(Image source from: Are you intolerant to milk or is it colitis?})

Think you are allergic to milk? Agreed, one in five people are intolerant to lactose. However, the terrible cramps and need to rush to the loo every time you eat or drink dairy could be a serious indication of something else.

While most of us tend to mistake all discomfort in the gut after drinking or eating dairy products to lactose intolerance, at times it could be a larger indication of an inflammation in the large bowel, clinically termed as ulcerative colitis.

What's worse is that both colitis and lactose intolerance have many crossover symptoms, such as diarrhoea, abdominal pain and tiredness that increases the chances of misdiagnosis and delayed treatment.

'It's crucial that ulcerative colitis is controlled with treatment. Having to rush to the toilet up to 20 times a day is unpleasant and disruptive. But uncontrolled inflammation of the large bowel over many years can lead to serious conditions, including perforation of the bowel, which can be life-threatening.

So, if you think you are intolerant to milk, get checked now as it is important to confirm at the earliest that there is not something more serious going on.

AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury