Gassy problem-still working on solution advice for calcium please

I have known since shortly after surgery I couldnt tollerate regular milk anymore and have switched to lactaid which seems to help. Well I've been keeping a food journal to bring into my next doctors appointment in hopes I can pinpoint any other triggers. After being unsure of 2 times with the yogurt and noted air/gas pains following eating both yogurt and cheese I tried again today and guess what...I'm in pain! I'm gassed up yet again. :(

 What is going on inside me? Anyone have any suggestions as to which route I can go to get my calcium? This is so frustrating, but I do feel I'm headed in the right direction with pinpointing and ruling out possible causes and hopefully end up with a diagnosis from the doctor. 

Let me add, I fill up with air/gas and it doesn't easily pass my system like it use to. It seems to just build up inside me and occasionaly my body will let something out and I feel relief. :( I miss the early days of burping and passing gass easily.

you need to take calcium pills, we don't absorb much if anything from food anyway. Sorry milk is giving you issues though

I am taking calcium, just really not liking the idea of having to take extra because that means extra pills a day :(   I'll have to rearrange my vitamins a little I suppose.

According to the ASMBS, we all need 1500-2000 mg calcium citrate, regardless of how much milk or other calcium-rich foods we eat.  The type of calcium in most foods is calcium phosphate and we don't absorb it very well.

You don't need to take extra calcium, just the 1500-2000 mg that everyone needs.

If you don't like pills, you can use Upcal D, which is a powder.  It has no taste and you can put it in any drink or in soft foods like applesauce or oatmeal, etc.

if it's any consolation, a lot of people become more tolerant of milk as time goes on. but you are still stuck taking the calcium! :)

I also thought I'd mention that many people that are lactose intolerant are able to tolerate raw milk.  I buy raw milk and that's all I ever use anymore and I also make my own Greek yogurt out of it.  My partner, who used to get the most awful gas ever from milk, drinks it with no problem.  Now I can sleep in bed with him after he has a bowl of cereal for an evening snack!

The issue is that milk naturally has an enzyme in it called lactase, which helps you digest lactose.  Pasteurizing milk destroys the lactase in it.  Lactaid milk is not lactose free, it is regular pasteurized milk with the enzyme lactase added back into it.  But raw milk naturally has the enzyme you need to digest it.

 I take 3 packets of UpCal D per day.  Each is 500 mgs of Cal Citrate.  

 Since surgery I have used Almond Milk  instead of regular milk.

Thank you!  I'll talk to my doctor about the raw milk option. I'm just wondering if I'll ever be able to find an alternative to cheese :( this is so sad but I'm hopeful to get to the bottom of things so I can start feeling better. I've always thought I had a high tollerance for pain, I never thought "gas/air" could cause pain this severe.

I've tried the soy milk and it was so gross it made me gag it's just not a flavor for me, I cant do chocolate either (allergic go figure) so flavoring it with that is out.