Lactose Intolerance ... Does It Reverse?

[shirleyujest]

Been lactose intolerant since about age 10. Not long ago after about 3 months of being gluten-free I had some ice cream and forgot my lactaid tablet. Was pleasantly surprised to find a reversal of the lactose intolerance. This has been a consistent change. I'm curious why this happens.

Then earlier this week I ingested some gluten, had the usual reaction though unlike many of you it's not severe, just a nuisance for a couple days. Well I ate ice cream within a couple days of the glutening and voila! Lactose intolerance returned.

Has this happened to others?

Thanks in advance.

[Swimmr]

I'm not an expert, but maybe the gluten damaged your intestines, therefore making them unable to adequately process the lactose...

I have read that many after going gluten free still have damaged villi and still won't beable to process some things for a long time or ever again.

[jststric]

I have been lactose-intolerant for about 15 yrs and it kicked into turbo-gear when my gluten issues kicked in. I have found recently that I can "get away" with an occasional lactose slip as long as its not much, not cheddar cheese and there is A LOT of time in between those cheatings. Any more than that, and my symptoms are back in living color, lol.

[GFinDC]

I found a page by John W. Kimball that explains the human digestive system. If you scroll down to the section on the small intestine it describes the villi and the enzymes produced there. Lactase is one of them. Pretty interesting stuff for folks like us. The villi produce the lactase and other enzymes. So if they are missing no lactase.

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[Swimmr]

That was neat to read GFinDC

The digestive system has always fascinated me and even though I retained alot of what I learned in anatomy, it still amazes me to realize just how cool our bodies are and shame on those who clutter it full of nasty fast food 3 times a day.

[GFinDC]

  Swimmr said:

That was neat to read GFinDC

The digestive system has always fascinated me and even though I retained alot of what I learned in anatomy, it still amazes me to realize just how cool our bodies are and shame on those who clutter it full of nasty fast food 3 times a day.

Yeah, pretty durn neat. I was real surprised that he said almost 50% of the dry stool weight is bacteria. Mostly from the colon though, not the small intestine. That was near teh bottom of the page. He said there are more bacteria in the colon than there are cells in the human body too. Good thing they are small!

[Ahorsesoul]

I've been gluten for a while. I gave up dairy for a few months and soy about a year. Then I didn't try to overload my body with dairy or soy on a daily basis for another year. Now I have no problems with dairy or soy. I eat cheese, ice cream and milk/cream daily. Soy products probably a few times a week. I think I probably gave my body time to heal. I avoid gluten all the time and do not cheat. I do get cc once in while but not on purpose.

[TownieHeather]

  shirleyujest said:

Been lactose intolerant since about age 10. Not long ago after about 3 months of being gluten-free I had some ice cream and forgot my lactaid tablet. Was pleasantly surprised to find a reversal of the lactose intolerance. This has been a consistent change. I'm curious why this happens.

Then earlier this week I ingested some gluten, had the usual reaction though unlike many of you it's not severe, just a nuisance for a couple days. Well I ate ice cream within a couple days of the glutening and voila! Lactose intolerance returned.

Has this happened to others?

Thanks in advance.

I've heard as common knowledge that you shouldn't eat dairy after having had diarrhea because you will naturally be lactose intolerant. Hence, it makes sense that after a glutening (at the very least until the glutened symptoms go away I would think) you should avoid dairy.