If You've "recovered" From Lactose Intolerance, How Long Did It Take?

[eleep]

Had a couple of tough days and, on impulse, bought a really good, hard, aged, extra-sharp Cheddar which can sit for a few months in my fridge before I open it, if need be.

I'm able to eat yogurt, butter and buttermilk with no problem (although, they don't generally have lactose anyway!). Any estimates on how many months gluten-free I should go before trying a slice of this stuff on a cracker?

eleep

[snapple]

I went 6 months lactose free before I tried any. Actually, it was an accident. My incredible BIL made gluten-free blueberry cobbler for the 4th of July and of course topped it with ice cream. (Ice cream has always had a very nasty effect on me) I had some and then later that evening realized that I had eaten ice cream and that it wasn't having any effect. I don't generally tend to eat it anyway; it's a once in a while treat, however I have gone back to regular milk on my cereal, with a cookie, etc and I haven't noticed any problems. Sooo, it took me 6 months of being gluten free to "recover" from my lactose intolerance.

Good luck!

Kate

[jaten]

9 mos later and I am beginning to tolerate. Still trying to stay with dairy in only a light way though. Healing not complete.

[par18]

Had a couple of tough days and, on impulse, bought a really good, hard, aged, extra-sharp Cheddar which can sit for a few months in my fridge before I open it, if need be.

I'm able to eat yogurt, butter and buttermilk with no problem (although, they don't generally have lactose anyway!). Any estimates on how many months gluten-free I should go before trying a slice of this stuff on a cracker?

eleep

I actually ate cheddar cheese within a few days of starting the diet in May 05. This was after a positive Dx through biopsy. I waited a couple of weeks and drank a glass of milk. No problem with that either. I have had dairy for the last 15 months without the first problem. I don't know if I was ever lactose intolerant. There was a time before my Dx when I thought I might be but I think it was the wafer on the ice cream sandwich not the ice cream. All I think I have a problem with is gluten.

Tom

[mookie03]

took me around a year but i think that was because i wasnt patient enough- i refused to eliminate milk completely for the first several months and kept accidentally glutening myself so i wasnt healing. Once i allowed myself to heal (from the gluten) i slowly was able to reincorporate dairy...now i seem to be fine, but i am still a little careful about having too much. Be patient, healing takes time, but you should be able to reintroduce it once you've started feeling better pretty consistently. I think each person's timetable is different, but if you are tolerating some dairy, give it a shot!

[brendygirl]

I can do dairy as long as I keep up with eating yogurt (I like Mountain High-gluten-free)

at least once a week. If I go without dairy (body forgets how to handle it) and/or yogurt for a couple weeks, and then eat dairy, I'll get a reaction.

There are also those tablets with acidophillus or whatever it's called to help you digest dairy.

[hez]

I went about 9 months to a year before drinking milk. I did not cut out all dairy, just milk. It was the only thing that made me have stomach aches.

Hez

[TriticusToxicum]

It took me about 6 months.

[StrongerToday]

I was gluten-free for at least six months and whenever I tried dairy I'd have a reaction. I finally stopped trying until just recently... which would make it almost a year. I now have hard cheese (yum, cheddar!!), butter, sour cream and whip cream. I have not yet tried the heavier items like yogurt, milk, ice cream.

I would think if you can handle yogurt, etc. then you can have some cheese. Enjoy!

[lonewolf]

Aged cheddar cheese shouldn't have much lactose in it to start with. If you can handle yogurt, you should be fine.

[oceangirl]

Aged cheddar cheese shouldn't have much lactose in it to start with. If you can handle yogurt, you should be fine.

Wow!

Thanks all for this and Erica for the question. I've been afraid to reintroduce any cheese because I can't seem to get a run on feeling well, but I think I might take a stab at a little cheddar now and see what happens. (gluten-free for 7 months but still having some issues)

lisa

[heathen]

i reintroduced after 5 months--and slowly. but i notice that any time i'm glutened or have a stomach virus, etc, milk products absolutely tear me up. so beware. also, i found that cheeses had the mildest effect, so i hope you can enjoy your cheddar soon.

[IrishKelly]

I did not know butter didn't have lactose in it!! Why is that? Why buttermilk too?

[eleep]

Buttermilk is fermented, so the sugars should be digested. Butter itself is supposed to be extremely low in lactose because the sugar separates out with the whey. However, there are some possible exceptions to this depending on how your butter is produced:

Open Original Shared Link

eleep

[eKatherine]

Buttermilk is fermented, so the sugars should be digested. Butter itself is supposed to be extremely low in lactose because the sugar separates out with the whey. However, there are some possible exceptions to this depending on how your butter is produced:

Open Original Shared Link

Cultured buttermilk, essentially the whey from making cultured butter, is quite safe...

My understanding is that commercial buttermilk is a product fermented from skim milk, using a culture that does not break down much of the lactose contained in the milk.

[corinne]

I'm just reintroducing dairy now after 9 months gluten free. I can tolerate butter and hard cheeses so far. Initially, I reacted to even 1/4 tsp of butter so this is a huge improvement.

[eleep]

My understanding is that commercial buttermilk is a product fermented from skim milk, using a culture that does not break down much of the lactose contained in the milk.

Hmmm -- perhaps it's that I'm not as lactose-intolerant as I thought I was -- I didn't think I was reacting to buttermilk or butter -- certainly didn't have the same symptoms.