what could this be?

[worriedgirl]

A couple of months ago i started to experience excessive burping (Not necissarily after eating), diarrhea and a gurgly upset stomach. This last only a couple weeks and started a week before my period and ended near the end of it. In the last couple of weeks I started getting the excess gas again along with the diarrhea ( not all the time) the upset stomach that could range anywhere from pressure to gurgly or cramps. A couple of times i noticed it after eating dairy but thats not always the case. In addition to this i occassionally get very mild heartburn, headaches and a sore throat. It might be worth mentioning that over the last few days my tongue has felt swollen and dry ( it might also be good to mention i have a nervous habit to chew my tongue while i sleep so thats probably nothing)

I would really appreciate some insight into this
Thanks

[Dr. Joshua]

Thanks for your question worriedgirl. Of course there are numerous possible causes for such symptoms, including a variety of digestive problems (high-fiber foods, lactose etc), colon problems ranging from irritable bowel syndrome to ulcerative colitis, and also infections such as Giardia.

The thing to do is to have your primary care physician take a thorough history (including travel history) and perform a physical examination. Then he/she may order some lab tests / lactose test, fecal culture, and whatever examinations are needed. On the other hand, most such symptoms do not need extensive examinations and usually can be diagnosed with a careful history and physical examination.

Good luck!

[colbyolen]

I am a very busy person sometimes I tend to not remember things. In this regard, I often forget to take or bring my Lactaid with me so I was often in tight spots especially at meeting with clients. To make my life easier and more efficient I decided to try Lactagen, I thought what do I have to lose? I can say that I can still eat dairy even after I finished the program. I figured that once you stopped taking it you would have symptoms again, but to my surprise, I still don’t have symptoms! I recommend it to anybody, especially if you are as busy as I am!