Lactose Intolerance - can you suddenly become lactose intolerant as an adult?

Have you ever been exposed to Salmonella? This can destroy the ability of your body to produce lactese, which is necessary to process lactose. This has recently happened to my son. He did not realize he had been exposed to Salmonella, so was not treated for it. There is no 100% accurate test to see if this is the case, it is merely a process of omitting dairy and seeing if your symptoms improve. Unfortunately, we are finding there is a lactose component to many, many foods, and medications. Good luck!

You probably had small signs that you didn't notice along the way, but yes that's what happened to me. After years of being able to have milk and dairy products, I suddenly started to have severe gas, bloating and cramps; sometimes even diarrhea. It can be tested but what I did was not have any dairy for awhile, then when I was feeling very healthy and no other problems, I had about 1/2 a cup of milk. Yup my self test worked within 20 to 30 minutes I had the answer, I'm lactose intolerant.