Breath test for lactose

[Doug]

I have seen another QI doctor. He recommended three separate breath tests. I took the first one today for lactose. Next one determines gut bacteria. This one I am very interested in. Anyone have these done?

[MBombardier]

No, I've never heard of them. It makes sense, though. I hope you share what you think of the experience and your results.

[DebE13]

I've done the hydrogen breath test on two different occasions. First, before my dx of CC and again a few years later with a functional medicine doc. I wasn't aware of and didn't do three separate tests so I'm not familiar with that part. Both involved drinking a chalky liquid and blowing in a tube to collect my breath in hourly intervals. The first time, they didn't finish the test because they said I was clearly lactose intolerant and sent me home. Oddly enough it later came back in my reports that I was not. That was at a time when I didn't question my doctors and blindly believed they knew more than me. I can't remember what the second set of results said (brain fog, sorry. I barely remember what I did yesterday). I'd have to look it up but I guess it's not really that important. I did try Lactaid for a while and had no noticeable improvements so discontinued. After joining this forum I gave up dairy and later, eggs. I got to the point where everything I ate gave me a stomach ache and a fatigued feeling aside from the years of relentless D so test results no longer mattered. The Enterolab results were a gem because it gave me specifics to food and confirmed I wasn't crazy.

I did have an analysis done of my gut bacteria and it showed dysbiosis which was no surprise at all. I had virtually no friendly bacteria in my guts whatsoever. I was given so a very strong and very expensive probiotic. They didn't help at all for me. In retrospect, had I simply changed my diet and eliminated most everything (haha) it would have helped. I continued to eat, unknowingly, foods I shouldn't so all the probiotics and supplements in the world wouldn't have helped. Plus, one of them was fiber. live and learn. Although, the tests are a good confirmation of things we suspect.

I tried showing these results to my PCP at the time and he shoved them back at me and said the numbers and reports didn't mean anything to him. I was hoping to prove my point that something was wrong but he clearly wasn't interested. Steroids were my only alternative with him. Take a pill or go home and don't come back. Eventually I didn't.