Hi Everyone,

I just found this list last week and I have some doubts.

I am 28 and I am from Portugal. Here the Lactose Intolerance is not a very
well known problem.
I have been having problems with milk since I was a little girl but no one
ever told me about this problem. (Usually doctors tells me that my bowel is
irritated). I even asked for a test but doctor told me that there is no test
I can do to find out my intolerance (I know there is at least in the USA).

I love milk but every time I drink it I bloat, have diarrhea and lower
abdomen pain. This symptoms were not very serious till five months ago. What
I used to do was stop drinking milk for a week till I had no pain and then
start drinking it again and so on.

Well five months ago the problem got worse.
What has been happening since then is that if I drink milk for instead two
days in a row I will have severe bloating, diarrhea and pain for about two
or three weeks (till five months ago the symptoms would go away in two or
three days).

I did not realise that I might have lactose intolerance because I did not
even know what is was.

For the past week I stopped drinking milk and start eating yoghurts with
live cultures (two per day) and since then I have been well. No pain, no
bloating no diarrhea.

Now, I am worried, is there anything I can do to "cure" my intolerance?
Should I never drink milk again or should I start drinking small amounts to
see if I became tolerant?

Sorry for all my questions but this is new to me.
Thanks a lot for reading and fell free to E-mail me ([log in to unmask]) personally
or to this list.
Maria



P.S. sorry for any spelling mistakes or verbs in the wrong tense but my
mother language is not English. I am doing my best. Thanks.