tooling

I sure was and still am. I am curious is the majority of alcoholics were lactose intolerant. Not sure if this is the right place as a question in whole but I know where to find my X alcoholic friends.

CarolD

No....and to my knowledge...none of my drinking/recovery friends are either.
Did you get a diagnoses or how did you know?

eJoshua

Nope.

On a related note though, Celiacs disease (gluten intolerance) runs in my family, and it can mimic lactose intolerance.

sugarbear1

I was, now I'm not. I do choose skim milk, though and I can eat different cheeses now.

Fallow

Interesting question. Yes i am highly lactose intolerant. Have been all my life.

tooling

Well, without trying to turn this into a medical thread of any sorts I have many symptoms of gluten issues. I read being lactose intolerant is a sign gluten is destroying your villa hairs in your intestines which are responsible for lactose digestion.

But i don't want to talk medical but I just wanted to know if other alcoholic had this issue. It's interesting to me personally. I recently went gluten free and we'll see how it goes.

Lionne

This is something I have been thinking about too, and I thought I was the only one wondering about that until you brought this up. I'm trying to not make this too medical too so I just share what I observed on myself.

During the last year of my active alcoholism and for well over a year after my recovery I was lactose intolerant although I had no problem before(I was diagnosed a few months into recovery) Funny thing is, I was always wondering if it was related to the drinking and I have to say that my whole digestive digestive tract somewhat messed up for a long time time after i got sober. I nothing drastic, but i was aware that it was probably alcohol related. Eventually it improved, and a few months ago aI started slowly incorporating dairy products into my diet and it worked- I'm still sensitive to high amounts of added lactose in processed foods but if it occurs naturally in food it has become unproblematic again. Maybe my body was so busy dealing with the poison i was ingurgitating that it couldn't produce the necessary enzymes anymore (these are produced in tha small intestine). I'm still not entirely sure if the two are related, and I couldn't get any answers from medical professionals, but to me it looks like its strangely coincidental. The only thing I know is that drinking had long term effects on the way my body digests foods and that some of it will likely stay that way.

mwstylee

I suddenly became lactose intolerant when my drinking became daily a few years ago. The smallest amount of dairy caused some weird horrible cramping pain, and I thought it was just a natural change.

I'm 3 weeks sober and have been chugging down protein shakes made with nothing but 2% milk and protein powder for the past week, with no problems at all. This was a pleasant surprise, and too much of a coincidence to not chalk it up as a result of not drinking like a friggin maniac!

kiki5711

I never was in my whole life. And I love cheese so much I could have lived on fresh bread, cheese and wine.

but now I can't even drink milk.

Nirvana1

I've had major digestive issues for years. My digestive (colon) issues were a big part of my deciding to quit drinking at first. At about 13 months sober now, my digestive issue is still present. Throughout the last years I took lots of metamucil for constipation and drinking also worked as a laxative (not in a good way). One thing I remember is that when I drank, that was the only time my colon felt normal. My colon always feels "full" and most mornings it feels like there is a rock in my gut

I went to the Dr. for this issue probably no less than 30 times over the past few years, and after a bunch of tests, trying out prescriptions, colon cleansing, and even a colonoscopy, everything came back normal and my issue never went away. I've gone gluten free twice for periods of times, stay away from dairy, and have had many allergy tests.

All I know is that I have a very sensitive digestive system and find that when I take laxatives or certain brands of fiber, it raises my blood pressure and I get really dizzy and fatigued. I find myself in a tough spot a few times a week because I'll be really constipated and sick, and then feel just as bad when trying to take a laxative.

I'm writing out all of my symptoms because they are fresh in my mind. I've been backed up for a couple days and tried drinking magnesium citrate but it just made me feel worse and did not work. I've tried enema's a couple times but I get really sick and my colon almost rejects the water. All I know is that my colon is extremely sensitive and doesn't function like it should.

Just wanted to throw that out there in case someone is/was going through the same after drinking, etc.