Health Update and Lactose Intolerance

My wife discovered her lactose intolerance about 7 years ago and has been taking lactaid when she eats dairy ever since.  There had been times when I would complain about something and she would tell me it's possible that I'm becoming lactose intolerant, too.  I'd always just brush it off and never had any real bad problems.  After all, we live Wisconsin, known as the Dairy State, and I really love cheese and ice cream lots and just can't imagine a diet restricted or without dairy.

Yesterday morning I still felt poorly, I had a bit more strength and stamina but not much.  I had arranged to borrow my neighbor Jane's handyman to help me clean out my gutters and rake and mulch my leaves before it gets too cold and/or snowy out, probably doing a little too much myself but it's hard to stand by and watch someone else do your work.  Once done, about 1:00 in the afternoon, I sat down and had some leftover cheese and sausage crackers.  Three of them, to be exact.  That's only 3/4 of a sandwich slice of swiss cheese.  It didn't take long and I was bloated again, feeling as inflated as a Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon.  I was so uncomfortable a cough made my sides hurt.  I had been bloated quite often recently and it was happening again.

Once my wife got home I was discussing it with her and she looked it up, and sure enough the antibiotics can make you temporarily lactose intolerant.  A fact the doctor or anyone else failed to mention when putting me back on a regular diet on Wednesday, still with an IV pumping antibiotics into me.  Hell, I even had pie and small cup of ice cream that day and later complained about being bloated before finally being discharged.  Here at home and as my appetite increased I just ate as normal, bloating on and off and wondering why my movements weren't normalizing.  She convinced me easily and now I'm swearing off dairy at least until I'm off the antibiotics, but this could turn out to be permanent and I'll have to take lactaid when I want dairy forever.

It took 16 hours since that bit of cheese, but this morning I've had so much more 'relief' than I had all week and I'm starting to feel more like myself.  I'm still rather perturbed that I wasn't warned, and I'll be sure to bring it up at my follow-up appointment in a couple days.  I'm sure it tells you this can be a side effect on that full page of small print that comes with the prescription I got after I was discharged, but who reads all that stuff?  I still feel the doctor should have mentioned it when he put me on a regular diet while I was still in the hospital.

So, while that part should be getting better for me now I again woke up with a headache.  I failed to mention this in my last post, but I've had the same migraine on and off since I was in the emergency room last Sunday.  I'd be given different medicines for it in the hospital every day but it would always come back, and it's been a similar pattern since I've been home.  Maybe it's related, not sure, but I really hope it ends soon.  I've also had pretty wacky dreams all week, sometimes waking up panting with my heart beating fast several times a night.  Last night was better so perhaps this is related, too.  But again, I'm not sure.  

I guess all I can hope for is to avoid dairy for the time being and I should continue to improve and these things will work themselves out.  I just want to feel normal again.