A Question For Those Of You With Dairy/lactose Intolerance

[WakeupNurse]

I am still in the beginning stages of finding out if I am celiac or not. However, my question is about dairy. I have always known that I am lactose intolerant but have been able to eat some things without "apparent" consequences. If I'm going to eat pure milk products or processed cheeses then I take Lactaid and I'm usually ok. For those of you with dairy intolerances, do you find that taking Lactaid prevents your symptoms or do you have to avoid all dairy all together? I never really thought that some of my other symptoms could be related to the dairy I was ingesting that just weren't causing the very noticable reactions. Any opinions would be appreciated!

[aikiducky]

My first thought is that you probably won't know what reaction is what until you have the celiac question sorted out.

An intolerance to milk protein, casein, can give similar symptoms as celiac, so once you are gluten free it's easier to see if that's the case. The way to test it is to see how you react to dairy products that have little to none lactose, like hard cheese. I'd think that if you eat hard cheese and take a couple Lactaids and still get a reaction, that you need to avoid dairy all together. But if you only react to stuff with lactose in it then you'll probably be fine with moderate amounts of dairy accompanied by Lactaid. BUT if you are still eating gluten, you won't know for sure what you are reacting to!

Also, if you have celiac, you can be temporarily lactose intolerant, in which case it might change once you've gluten free long enough for your intestines to heal.

Pauliina

[kabowman]

I am lactose and casein intollerant so I cannot have any dairy products. My youngest son is only lactose intolerant - we did a food test/challenge and the lactose pills helped him, his other problems we have not been able to fully identify because he still eats many lactose containing foods away from home.

[tummytroubles]

When I first took dairy out of my diet, I could still eat a little of it with lactase pills and be okay for the most part. I would only do this if I had to eat out for any reason. Instead of dairy, I used soy cheese which has casein in it. I was okay with that at first. However, when I started eliminating other foods that caused me problems, I found that my system was more sensitive and that I couldn't eat any dairy or casein even if I took lactase pills. I think it is because my body can now tell me when any little amount of problem food is injested since it is not having to deal with all of the major intolerances like gluten. My body probably was so busy dealing with the big problems related to gluten, etc. that it didn't have the energy to worry about the "smaller" intolerances.

[Juliebove]

For years I thought I was just lactose intolerant. That's what the Dr. told me. I stopped drinking milk and felt better. I thought I could handle a little milk cooked in something. Thought I could eat cheese. Then at age 46 I had an allergy test done and found out I was allergic to milk and 2 other foods. I can not have any dairy at all now. Not even a speck. Seems when I was eating it all the time, I didn't realize how sick it was making me. Only when I totally stopped it did I feel better. Now I can't handle any at all.

[cajun celiac]

I have always known I was a little lactose intolerant even before the Celiac disgnosis. My doc says it is possible that intolerances differ. Taking Lactaid has never helped me. If I have milk on an empty stomach I suffer, for instance having a bowl of cereal for breakfast. But cheese, milk, etc. with meals throughout the day doesn't bother me.

Here is something strange, since going gluten free my lactose intolerance has gotten worse. My doc said it's only coincidence.