Did surgery make me lactose intolerant?

I had a bowl of cereal about a week ago. Shreded (sp) Oat Squares. It was my hubby's cereal (read organic) and thought it would be safe. The third ingredient is molasses but I didn't know that until I had started to dump and went looking for causes. Any way since most of us know how nasty dumping is I'll skip the details. However right after that let up I got this icky junk going on in my tummy and intestines. After about an hour of feeling like I HAD to go and not being able to and having an upset stomach (ready to ralph just wasn't coming up) the gas started. Now I have had so pretty foul smelling gas in my day but this was just horrid! My nose was begging for mercy!!! The gas and cramps lasted for about two hours. I was finally able to go but it was real rank and watery. I thought the whole time that it was the cereal but later that day I had a salad with ranch dressing. Rerun of earlier events. To test our theory I drank 2 ounces of milk and guess what... yup another rerun. I was never lactose intolerant before surgery so could this be caused by or brought on by the surgery itself or did it just happen to manifest now and I think it's the surgery?? Any one else having this problem? Love and hugs, Gayle

Me me. I loved milk before the surgery, I can NOT have anything to do with it now. I havent had a bowl of cereal because I know that Im lactose intolerant now. I can eat cheese and sour cream and stuff like that but serious dairy like Milk and me do not get along. I do kinda ok with skim, but since I dont like the way skim milk tastes I just leave it alone LOL. ~Nicole

Have you tried any Lact-Aid (or generic comparable) products? My friend gave me some of the tablets today but after the last round I'm seriously afraid to give it a try! If anyone has tried them (before or after surgery) and they worked or didn't please let me know. Thanks Gayle

Hi Gayle, I could eat anything before surgery with no problems, but since surgery, no milk, no ice cream, no anything with milk products. I get so ill I can't stand it!!! I talked to my surgeon about it and he suggested boiling the milk and then refrigerating it to get it cold again. I tried it; it didn't work for me. Still made me sick as dog!! He also suggested I try lactaid pills before eating milk products. I tried that too, and I found that if I take one, I can eat about two bites of ice cream (sugar free, fat free, of course!), but no more than that. I will still get sick if I eat more than that. Tammy 373/301/160

Yeah, my first reaction was that it was the cereal, but you obviously ruled that out! Try the Carb Countdown milk and chocolate milk. It's so extremely close to the real thing most people aren't able to distinguish a difference. The chocolate is decadent. Do that and have the low carb Atkins cereal instead of the other kind and you might not have a reaction. Dina

I just wanted to say that I've tried the chocolate Carb Countdown 'milk' and thought it was terrible. I threw away the entire carton.

How funny! Guess it just goes to show that our tastebuds are all different (unless you got a bad batch). To me, I can't tell a difference between that and the real chocolate milk. Dina

To me it didn't taste as though it had gone 'bad,' it tasted like a terrible protein shake. But I think I'm such a HUGE milk fan, I can't stand the imitators. I am lactose intolerant also since surgery, and I only use my Lactaid milk as a mixer or in cereal because it doesn't taste close enough to real milk to drink in a glass.

Ahhh yes.....milk connosieur! Well, I have always been a milk lover too, but I tried not to drink too much of it in the past since I was always trying to do Atkins. This is the closest thing I can think of to real milk for me. I understand we are all sensitive to little subtleties that others may not though. I have the same reaction when people talk about some of these protein drinks...like Whey Fruity. Gag a maggot....that stuff makes me wanna hurl! Dina

I cannot do milk products either. As a matter of fact, a lot of foods I could eat before have me checking out restrooms I have never seen before. We have finally attributed it to having my gallbladder removed at the time of the WLS surgery. I never know what will set me off. That is one reason why I do not think I can handle protein shakes. Meat is better for me so I am doing real foods as much as possible.