Lactagen User Trial Diary: Two Months Out

Ok, so its been a little under two months after completing the Lactagen regimen. I'm still a fan, but maybe with some slight reservations. While I have not used Lactaid once these past many weeks, I have had a few incidents where I encountered problems. Most of them were mild to moderate and there was one I'm not sure I can link up cause and effect.

Basically the times I've had issues were as follows:

Travelling home on a flight - had no breakfast and had a cheese/cracker tray for lunch. I focused mainly on the brie. I got sick on the plane and unfortunately that was one of the bad ones. However, I don't always travel well and am infamous for getting "travel tummy" so I can't say for sure what the cause was.

Days later, I had some ice cream cake at work and about 20 mins later didn't feel well. The symptoms were moderate - bloating, a little gas and one trip to the restroom.

Finally, today I had some cheese soup for lunch. It was another doozy. I was very ill for about 30 minutes. Had I been in a meeting, travelling or out and about it would have been a disaster. As it was getting that kind of sick at work was still no fun. However... I did follow that up later in the day with a hot chocolate made with milk - no issues.

I've had a few other times where I've had a little bloating and pressure but nothing worth really worrying about at all. And I have had plenty of dairy including whole glasses of milk with no issues. My guess is the times I've had issues were times I went for a while without dairy and my body was readjusting. But that's an uneducated guess on my part.

In addition, my co-worker who's husband was severely LI has completed the program and is doing great! So, my bottom line is that I do think it works. I do think its a "use it or lose it" deal. And I do think you'll still have issues. It is not a "cure" per se - more like a conditioning process. So take my info for what it gives ya and best of luck to all you LI readers!

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Week One With Dairy

Ok folks. I will admit it here and in print ... Lactagen works. Even for a cynical midwestern lawyer. It has been a week since I introduced dairy again and days since I was free to eat what I wanted and I've had NOT ONE symptom. Nothing. Nada. Not even a twinge. As if to realllly test it the other day this was my intake:

Breakfast:
12 Oz Skim Milk
Eggs with cheese

Lunch:
Turkey sandwich with Brie Cheese
Chips
Cheesecake

Dinner:
3 slices deep dish cheese pizza
Chocolate Peanut Butter Malt from DQ

Folks, a month and a half ago I would have been in a coma. I would have been in so much pain, I would have been laying in the bathtub praying to die. Instead: nothing. Nothing nothing nothing. It works. Who woulda thunk it? It works. Of course the down side is that I gained a pound that one day alone. :)

Now, the cynic in me wonders how long this bliss will last, but we'll just have to wait and see. I can't tell you how wonderful it is in the meantime to be able to go to a restaurant or even just to have dinner in my own home and not have to either curb what I eat or pull out the Lactaid.

To be fair, I was not what I would call "severely" lactose intolerant. I could have sour cream on a taco or cheese on a burger and have no issues most of the time. But have a glass of milk or some pudding and boy look out. However, a friend's husband IS severely (and I mean severely) LI and he has been inspired to order and try the Lactagen. I'll let you know how it turns out for him.

I'm probably about done posting on this topic. I may do a one month follow up but for the most part, unless you hear about it - consider it all good. :)

Lactagen User Trial Diary: MILK AGAIN!

Ok, so if I wasn't singing from the rooftops before - I am now. Yesterday I had 8oz of milk twice a day. And then - because patience has never been a virtue I adhere to - I had a bowl full (two scoops) of ice cream. Not one symptom. Nothing. Even on my best day that would have put well over the edge of very bad things.

Today I've had my 2 servings of 10oz of milk plus pasta with cream sauce and cheese. Lovely.

I'll report back from time to time to just confirm that over the weeks I'm still hangin in there but I will say that my cynical nature has been dispelled (on this topic at least). I'm not silly enough to think this is a forever cure - I'm sure if I stop having dairy for an extended period I'll be back where I started. But hopefully a glass of milk a day keeps the ickies away!! We shall see...

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Day 34!

Ok - so here we are... my first "controlled dairy" day. The plan says to have 8oz of milk at breakfast and another 8 at dinner. I can't tell you how nervous I was about this since I'm at work today! I did have a big breakfast to try and coat my tummy (3 pcs bacon, scrambled eggs and part of a sausage patty). I drank my 8oz (give or take - our caf only has 12oz bottles so I had to guestimate) at about 9:00am today. Its currently 10:52am and not one symptom. Not even a little discomfort or bloating, not even so much as a belch.

I'm not singing from the moutaintops just yet. Even "back in the day" I could get away with a latte every once in a while... so we'll see. But I'm cautiously excited. Tomorrow will be 10oz 2x day and then Saturday will be 12oz. Sunday I plan on having a big ole chocolate peanut-butter malt so I'll report back!

