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Managing Lactose Intolerance and IBS

What’s The Difference Between Lactose Intolerance and IBS

Lactose intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) lead to severe digestive issue.

But because of their overlapping and similar symptoms, it can cause a delay or downtime in getting the proper treatment. Overall, it can hurt the quality of your life. Remember that different factors cause lactose intolerance and IBS; thus, they are relieved differently.

To determine if you’re suffering from lactose intolerance and IBS, you must be familiar with the differences and similarities between the two diseases.

For a bit of help, below are the distinct differences between them and how you should handle each condition. 

What Is The Difference Between Lactose Intolerance And IBS? Symptoms And Treatments

Overlapping Symptoms

lactose intolerance and ibs diet

Both lactose intolerance and IBS can cause the following symptoms:

Lactose intolerance can also cause nausea, worsening between thirty minutes and two hours after eating dairy products or drinking milk. Meanwhile, IBS can cause your stool to have mucus or make you feel like you cannot empty your colon completely.

These symptoms can change gradually during an extended period. Or it can disappear, flare up, and get better over time.

The Difference

Lactose intolerance is a digestive order that takes place when you cannot digest the natural sugar in milk, called lactose. This condition occurs when your body does not make enough lactase, which is used to break down lactose.

Although lactose intolerance is not a lethal health condition, it can seriously keep you from getting the correct amount of essential nutrients such as vitamin D and calcium, which people get from dairy products.

On the other hand, IBS can flare up due to many different reasons, such as medication, food, and stress. Experts think IBS transpires when the muscles surrounding the colon don’t work accordingly to move waste along.

While the root cause for IBS is still a mystery, the following can increase your risk for IBS:

  • long-term emotional trauma or stress
  • infections in your intestines
  • your genes

Like lactose intolerance, IBS is not life-threatening. However, it can be a long-lasting health problem that may change the quality of your life.

Best Milk Diet For Ibs And Lactose Intolerance

Treating Lactose Intolerance

ibs and lactose intolerance symptoms
Credit: npr.brightspotcdn.com

The primary treatment for this condition is to stay away from foods containing lactose. Although you might be able to take a small amount of lactose at a time, you must try to keep away from the following:

  • Whey protein
  • Sour cream
  • Butter
  • Yogurt
  • Ice cream
  • Cheese
  • Goat’s milk
  • Cow’s milk

Always scan food labels to ensure they don’t contain lactose. Cereal, bread, chocolate, cakes, cookies, and most gravies and sauces often contain it. Instead of using milk products, you can use dairy milk alternatives such as almond or cashew milk.

These alternatives are also milk products but without the lactose ingredient. What’s more, you can try taking enzyme supplements before you consume dairy to cut down the chances of experiencing the symptoms.

Treating IBS

You can control the symptoms of IBS by making some lifestyle and diet changes, which includes:

  • increasing physical activities
  • avoiding gluten
  • eating more fiber
  • reducing stress
  • adapting a low FODMAP diet

Doctors may prescribe medications when you are experiencing symptoms of IBS. These medications include:

  • Probiotics
  • Antidepressants
  • Laxative
  • Eluxadoline
  • Fiber supplements
  • Linaclotide
  • Plecanatide
  • Lubiprostone
  • Rifaximin

Look for a free BuzzRx discount card to cut down your prescription medication expenses. Moreover, you might need to try a few different treatments to see what works best for you.

When To See A Doctor

Both lactose intolerance and IBS are not associated or linked with any grave medical consequences. However, both can impact the quality of life.

So, if you are experiencing symptoms like constipation, bloating, excessive gas, stomach cramping, or diarrhea regularly that you can’t point out by eliminating dairy products from your diet, call your doctor right away for a proper diagnosis.

When diagnosing IBS, the doctor will start to rule out the condition first and ask you lots of questions. There are two sets of guidelines for IBS. The first one is called ROME. Under this diagnostic guideline, a patient needs to have certain symptoms before a doctor rules out IBS.

The other guideline is called Manning. It concentrates on changes in stool consistency, mucus in the stool, incomplete bowel movements, and pain alleviated by defecation. On the other hand, when diagnosing lactose intolerance, doctors will usually recommend eliminating dairy products.

Some tests can confirm and verify if the patient has the condition. For example, the hydrogen test requires you to blow in a balloon-like bag so that the doctor can see how much hydrogen is present. If your breath has a massive amount of hydrogen, then you are deemed lactose intolerant.

Final Words:

Both lactose intolerance and IBS are unpleasant. Both conditions can be very distressing and painful. That’s why getting a proper and correct diagnosis is a must.

It can help you bring these diseases under control. And even though there’s no cure for either lactose intolerance or IBS, it’s good to know that there are ways to lessen the symptoms.

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