Dairy Intolerance

[CMCM]

In addition to the celiac gluten diagnosis, now I also find that I am casein sensitive. Has anyone read about this....does having dairy when you are intolerant to it create intestinal damage similar to what happens with gluten? Or can you get away with having it occasionally?

[Carriefaith]

I've read that casein can damage the intestines. There really isn't much information on the subject.

[Canadian Karen]

Hi CMCM:

Here is a link to a thread that might help:

Open Original Shared Link

Karen

[covsooze]

I've been wondering about this too having just been diagnosed with celiac disease. I've not been tested for dairy intolerance but am pretty sure it is a problem. I've cut out the 'obvious' dairy like cheese, milk, foods with a lot of dairy in. But do I really need to cut out the products that have got just a bit of lactose/ casein in?

Thanks

Susie

[CMCM]

I've been wondering about this too having just been diagnosed with celiac disease. I've not been tested for dairy intolerance but am pretty sure it is a problem. I've cut out the 'obvious' dairy like cheese, milk, foods with a lot of dairy in. But do I really need to cut out the products that have got just a bit of lactose/ casein in?

Thanks

Susie

I had always felt certain I was at least lactose (milk sugar) intolerant, perhaps because so much is written about it it seemed logical. I would take the lactaid pills when I ate a lot of dairy. I had a vague sense that if the lactaid pills helped at all, it wasn't by much. I never thought about it further (or didn't know about casein), but I've had problems my whole life with dairy and have never been a big dairy eater as a result. Eating ice cream would sometimes have me heading for the bathroom within a very short time. Guaranteed cramps and bloating, too, from any dairy at all. But the casein sensitivity diagnosis I got puts a whole new spin on things, I guess.

Although some people with untreated celiac have trouble with dairy, but who later after eliminating gluten for a time then do OK with dairy, I'm not sure if that would be true of someone with the casein sensitivity. I haven't found any info on it yet.

For what it's worth, when Enterolab sent my results their advice was to no longer eat gluten or dairy.

[ebrbetty]

can I get tested for casein and lactose by a blood test from my Dr? I think its become a problem with me and I'm tired of the guessing game

[LauraZ]

In addition to the celiac gluten diagnosis, now I also find that I am casein sensitive. Has anyone read about this....does having dairy when you are intolerant to it create intestinal damage similar to what happens with gluten? Or can you get away with having it occasionally?

My daughters and I were all tested by a naturopath using the ELISA blood test. It showed sensitivities to gluten/gliaden and all dairy. (It also showed high sensitivity to beef, which the naturopath said he saw a lot of because of the bovine connection.)

We all went gluten-free/DF last August and just this month decided to see what our tolerance for dairy was. I made a mushroom risotto that had a little parmesan in it. My oldest daughter had probably not even a full tsp of cheese in her portion and within two hours she had D and started vomiting about 3 a.m.

My younger daughter and I felt it in our nose -- stuffy, but nothing so painful. My older daughter is extra-sensitive to gluten now (and apparently dairy), having been away from it for so long.

So to respond to your question -- I think it depends on the individual! (Not a definitive answer, but one that seems to be pretty common with these food intolerances!)

Good luck!

Laura

[CMCM]

Even for myself, reactions vary from time to time with dairy. It ranges from very quick (within an hour or less of eating) reactions such as nauseated cramping and D, to gas and upset the next day, or stuffy nose, and occasionally not much of a reaction. For example, I have eaten lots of CHEESECAKE (my biggest food weakness) with not much of a reaction, but then have reacted horribly to something with MILK, like a bowl of cereal or a cappuccino with milk. When I was on the Atkins diet several years ago where I ate no grain and no dairy except for about an oz or 2 of cheddar cheese daily, I remember being amazed at the lack of dairy reaction to that.

I do think that the more dairy I had on a daily basis, the worse my reactions were. Of course, at that time I thought I was lactose intolerant (didn't know or think about the casein part of things) and I was popping lactaid pills when I ate anything dairy....perhaps I am ALSO lactose intolerant so the lactaid would have helped a bit then.

I wonder if the beef problems come from the fact that most cows are GRAIN FED???!!! I recently had a grass fed beef steak and I felt I did better with it. Beef in general is sort of hard for me to digest, I think, so I never eat a lot of it. I've never felt I had an actual reaction from beef, but just that it's hard to digest. But the grass fed steak I had seemed better somehow.

[Packard]

In addition to the celiac gluten diagnosis, now I also find that I am casein sensitive. Has anyone read about this....does having dairy when you are intolerant to it create intestinal damage similar to what happens with gluten? Or can you get away with having it occasionally?

I've always assumed that I was lactose intolerant (my father was). Not much of a hardship as I don't normally drink milk.

However when I was going through the testing process "T.R.O." as my doctor called it (To Rule Out), I took a lactose tolerance test. It is very simple:

You eat nothing from 10:00 the evening before and show up at the doctor's office. The give you a sweet tasting drink that is loaded with lactose. Then every 30 minutes they have you blow into a tube that is attached to a meter. If you are very intolerant you will get a positive reading on first try. They will make you blow into that tube every half hour for 3 hours. If you do not show a positive during that time you do not have a lactose intolerance issue.

It is a really good idea to know for sure. There are so many foods that you cannot eat, that it is foolish to eliminate ones that you can for the lack of a test.

And ice cream is a really nice substitute for brownies.