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Day 31

Wooo hooo I am in the home stretch. So far no big issues to report. I am up to 3L/1s with breakfast and 4L scoops with dinner. I even had cheese pizza last night for dinner WITH the Lactagen and no issues. One thing I did notice is that my diet was not so successful recently. I think it may be that the diet calls for very strict food intake from day to day, and two large glasses of dairy sugar are NOT part of that diet. I'm not saying its totally that, but I followed the diet to the "t" for 4 days and only lost 1lbs. Not a good sign.

Also, again maybe totally unrelated but (for those squeamish stop here and move on to the next paragraph) I have gotten two yeast infections (told ya!) in the past month. Yeast, obviously, feeds on sugar not to mention this is getting all the internal flora in my system reworked, so I wonder if this has something to do with that. Who knows.

But at any rate, I have only 3 more days of "powder" left and then we start back into dairy for a 3-day build up to freedom. I have noticed the grit in the powder lately since I'm taking it in such large amounts in such a small amount of water. It contains silica (aka sand!) so its a little gross. Not disgusting - just a little chalky and doesn't stay stirred up well.

I'll post back on day 35 when I start dairy again. I'm a little nervous - its a workday and you start with 8oz of milk at breakfast... but we'll just have to see!

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Day 20(ish)

Ok so I'm away from my handy little chart that tells me what day I'm on but I think its around day 20 somewhere. Bottom line is that I'm up to 1L scoop in the mornings with breakfast and 4L scoops with dinner. Taking the Lactagen with breakfast is tricky for me since I don't sit and eat breakfast at home. I usually get something here at work - so that means I have to take a nice little vial of white powder into my office each morning and mix it with my water. I'm waiting for DEA to show up at my door.

I hadn't had any issues starting the Lactagen with breakfast -- until today. This afternoon I had some typical LI symptoms... bloating, pain and some diarrhea (so fun at work). I think a fair amount of the problem is that I'm now on a carb-free diet with a strict menu so that each meal is spelled out for you. Today's lunch was pastrami slices with cheese so I had 1 slice of American and 2 of Swiss. I did take Lactaid however, but I'm really not sure how Lactaid interacts with the whole Lactagen program. I'm don't know if it messes everything up or what. Perhaps I should call customer service and ask... I'll do that this evening. Ideally I would not be on this diet right now but I have to be in a swimsuit in 10 days people - drastic times... drastic times.

I'll post back in a few days....

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Day 15

Ok so day 15 and its a little depressing that I'm not even half-way done yet. Argh. No new news to report really. I'm up to 3L, 1S scoops per serving. I will say that now that I'm up to quite a lot of powder per serving, I am noticing the "faintly sweet" taste they mention. Its not very noticeable and not unpleasant - just ... there. I have had to up the water however from the recommended 4-6oz to at least 8oz or all the powder won't dissolve.

Still no bad symptoms since around that fluky day 7. Just biding my time and hoping that come day 34 things are what they are supposed to be!

Back in touch again in another 5 days or so!

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Day 10

Tonight is day 10. For those you paying ridiculously close attention you'll see that it was supposed to be Day 11. However I had a work dinner last night and didn't feel like bringing out a small vial of white powder to mix into my water. I meant to take the dose when I got home but forgot. Sooo I checked my handy guide and it said to just pick up where you left off. (it also said if you missed 5 or more in a row to call them, so I think I'm ok here).

Up to 2 L scoops tonight and so far no ill effects. I did have some bad effects around day 7 but that may be because I had pizza (with plenty o cheese) for dinner that night. The effects were a lot like day 1... not intolerable but annoying. However since then, nothin!

Meal tonight:
Honey/Ginger Glazed Chicken from the Grill
Pasta
Peaches
2L Scoops Lactagen in 8oz water

So there you go... so far so good. I haven't tried any dairy (other than yogurt) to test the waters for two reasons. 1) I really want this to work and they say NO dairy except perhaps one rare serving and then yogurt a few times a week; and 2) I think its just plain too early.

I'll update again in 5 days or so!

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Day 5

So far so good. No symptoms since day 1 even thought I had cheese pizza for dinner two nights ago (bad girl, I know). Last night bumped up the dose to 3 sm scoops. Still no problems. Tonight will be my first dose of the L scoop... oooooo, ahhhhhh. We shall see. It is, of course, tough to tell if its working since you're strictly told to avoid dairy during the program. But I suppose I'll just have to be a good girl, (more or less) follow the directions and see where we go!

