Intolerance

Now, don’t stop reading!  This won’t be a serious political post.  I have my thoughts and whatnot on so many things, but this is not the place for it.

Instead, I bring you intolerance so much closer to my heart.

Lactose.

That pesky sugar in dairy products.  Up until very very recently, I was intolerant of the lactose.

In college, I would have to visit the bathroom directly after every meal.  I’ll leave it at that.  Well, and add in pain.  Lots of pain.

One day, while in line to get my meal for the day, I noticed a pamphlet on the wall of pamphlets.  I was bored since I was in line alone, I think the rest of my roommates had a meeting or an early class or something.  I pulled it out and read it.  It listed the symptoms of lactose intolerance.  I had every single one of them.

So I thought I’d give this no dairy thing a try and see if I felt better.

Not surprisingly, it worked.  Amazing.

I felt incredible.  I didn’t spend nearly as much time in the bathroom, and was not in pain most of the day.  It was fantastic!

I figured it out just in time to take Lactaid pills with me to our trip to Paris.  Which worked, thank goodness, since I had plans to eat nothing but fantastic fresh loaves of bread and yummy yummy French cheeses.

I soon accepted it.  I ordered hamburgers instead of cheeseburgers.  Dairy Queen was the bane of my existance, after discovering they no longer carried “Breezes” which were Blizzards made out of frozen yogurt instead of ice cream.  Pizza was edible, only if I had 3 Lactaid pills and hadn’t had any dairy in the last 24 hours.  Lactaid milk arrived in our house.

Throughout the last 6 years of this, I’ve managed to discover that several other loved ones are lactose intolerant as well.  Upon discovering that, my husband, cousin and many others changed their diet and *poof* the symptoms went away.

Just recently though, I discovered something amazing.  After being pregnant and giving birth to Baby Soup, I wasn’t needing as many pills.  I could eat cheese on a sandwich with no problems.  So last weekend, I tested my theory.  For the past 6 years, I’ve only had frozen yogurt as a treat.  No ice cream, since even with the pills, it would still kill me.

I had a small bowl of ice cream.

I waited for the cramping sensation, the pain of my stomach turning in and over itself.  I waited and waited.

It never came.

I am now no longer lactose intolerant.

Praise the Lord!  I can now enjoy the wonders of Egg Nog ice cream this Christmas.  And Spumoni ice cream for dessert at the Spaghetti Factory.  Oh, and fondue!

Excuse me, I think I need to visit Dairy Queen……

Any one else lactose intolerant here?  Or allergic to something strange?

If you think you might be lactose intolerant, here are a list of symptoms.  Check it out.  It could change your life!