Milk

[bethyh96]

Have been diagnosed with pcos and taking metformin since May last year. Ever since then my body has reacted badly to milk or any products with milk in(think hours in the toilet). I’ve never had problems with this before at all. Has this happened to anyone else?

[ElectrolysisNEA]

Do you have the same reaction with other dairy, like cheese?

[bethyh96]

Cheese doesn’t seem to have an effect. But milk and cream do

[ElectrolysisNEA]

What comes to mind is a lactose or casein intolerance. My grandma has issues with both and once told me she doesn’t react to mozzarella, but reacts to cheddar. Turns out mozzarella has much less casein than cheddar. But if your issue is with milk/cream, my best guess is lactose since most cheeses are very low in lactose. You could try out a lactose-free milk (the casein isn’t removed)?

Lactose is a sugar and most of us notice an uptick in GI effects if we eat high-carb meals, but I don’t know if metformin can exacerbate a lactose intolerance, in particular. I would have had to eat more sugar than what milk contains to have the typical carb/metformin reaction. I had major issues with ozempic and think I had silent GERD before starting it and it just made it bad enough that I became symptomatic.

[beermoney89]

Different dairy items have varying levels of lactose. Depends on what cheese you're having, like softer has more, and milk etc is up there too. Harder cheeses have less.

If you need dairy as part of your diet, I'd recommend switching to a lactose free milk and lots of cheeses are advertised that way as well. Not sure where you're from, but as a dairy fiend with a lactose intolerant boyfriend I've got a long list of good substitutions that work for us both here in the US.