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Day 2

Just a quick update on my second day (last night)..

I ate:
Minute steak with garlic, mushrooms, ham, asparagus and swiss cheese.
1 8oz glass water with 1 sm scoop Lactagen
1 4oz container of Yoplait "whips" chocolate mousse

I'm happy to report that this time around, there were NO adverse effects. No bloating, cramping or gas. Onward and upward!

Lactagen User Trial Diary: Day 1

For those of you who don’t know (and I’m guessing that’s most of you) I am lactose intolerant. What that means is that my body no longer has the ability to break down the natural sugar (or lactose) that occurs in dairy. I manage the issue by taking a supplement called Lactaid anytime I have something containing dairy. It usually works just fine, but every once in a while it just doesn’t cut it. And I have to have it available at all times to take. And you have to take it with your first bite of diary for it to be most effective. If I fail to take the Lactaid or fail to take it at the right time what ensues is not pretty. It ranges from mild cramps and diarrhea to something akin to the worst food poisoning you’ve ever experienced.

Lactose intolerance has always been billed as “treatable” (i.e. supplements like Lactaid) but not curable. However recently, I found a product that claims to cure lactose intolerance in 38 days. Permanently. Forever. Cure. Its called Lactagen. Ok so that sounds pretty attractive, but like any good cynical lawyer I had serious doubts. First, why isn’t this product being touted by the press at large if it really is the first known cure to lactose intolerance? Second, what do they have to back up their claims? For the steep cost ($150) I wanted more.

Well I did my research and looked at some (supposed) independent reviews (on ask.yahoo.com, on various blogs and on an occasional website) and found that most people who tried it seemed to support it. Most did claim to be able to eat dairy with no ill effects. And I did find one study that also seemed to support the claim of the makers of Lactagen (but there were caveats that it was not a long term study and that there was a chance a varying strict regimen of yogurt could do the same thing). Finally, there was the 6 month, money-back refund offered by the company. So I signed up.

I’ve decided to post my progress here. While I won’t blog about it daily, I will mark milestones along the way and will keep up even after the 38 days on my status. Hopefully either way it will help people who are LI become more educated about this new product.

My Lactagen came last night and when I opened the package I guess I was a little underwhelmed. The “guide” was a 3 or 4 page handout and the Lactagen itself was a small canister of ultra-fine white powder. But I read through all the materials (which I will say was actually nice it wasn't a small treatise) and, since you take it with dinner, decided to start right away.

For the first two days they suggest you take your dinner and dose with 8oz of yogurt. The containers I had only had 6oz in them so I figured that would have to suffice. The powder comes with two small scoops – one about an 1/8^th tsp and one about a tablespoon. The guide shows you how many of each scoops to mix in with your water or juice (you are specifically told not to mix it with dairy, alcohol, coffee, or anything other that water, juice or iced tea). You start out with just one of the tiny scoops and work your way up, over 34 days, to 4 large scoops. The last 4 days are just working dairy back into your diet.

I mixed the one scoop into my water and was hesitant to drink. I’ve had plenty of health powders and potions that claim to be undetectable in water that make your toes curl. Lactagen claimed the powder would be tasteless or very slightly sweet. I’m happy to report I did find it to be truly tasteless, so that was nicely unexpected. They ask that you don’t have any other dairy with your meals while on the program (or at least limit it to one serving per WEEK) so that will be something I’ll have to be mindful of.

Last night I had:

• ½ order PF Chang’s crispy honey chicken
• Brown rice
• 3 Crab wontons
• 8oz water with 1 sm scoop of Lactagen
• 8oz plain water

The handout was very firm in the point that there should be no side effects from the Lactagen whatsoever except in the rare case of someone “severely” lactose intolerant. In fact they mention that you should not worry about starting the program on a weekend or any special day. Because of that I was really bummed out when about 5 mins after dinner I began to feel the familiar cramping and bloating! It wasn’t horrid but severe enough that I didn’t want to go for an evening walk or even focus on reading my book. Happily I did not experience any diarrhea and the bloating and cramps lessened over the course of the next 30-45 mins (as I um..."released" the gas) to a place where they were not a big problem. However overall I was disappointed in the side effects. I am not severely LI; in fact I can have some dairy with no problems at all (cheese pizza, sour cream on a taco, cheese in my chili, etc). I have a friend whose husband cannot even have buttermilk brownies or he will get sick. So I wonder who else may have problems starting out.

I will say the side effects were not anywhere near enough for me to cease the program and I will be having “day 2” tonight. I’ll report back with regular updates! (I’m so investigative journalistic huh? I bet I win a Peabody for this). As the front of the hand-out says: Go Moo!