Can c. diff cause partial lactose intolerance?

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Leaf
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Can c. diff cause partial lactose intolerance?

Postby Leaf » Sat Aug 11, 2018 1:20 pm

I'm a college student aged female who was diagnosed with c diff back in April. I managed to beat it the first time, but it came back after I had a septoplasty and was on a high dose of antibiotics. I was getting better after doing a course of vancomycin, and after the stools returned to pretty much normal I slowly began to incorporate small amounts of dairy into my diet again, starting with cheese. After several days of this settling well I progressed to other forms of dairy, which all settled with no issue.

However, once I added in milk - for reference it is 1% milk - I began getting extremely worse again as if the c. diff was relapsing. The stools began to rapidly soften up and turn that weird yellow-orange color and reek to high heaven. I cut back to clear liquids and the BRAT diet, and after a couple of weeks, I was on the mend again. After things were normal for several weeks, I slowly began to try dairy again. Like last time, the more "processed" forms of dairy - yogurt, cheese, and ice cream - settled without incident, and I made sure to allow for several days to see if it would trigger anything. It didn't, so I tried the milk again, this time in a bowl of cereal that had been settling just fine dry. My first day with that was yesterday, and today I woke up displaying increased c diff symptoms again. I had the pain in my stomach, and the stools were starting to rapidly progress back towards what is common with c diff. The only thing that was different in my diet was the milk.

It's just all so confusing. Is the addition of milk causing the c diff to relapse, or did the c diff give me a partial lactose intolerance? I'm at my wits' end at this point...I know that I can eat cheese just fine, and I can eat ice cream - I'm not even joking, I had an ice cream sundae a few weeks ago and digested that with no problems whatsoever - but just plain old milk seems to cause so many issues...

roy
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Re: Can c. diff cause partial lactose intolerance?

Postby roy » Sat Aug 11, 2018 2:19 pm

That's typical recovery!
If you recognize that milks causing a problem, then that's all you need to know!
It may or may not be permanent, only trying it again (in a few months) will prove if its temporary.

Whyme111
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Re: Can c. diff cause partial lactose intolerance?

Postby Whyme111 » Sat Aug 11, 2018 4:05 pm

Hi,
I'm currently on a Vanco pulse. I have also had some issues with dairy and have read on this site that it is quite common for some to become lactose intolerant. I can handle a little cheese and at times milk however 2 nights ago, I had ice cream and my body reacted to it. I'm not sure if it definitely was the ice cream but I broke out within an hour with what looked like some hives on my neck. They did go away but it was strange and quite frustrating considering the ice cream tasted wonderful. I'm now going to steer clear of sugar and allow my body to regain the balance it needs.

Ril
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Re: Can c. diff cause partial lactose intolerance?

Postby Ril » Sat Aug 11, 2018 9:43 pm

Hello Leaf and welcome to the site. Please read the first thread on rules of posting for new members.
I’m glad you are in recovery. C diff leaves us with some strange symptoms that may take a while to work through. You can purchase lactose free milk in any market and there are also “lactaid”, or lactose enzyme pills you can take with milk or any other dairy if necessary to help with the digestion.

Good luck
Rita

georgina
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Re: Can c. diff cause partial lactose intolerance?

Postby georgina » Sun Aug 12, 2018 12:25 am

Well , you should definitely stay away from milk , at least for awhile. If you want to add something to your cereals you can try them with yogurt or almond milk, rice milk , not sure weather to recommend soy milk because soy is a allergen so better stick with the almond and rice.

beth22
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Re: Can c. diff cause partial lactose intolerance?

Postby beth22 » Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:46 am

I was never lactose intolerant my whole life, but I could not even eat yogurt after c difficile, let alone milk. It can definitely make you lactose intolerant. I use Rice milk in my cereal. Others have used almond milk or soy milk. There is also Lactaid that you can take along with the milk or Lactaid milk you can buy.


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