I.B.S., Lactose Intolerance, or both?

Question
Lawrence,
Does this sound like lactose intolerance?
My husband,52, was not a big dairy eater just the occasional cheese and ice cream and milk in his coffee.
He started getting a very bloated abdomen and nausea about two years ago, coincidently around the time he started a new stressfull job.
He thought it was I.B.S. and cut out red meat which did help a bit.
I suggested he cut out dairy and that helped even more.
Recently he has 'backslid' and is using milk in his coffee again and the symptoms are returning. He had a bowel of ice cream last night and woke up sick to his stomach this morning so now I am convinced its the milk. What do you think?
Also he plans to keep up the red meat free diet, but can he eat chicken and fish? Fish doesnt seem to be a problem at all.
He actually went vegetarian for a couple weeks and his symptoms almost disappeared and his belly shrunk. Now he is back to eating a little meat and his symptoms are back. Its pretty tough to stay vegan especially for an older guy like him who ate meat all his life, but then again he has watched his relatives who all had the same symptoms as him die early from colorectal cancer, so maybe its a genetic thing too?
Thanks for your thoughts!

Answer
Well here in the states we usually at age 50 are told at are annual physical that it is time to get a colonoscopy aka lower GI. He might want to speak with his doctor who will probably recommend this to rule out or to confirm illness such as IBS or other problems that may exist. The doctor may also recommend an endoscopy aks upper GI to check him from the other side leading into the stomach. The fact that the foods you mentioned bother him to the point of nausea suggests there is a problem, but what is it needs to be determined. Your thoughts on the matter sound logical but many other things have the same or similar symptoms. G.E.R.D. also will make you sick when you wake up in the morning. In my opinion he needs to be tested to find out what his problem is.

I wish you luck and hopefully he will feel better soon.

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