8%. She did not have stones and it took some detective work by an excellent doctor to do the blood test to check gb function. This os the same daughter who had the sarcoma removal and now the food intolerances. I have come to realize that it's hard to get answers right away.
 

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My husband has extreme lactose intolerance. He has to take a dairy free probiotic. That means the strains are not grown on anything milk based. This was recommended by his gastro specialist.

I agree, gall bladder problems can present with nausea instead of pain. Your doctor will be able to help. I hope you get some answers soon.
 

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Jewely Jewely - thank you for sharing that consideration about strains grown on a dairy medium - I hadn't thought about that and it wasn't mentioned to me by anyone, either. I will definitely be checking out dairy free probiotics!
 

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catsknowme catsknowme

It looks like yours is dairy free as well according to their website. It should say it somewhere on the back of the bottle at least.
 

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Jewely Jewely - thank you for checking on that! I am lactose intolerant but can have A2 milk on my cereal without severe reaction. My daughter, on the other hand, is intolerant of casein which was surprising to me as she had always been able to drink lowfat and nonfat milk, both of which will give me symptoms to rival a severe stomach flu
 

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Do you still take acid reflux medications? Many times people who suffer from reflux, especially those who have hiatal hernias, don't have a "too much" acid problem but rather have a "too little" stomach acid problem. This causes problems with digesting food, and makes it so the food stays longer in the stomach and festers in there, causing reflux.
With hiatal hernias, in some cases, because there is not enough acid in the stomach, the sphincter to the stomach does not close well. And because the food is not breaking down, you have a double whammy. So now you have food festering in your stomach longer than it should, and it's coming back up, because the acid is not triggering the sphincter to close nor is it allowing the stomach to empty.
The surgery will help with keeping food and acid down, but you still have not addressed the fact that there is not enough acid in the stomach.
Often times, people will start taking antacids to help with the reflux, but then it becomes a contributor to the problem because you never had a "too much" acid problem to begin with. So now you have even less stomach acid....and the cycle continues.
Try your hand at taking digestive enzymes and drinking raw apple cider vinegar.
If you need better explaining just google apple cider vinegar for hiatal hernias or GERD.
I would also start a search on self massage for the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the muscle below the lungs but above the stomach. It keeps things separate among other important things, but with most people, it is way too tight. I could list many reasons for this but will skip to the part that when it is too tight, it will contribute to hiatal hernia problems. Again, you had the surgery, but surgery will not help a too tight diaphragm, I wonder if that's why you needed it twice?....If you can keep the diaphragm in good shape it can help digestive symptoms.
 
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CatLover49

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Do you still take acid reflux medications? Many times people who suffer from reflux, especially those who have hiatal hernias, don't have a "too much" acid problem but rather have a "too little" stomach acid problem. This causes problems with digesting food, and makes it so the food stays longer in the stomach and festers in there, causing reflux.
With hiatal hernias, in some cases, because there is not enough acid in the stomach, the sphincter to the stomach does not close well. And because the food is not breaking down, you have a double whammy. So now you have food festering in your stomach longer than it should, and it's coming back up, because the acid is not triggering the sphincter to close nor is it allowing the stomach to empty.
The surgery will help with keeping food and acid down, but you still have not addressed the fact that there is not enough acid in the stomach.
Often times, people will start taking antacids to help with the reflux, but then it becomes a contributor to the problem because you never had a "too much" acid problem to begin with. So now you have even less stomach acid....and the cycle continues.
Try your hand at taking digestive enzymes and drinking raw apple cider vinegar.
If you need better explaining just google apple cider vinegar for hiatal hernias or GERD.
I would also start a search on self massage for the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the muscle below the lungs but above the stomach. It keeps things separate among other important things, but with most people, it is way too tight. I could list many reasons for this but will skip to the part that when it is too tight, it will contribute to hiatal hernia problems. Again, you had the surgery, but surgery will not help a too tight diaphragm, I wonder if that's why you needed it twice?....If you can keep the diaphragm in good shape it can help digestive symptoms.
No I used to take nexium before the surgeries...And after the second surgery the Gastrointestinalogist DR took me off it....Said wasnt NO NEED for it ..that it could cause MORE harm than good at that point..which yes after the 2nd surgery...I didn't have the heartburn anymore...And still dont...Just digestible problems..like if I eat a turkey burger or hamburger...very low in the fat %...More lean%..I get nauseated...n stomach feels like its too full.n the burger would be a small one...and that would be all I ate...Just the turkey or hamburger...No cheese..Well of course the bun...n sometimes not the bun but still same feeling..And with any milk products...oh my im in trouble...yikes...Any tips on this information..just gave u????Im going to Dr.very soon for checkup( primary) and going to tell them all this..just trying to get little extra infinformation...Just dont KNOW what to eat any more
 

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Jem Jem :clap: Thank you for the very informative post! I am going to look into all your suggestions - in my experience, the doctors are often too quick to diagnose acid reflux without asking for so much as an at-home baking soda test.
 

Jem

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I get nauseated...n stomach feels like its too full.
I would really look into the issue with a diaphragm. It may be that things are so tight that it's taking too long for the food to pass thru.
And as mentioned, if you do not have enough acid in your stomach to break down the food it can cause nausea and a too full feeling.
 
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CatLover49

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Have you seen the doctor yet? What did he say?
No I haven't seen the Dr yet..But I did call to make the appt n talked to the nurse..n she said sounds like Im lactose intolerant...as far as the milk products problem..but as far as the getting nausea after eating something like like a turkey burger or hamburger...It could be a few different things..n also I forgot to mention in original thread..that I have pain under my left ribs...during these attacks...I call them....
 

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This sounds very weird but my brother and I both get ulcers and sometimes they can get pretty colorful in how they present. We found out very quickly early on that cabbage juice will solve the problems almost instantly. It doesn't taste the greatest for sure, but it will help the nausea. I will mix mine with kombucha as I need an EpiPen around dairy anything except butter/ghee, so the cabbage + kombucha mix means I get some decent probiotics.

I would try avoiding monosodium glutamate in every format, as it can hide out in over fifty different ingredients and has similar symptoms to what you describe. I have to avoid it to avoid horrible migraines (I'm working on 50 weeks migraine free right now, and I've had to avoid the crap for around 20 years at this point, so there is something to it), and the main MSG culprits I avoid on a regular basis are:

-Monosodium glutamate
-Disodium guanylate
-Natural flavors
-Artificial flavors
-Monopotassium glutamate
-Gelatin
-Artificial colors ANYTHING
-Caseinate/Casein
-Autolyzed yeast extract
-Yeast extract
-Nutritional yeast/yeast food
-Miso
-Soy
-Calcium alginate
-Seaweed & sea vegetables

All this means the safe food list is TINY (in a vending machine situation I'm stuck with plain potato chips, Frito Lay corn chips, and water. Peanuts are a maybe). Also, slow cooking anything can increase naturally occurring glutamate that will build in your system and trigger a migraine or symptoms when you get into too much artificial MSG.
 
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kashmir64

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I forgot to mention in original thread..that I have pain under my left ribs.
That's gas. The same spot but on the right is your gall bladder. Doesn't mean it's not your gall bladder - ask your doctor - but it does mean that your body is creating a lot of gas.
I wonder if the hernia is active again. You may need an ultrasound.
 

kashmir64

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My mom has this exact hernia that you had surgery for. Your symptoms and hers are the same.
 
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