Lactose

[Bernadette]

I miss my cup of tea so much, the milk seems to make me sick, so I stick with black coffee. However on Saturday I was told to try lactose free milk..but an hour or so afterwards I got bad, sick, stomach rumblings (and the other)..does anyone know if this product can cause this, I had it for 12 hours..or was it just a bug?

[patchworker]

Have you tried soya milk? Lactose free milk upsets my stomach just like ordinary milk, but soya milk is great. I believe there is almond milk as well, but I don't know what it would be like in tea! Might set a new fashion!

[Bernadette in reply to patchworker]

thanks going to try soya milk and I have just bought almond, do you think it may be sweet..anyway I am going to try it on thursday..i have a free day just in case it upsets me..better no do it on a busy day.

[liz_crisp]

Hi Bernadette,

I had a problem with milk to begin with but it did improve after about 6 months and now milk is not a problem. 3 years on tomorrow!!! soya milk was what i tried for a while.

good luck

Lizzy

[New-beginning]

Hello Bernadette

I used to be a tea addict, I had a problem with tea and like you switched to black coffee, but now 12 months on, my taste buds are recovering and I can tolerate milk in tea, so in time the taste adjusts, I like strong flavours now and instead of tea sometimes I have a cup of bovril in the mid morning, it really gives the taste buds a good work out.

Mike

New Beginning

[Bernadette in reply to New-beginning]

my taste buds have changed in the last four years also..used to like sweet stuff now prefer savoury..unless cake is home made I would not touch it.

[yorkshirerose]

Hi Bernadette

I went off all hot drinks and can only tolerate icy cold drinks now. But have you tried your tea with a slice of lemon? Lemon turns alkaline in the body so shouldn't cause a problem with reflux

Best wishes

Edwina xx

[Bernadette in reply to yorkshirerose]

yuk...I want real tea..thanks Edwina

[Hidden]

I wonder if it is to do with your body not having had milk of any sort for so long and then having a reaction? Do you have sugar in tea? (in which case try - if you can - without the sugar?)

Going without tea does seem a very high price to pay doesn't it! But if you leave it for a week and then try again, you will know for sure whether this is going to be possible or not. But you will have to put up with the risk of having the same thing happening again. Life is definitely not fair.

[margaretd]

Hi, four years down the line and i still can't tolorate milk of any discription, not even a square of chocolate, don't think time will change this for me!

[Joseph84]

Have you tried herbal teas I drink camomile as coffee upsets my stomach.

[Bernadette]

thanks for all the suggestions, and I hope they help others too. In the very beginning over 4 years ago my surgeon Mr Maynard came in and said what would you like most all now that we know your join wont leak, Tea please, well it was horrible, first I had to have milky tea, then I went over to herbals for about 4 months, but still really missed my cup of real tea, I have to say I can have one cup of tea per day around 6am when my stomach is presumably empty I can have a nice mug of tea but no more, guess I will have to be content with one cup a day.

My actual question was not what can I have in replacement but could I be intolerant to lactose free milk.. I am going to try almond tea. I dont have sugar in tea Alan.

[chris_usa]

My understanding od lactose-free products such as milk is that an enzyme is used to break down the lactose into simpler sugars that a lactose-intolerant person would be better able to handle. There are still sugars to my understanding in lactose-free milk. And sugars of any kind can lead to problems with dumping.

In the US there are types of almond milk (which I use post-op) wthout added sugar. I try to use it in place of dairy milk, even in cooking such as rice pudding. It sounds like you are going to have problems with any quantity of dairy milk, whether lactose-free or not. Keep experimenting, because these things can be highly individualized, and you may tolerate things that others cannot. And many times it is a question of quantity, not necessarily type of food.

I have never tried lactose-free milk ( b/c I went to almond milk fairly quickly post-op), but I can see where in theory it would cause you problems. Take care.

[handy]

Hi Bernadette

3 years on for me and i still cannot have milk black tea with sweetners is what i can get away with, but soya milk works for me on cereal and in porrige.

[Bernadette]

thanks...Chris and Handy...its trial and error..in my case mainly error.

[Hidden]

It is always good to be able to understand exactly what it is that is causing the problem.

As I understand it, and I am probably trying to teach my mother to suck eggs, the top part of the stomach is where lactase is produced, lactase being the stuff that enables us to digest lactose found in milk, lactose being a sugar found in milk and other dairy products. If all or part of that bit of your stomach has been removed in the surgery, then this can be the cause of lactose intolerance,

So whether it is the milk, or perhaps more accurately the sugar from the milk that is causing the problem may be the big question. And quantity, as Chris says, may be relevant too.

I will ask around to see whether there is some more wisdom to be found on this!

[Hidden]

I have asked a specialist dietician who says that it is possible to be allergic to lactose-free milk as it is the proteins in food that people are allergic to. So it is possible for, say, a young infant to be OK with lactose which is a sugar, but not to be able to have milk proteins unless they are broken down (so specialised formula milk for the infant would be OK but there is no adult equivalent).

The dietician asked whether there might have been anything else that you had with the tea and milk that might have complicated things, and thought it might be interesting

to see how you are with tea without the milk (which you have answered) and then for you to try it again with milk, this way you would know for sure.

It may also be something that improves over time.

[Bernadette]

thanks for that Alan, I am going to try it again next week on a day when I am at home all day. I appreciate you asking the question for me.

[Mick]

Strange how somethings play some of us up but not others. In my case I left hospital without having had solid foods, told by the Dr when i left....eat as normal. At home on th1st day couldn`t stand the taste of tea, all I could drink was milk. and that was full fat, and had my 1st meal of shepherds pie and veg.

Its been a year of ups and downs, good days and bad, trying to find what Im happy eating and what plays me up still have odd bad days but coping with it.

We all have to find a happy medium its only with sites like this that sharing views and experiences we know others have been through similar situations.

Regards to everybody.

[Bernadette]

Its a wonderful site and I am so thankful for it..