How Long Do Lactose Intolerance Symptoms Last?

When you are suffering from symptoms of lactose intolerance, you may feel bloated and have some pain in the abdominal region.

However, it is not a serious thing, and most of the symptoms associated with lactose intolerance will go away within a couple of days on its own. There is no specific way to treat such problems, and you have to manage the dairy intake as per the tolerance levels of your body.

How Long Do Lactose Intolerance Symptoms Last?

The symptoms will remain in your body for as long as the lactose is still in your body. In most cases, the body will be either able to digest the dairy products or eliminate them completely within a couple of days.

In this way, you can expect relief from lactose intolerance symptoms. Even though you cannot treat them, you can make things easier by improving your digestive system as this helps your body get rid of lactose in a quick time.

Understanding lactose intolerance

People suffer from lactose intolerance as their body cannot produce enough lactase enzyme needed to process lactose in dairy products.

As the amount of lactase is not enough, it will not be able to break down the lactose molecules, and this leads to various symptoms. In simple terms, the body will not be able to digest the sugar element in milk during lactose intolerance.

This leads to several digestive problems as long as the lactose continues to stay in the body. For this reason, most people experience symptoms for a few hours or a couple of days, depending on the amount of lactose they have consumed and the number of lactase enzymes that are present in the body to handle the lactose.

Symptoms of lactose intolerance

Common symptoms of lactose intolerance include bloating and pain in the abdominal region. As the gas gets formed in the body, it causes bloating, and this can also cause a rumbling sensation in the stomach.

Some people also experience symptoms of nausea and vomiting when they are suffering from lactose intolerance. In some cases, it can also lead to diarrhea, and this is the body’s way of clearing out the lactose from the system.

Most of the symptoms are not serious in nature, and you can wait for the symptoms to go away on their own. You may not need treatment for such symptoms in most cases. Most of the symptoms are similar to that of irritable bowel syndrome.

Is it possible to treat lactose intolerance?

It is not possible to treat lactose intolerance, and you have to live with it. There is no way you can add lactase enzyme artificially to the body and improve the absorption of lactose in the body.

Due to this reason, you have to understand how your body responds to lactose and stay away from such products in the long run. Lactose intolerance is very common, and millions of people are not able to process the sugar in milk products in a proper manner.

There is no need to be worried about this problem as most of the symptoms will disappear on their own without the need for any treatment.

How long do symptoms last?

The symptoms of lactose intolerance will last for as long as you have lactose in your body. Once this gets eliminated, the symptoms ease on their own in a quick time.

In this regard, the duration for which symptoms will last depends on how much lactose you have consumed in the first place and how much lactase is there in your body to process that lactose.

In most cases, you may find relief within about 48 hours after consuming lactose products. Different symptoms may appear at different stages, and not everyone will experience all the symptoms.

Bloating happens due to gas and water getting trapped in the intestines, which often causes pain in the lower abdominal region. In the same manner, nausea symptoms appear immediately in some people who have serious intolerance for lactose products. You may also experience symptoms of diarrhea when the undigested lactose stays in the intestine.

How to handle lactose intolerance effectively?

Even though you cannot treat lactose intolerance completely, you can effectively handle the problem by taking certain precautions. The first thing you need to do in this regard is to identify the foods that trigger lactose intolerance symptoms in your body.

Once you understand this, you need not eliminate such dairy products from your menu. You can try to limit their quantities and see how your body responds to such modified eating habits.

It makes sense to eat dairy products in small portions as this gives your body sufficient time to handle the lactose in an effective way without showing signs of intolerance.

Apart from that, you can even try to include probiotics in your everyday diet, as this can significantly improve the ability of the body to digest any type of food.

You will be able to reduce the symptoms of lactose intolerance by a huge margin when you regularly consume probiotic foods. This improves the number of good bacteria in the gut region and aids in the digestion of food materials.

Apart from that, you can also try to use lactose-free products so that your body does not show such symptoms in the long run. Some people may also benefit from taking lactase enzyme tablets before eating dairy products, but it is not a good idea as it cannot be used regularly on all occasions. The best option is to limit the intake of dairy foods that cause intolerance.

In this way, lactose intolerance can affect your body for a few hours or a couple of days, depending on the amount of lactose you have taken and the ability of the body to process lactose.

In most cases, you will get complete relief within 2 days as the entire lactose will be out of your system by this period. If you are suffering from severe symptoms, you can get in touch with your doctor and get suitable medication to reduce the pain in the abdominal region.