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In Detroit, Fat Tuesday is more widely known as Pączki Day. I brought some to my coworkers here in NYC this year and they were hooked!

Thought for years I was lactose intolerant. Then was prescribed a Z-pack antibiotic, now i can digest dairy!!!!!! Apparently something was blocking the enzyme needed to digest dairy & the antibiotic killed it. But just recently had the stomach flu, was still sick after 2 weeks. Doc said the dairy products were FEEDING the BAD BACTERIA. Said no dairy for 2 weeks, then start adding back in PROBIOTICS (Activia, ect....) for 2 weeks then add regular dairy back in. Still in the no dairy stage, will let you know if it works. Cross your fingers!!!! lol Found this site looking for cheese low in lactose, Thank you so much for a wealth of info everyone!!!!

I have learned that dairy with the least amount of fat, ex: skim milk,
low fat milk and buttermilk have the most lactose.
So many products contain dairy. Whey is also a dairy by product and it
is in many foods. Pretzels contain whey.

Dear Jamie,
(I apologize ahead of time for this long post, but I'm talking about a cure here)
Have you ever heard of Kefir? I'm talking about home-brewed Kefir, not about the sterile glorified yoghurt that is sold in supermarkets and health food stores under the same name. Real Kefir is brewed from Kefir grains which are popcorn-sized colonies of about 20 different bacteria and yeasts, lactobacillus included of course. A typical serving of home brew delivers a billion or more vital, active cultures, complete with their own fuel source, which over time out-compete and replace undesirables, completely changing the microorganism profile in your gut . I started home brewing because I read that Kefir can reverse sudden-onset lactose intolerance, and for me at least it has (most importantly naturally and cheaply, with a host of other health benefits to boot!). A colony of live Kefir grains costs less than $20, can be purchased from many different sources all easily found on google, and since they technically can never die, when properly cared for can be willed to your great-great-great-great grandchildren... they're just that awesome. A serving size is about 8oz and will require about 10-12oz of milk to brew (the grains will use some volume of milk to grow and replicate), so considering the cost of the materials this works out to a dollar or under per day for a lasting solution. All of this can be maintained in under five minutes per day. Start out brewing with un-homogenized goat milk (no lactose and a different whey protein structure which may help more immediately with your symptoms) and after a couple weeks drinking this, try brewing from whole, UN-HOMOGENIZED (preferably raw) cow's milk and see if you can tolerate it. If not, back to a couple weeks more on the goat's milk kefir then repeat the process. Once you can handle full servings of cow's milk kefir, then move on to DUH-DUH-DUH... uncultured dairy. Can you eat the inoculated yogurt sold under zippy brand names in the stores? Sure, if you want to waste time and money. Those brands contain very impotent "live" cultures held in stasis from the cold which are dispatched by your stomach acids before they even reach your intestines... some brands are even pasteurized AFTER the cultures are added, completely negating the purpose of adding them in the first place! HOME BREWED KEFIR is the BEST! Good luck and hope this helps.

There's no lactose in cheese. Cheese is made from milk protein, and any remaining lactose that contaminates the protein is the first thing to be degraded by the Lactobacillus that ferments the milk.

You may have a milk allergy. But it t'ain't lactose intolerance.

I also take Digestive Advantage on the recommendation of my gastroenterologist and find that it helps tremendously.
You can be lactose intolerant and still eat some cheeses. Parmesan cheese and bleu cheese are not a problem for me. I can also eat most feta cheeses. Some feta is made with cow's milk and others are made with goat's milk. Go for the goat's milk varieties.
Sour cream is a killer. I had one tiny taste of the cheesecake my husband ordered for dessert and paid the consequences.
My son, also lactose intolerant, can't tolerate chocolate, either. Poor boy.
I can't eat quality ice cream. But, when I crave a little treat, I have ice cream from McDonald's. It never bothers me. I assume that it must be soy-based.

Yes, get tested.
Most GI disorders present the same symptoms so it's very easy to jump to conclusions.
We assumed the same thing (lactose intolerance) with my husband, turns out he had a parasite which caused such irritation and inflamation which in turn developed into an infection in his intestines, which could only be verified by a colonoscopy, but there was a trip to the ER first and two CT scans. After about $9000 in medical bills, largely covered by insurance, but we were still out almost $3000 out of pocket (thanks to yearly deductibles and bc hubby got sick in Dec and Jan, so two different insurance years).
The infection and parasite were easy to clear up with anitbiotics, but recovering from a ravaged digestive tract took several weeks of restricted diet as we tried to ease back into eating, suffer a set back, ease back into it, change how/what we ate, etc. Feared the worst (cancer, crohns, celiac, ibs, etc). All tests are neg. thank god.
Anyway, it's a very long story, but if you haven't confirmed LI, you might want to. Just to rule out anything else.

like previous posts, check the gallbladder! i used to get excrutiatingly sick after eating dairy or moderately rich/fatty foods.. turns out the little guy shut down. they took it out, and (while it took a little while) I can now eat all the cheese and cream in the world! yay!

My daughter takes a supplement once a day for her lactose intollerance and can have all the dairy she wants. It's called Digestive Advantage, and it's sold at most drugstores. Here's a link to their website: http://www.digestiveadvantage.com/

Also, as others have mentioned, gallbladder is a possibility. What exactly happens when you experience your "stomach" problems? It is cramping/nausea and diarrhea or are you having pain near the uppermost part of your stomach? When my gallbladder decided to crap out on me, eating cheese did trigger symptoms even when other foods did not and I didn't have the clasic right upper quadrant paint, but rather intense pain just below my sternum.

@berzerker - any pasteurized milk or cream has been heated up.

I've been lactose intolerant since birth. My mom said I would puke up milk immediately and gave me rice milk instead. But the intolerance has changed throughout my life. As a child, (post rice milk drinking stage), I took in lactose like a champ. No problems. As a teen, things started to get funny again, I drank virtually no milk in middle and high school but would still have cheese with no problems. I ate ice cream, sour cream, in small doses with little tummy aches. If I did have milk it would be awful. I now can have almost anything I desire. If I have a really large glass of milk, or more than 1, I get some pains, but that's about the extent of it. It has been said that allergies can be depleted if taken in small doses, depending on the strength of the allergy. (I heard somewhere that they're trying to give children with peanut allergies very minuscule doses of peanuts.) So I continue to have dairy products and ignore my symptoms hoping I'm curing myself or something, but who knows, it could get worse again later.

Not to depress, but my father thought he was lactose intolerant, turned out it was kidney cancer. (although gall bladder problems are more likely based on your description)

Don't self diagnose.