lactose intolerance

Hi, My RNY is on April 24th and I haven't had my nut class yet. I was wondering what happens when you can't drink milk? I can handle cheese, cottage cheese, and yougart but my body refuses the milk. Will I be put on soy milk? does anyone know?

Why do you need milk? I've heard of more than one person that ended up being lactose intolerant after WLS.  They used soy milk, for cereal, etc. But you can mix protein shakes with water, and that's the way I prefer them. Mixing powdered shakes in a blender or Magic Bullet using milk makes them foamy, and possible gas problems. I've always preferred to mix with water for this reason. 

Wendy, If you become lactose intolerant after your RNY, which is not uncommon, you can try soy milk or lactose-free milk i.e. Lactaid.  Most people that are lactose intolerant CAN tolerate cottage cheese, yogurt and cheese because the lactose content is actually much lower than liquid mild.  Lactose intolerace is dose related, meaning most people can tolerate ~ 1/2 cup of milk at any one time but once the serving goes over this amount the body cannot break down the lactose fast enough and symptoms such as bloating, cramping, gas and/or diarrhea result.   After surgery, we always caution patients to SLOWLY introduce milk and see what the tolerance is.  If you experience no symptoms after 1/2 cup of milk you might not have a lactose intolerance.  In terms of you being told to drink soy milk, I have no idea what your dietitian will recommend. Best of luck to you on the 24th!

Hi Wendy You might want to watch for supplements that use only Whey Protein ISOLATE.   Whey Protein ISOLATE has essentially no lactose and is almost all protein. In contrast, Whey Protein CONCENTRATE is higher in lactose. It can be as much as about 46% lactose !  An easy way to remember that you want ISOLATE is that Whey Protein ISOLATE "isolates" the protein.  :-) Kind regards Jerome UNJURY (R) Protein