Celiac And Dairy Question

[pbc+celiac]

I have been gluten free for 8 weeks but continue with bloating and lower abdominal pain. I have been told it is probably a dairy issue.I am very strict with gluten and many neuro symptoms have decreased. I am finding it very hard to remove dairy totally from my diet. Well my question is if I continue consuming dairy will my small bowel heal or worsen? Is this just a symptom and not damaging? Any info would be helpful.

I was diagnosed by biopsy and blood with celiac.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Alicia

[Gemini]

I have been gluten free for 8 weeks but continue with bloating and lower abdominal pain. I have been told it is probably a dairy issue.I am very strict with gluten and many neuro symptoms have decreased. I am finding it very hard to remove dairy totally from my diet. Well my question is if I continue consuming dairy will my small bowel heal or worsen? Is this just a symptom and not damaging? Any info would be helpful.

I was diagnosed by biopsy and blood with celiac.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Alicia

Yes, going dairy light will not impede your recovery, if that is the level you can tolerate. I can drink milk in my tea and cream in my coffee as I only use a drop in each but I cannot tolerate a whole glass of milk or ice cream. I do not eat cold cereal so that is not an issue for me. I also can tolerate soft cheeses, like goat cheese, but have a harder time with cheddar's or more processed/harder cheeses. I eat a dairy light diet and have had no problems, unless I consume more and then the trouble begins....... Play around with amounts to see where your symptoms begin and end.

[mushroom]

Dairy products contain both lactose (sugar) and casein (protein). Some of us can handle the digestion of casein fine, but it is lactose that bothers us because the enzyme to digest lactose is produced on the tips of the villi that are damaged by gluten. Until those recover lactose is often a problem. I could eat all cultured dairy products where most of the lactose has been consumed by the culture (cheese, yogurt, sour cream--even butter because most of the lactose is in the whey) but not milk, cream, ice cream. So do experiment and see how you do.