Can IBS or Lactose Intolerance Show up All of a Sudden?

My IBS happened suddenly. I was on my way to Dallas and had to stop at my brothers and take a shower....it was humiliating. I got diagnosed later that month.

I find that if I monitor my fluids I can control the diarrhea. If I drink anything before I eat a full mean I can expect to be drawn up into a ball with severe cramps within 15 minutes. If I eat a full meal before I drink anything then it works together to make a more solid feces.

Eating fiber does not work well in my system. It makes a plug then it's hard to get out then it's nothing but water behind it.

My internal physician told me to eat 1/4 cup 100% bran each morning for breakfast. It would pull all the excess fluids to the bran and if I was plugged up it would cause the fluids to soften the plug.

It doesn't work so well for me since I have really really bad teeth and the bran gets all in the cracks and crevices.

He also told me that the meds that can treat the illness can often be more harsh on the body than the illness. For instance, if you have the kind with chronic diarrhea and you take something like Donatol then when you want to go to the bathroom you have to take a med to make the feces soft enough to get out.

If you have the other kind you have to take a different med to make it come out much more often. They you can't control the when so much.

So I just monitor when I drink any fluids. Water, pop, milk, nothing makes any difference. All fluids are fluids that go through the intestines.

Yes - I have it.

Lactose Intolerance runs in my family, and is adult onset. Loved dairy up until mid 20s - then a glass of milk make my stomach feel like it was going to explode, and within a little bit another part of my anatomy did explode (figuratively). Ice cream AFTER a meal was fine and cereal w/ milk was fine.

Early 30s- no more ice cream and no more cereal. Didn't matter if I had "prepped" my stomach with other food or not.

Late 30s - can't do coffee with real cream.

SOLUTIONS:
1) Lactaid is a brand of milk (real milk!) with no lactose. Spend $4 at the grocery and see how that goes.

2) Lactaid pills. The pills work, but I have to take 2 or 3 with the first bite. And pay strict attention to the instructions and take another 1/2 hour later if you're still eating.

3) Lactaid chewables. Works MUCH better and faster than the pills.

Personally, I have a box of the chewables in my wife's car, in my luggage and in the house. And I drink Lactaid Milk - AND I can have cereal again! :)

ETA - after reading your SWH, I just want to confirm that lactose intolerance begins with severe cramps, bloating and what feels like a balloon being inflated somewhere in your bowels. Length and severity varied - sometimes related to how much dairy I ate, sometimes not.

And I'd skip the hospital test. For $4 at the grocery store, get a gallon of Lactaid Milk (they have all the 1/2%, 2% etc, even chocolate). No runs - then you know. No deductible, no hospital - easy peasy.

As we age, you can definitely develop lactose intolerance.

IBS is a little more complicated than ill effects right after eating...but who knows? Could be.

I think you might benefit from keeping a food journal. That would be SMART! ;)

My guess is that the bug killed off your beneficial bacteria in your gut. A month of active culture yogurt should fix that. It takes awhile to reestablish. With the bacteria in your gut you can't digest food properly, so your body tries to flush it out. Lots of gas and diahhreah for 2-3 months for it to reestablish on its own, or 2-4 weeks with help.

But, yes. ANYONE who quits eating or drinking certain sugars (like lactose) or proteins can develop an intolerance because we stop producing the 'ase' aka enzyme that breaks it down. Lactase breaks down lactose. And there are various different proteases that break down protein. It's why vegetarians after awhile get sick when they eat meat. (Also why people often get sick eating foreign foods... Their body's font make the enzymes to break them down into the simple sugars, amino acids, and lipids that our body uses. It's not that one CAN'T eat goat, for example, just that our body needs several exposures to make that enzyme).

Some people, of course, CANT make a certain enzyme, but most can given enough exposure to the sugar, protein, or lipid.

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Per your add... OH YEAH ... Parasites are a major possibility. Kids bodies adjust fairly quickly to them, why adults know its 'wrong' so their bodies fight them harder... so if you suspect a parasite... Get everyone tested.

yes, but you have also been under a lot of stress. it could just be another fun side affect of stress

Don't know about IBS, but the lactose issue can absolutely pop up! It happened to both my cousin and my brother, I just pray it never happens to me!! ;) Keep a food diary for sure or just cut it out cold turkey and see what happens after a week or two. Good luck! Such a bummer if this is the case!!

These types of things seem to be very hard to diagnose so to throw one more possibility in the mix - a parasite. My husband has something similar to you and that's what his dr thinks it is...

I think they can. So can Crohn's. The lactose intolerance issue is kind of easy to test for. Ask your doctor to send you to the hospital for it. If you aren't intolerant, it will be easy-peasy. If you ARE, you will hate the test, big time.

I saw on Dr. House MD that smoking 2 cigarettes a day can help with IBS. Crohn's is horrible - I have a family member with that.

Anyway, I would talk to a gastroenterologist about your problems and go from there. It can take a while to get an appointment, so call today!!

Smiles to you!
Dawn

I have been studying microbiology in school for a while now, and it amazes me when she talks about how common parasitic infections are - things like giardiasis are so much more common than we think and are easy to pick up from our kids, you know we wipe their butts, clean up their poop, then don't wash our hands as well as we like to.
I would be much more inclined to think, that a case of diarrhea that doesn't clear up would be giardiasis that sudden onset IBS or lactose intolerance

I got Lactose Intolerance all of a sudden. There was one pasta dish I loved and it made me spend a bunch of time in the bathroom. It took a while to connect the dots. Pay attention to what you were eating 1/2-to 1 hour before you have an issue. If it was dairy, LI could be the case. Call your doc if you feel it's a bigger problem you can't trace.

Sadly, we have learned that IBS, milk allergy, other food allergies, and celiac disease or other gluten intolerance can all appear at any age and suddenly out of the blue. Symptoms vary for the various conditions.

My Lactose intolerance just popped up in one day.. Pooped up is more like it..

I have found if I drink Fat free milk I have less problems.

My mother says the same thing happened to her, but she cannot even drink fat free milk.

The heartburn can really lead to some bad side effects, so make sure you get that refilled.

Oh boy, did I go through a long tangled food allergy mess as an adult. This is what I learned form all the specialists and nutritionists...They care called "hidden" food allergies, for a reason. They are always there, and your body tries to deal with them. There comes a point, when your body just can't do it anymore. Before I knew I had gluten issues, I thought I felt great. When I actually stopped eating gluten, I realized I only felt great, because I didn't know any different! The good thing about dairy, is you can experiment if that's why you're having problems. Don't eat if for 2 months. (It can take a while for the effects to get out of your system.) Introduce it back into your diet, and see what happens. You can do that with any food. I am allergic to dairy, and I just throw up. When I eat too much gluten, I have the same symptoms you describe.