Could Casein Be Making Me This Sick Still?

[MissBonnie]

i have been gluten free for 3 months and was getting better but the last 5 weeks ive been bed ridden with pain and nausea. ive even been to hospital and they cant find anything wrong. im lactose free but still drinking lactose free cows milk. could this make me that sick? im at wits end i need to get better

[cyberprof]

i have been gluten free for 3 months and was getting better but the last 5 weeks ive been bed ridden with pain and nausea. ive even been to hospital and they cant find anything wrong. im lactose free but still drinking lactose free cows milk. could this make me that sick? im at wits end i need to get better

You have nothing - absolutely nothing - to lose by giving it up for a month or so. Good luck! I hope you feel better soon.

[GFinDC]

You have nothing - absolutely nothing - to lose by giving it up for a month or so. Good luck! I hope you feel better soon.

Right, that is the simple and easy thing to do to find out if it is bothering her. make sure you read labels becasue casein and lactose are added to many processed foods you wouldn't expect it to be in. Also vitamin pills and medicines need to be checked.

[MissBonnie]

so do i need to be as careful with it as the gluten? or is it more an intolerance than an allergy?

[GFinDC]

The answer depends on your body. If you are having anaphylactic like reactions, swelling throat, irritated eyes, etc then it is an allergic (IgE) reaction. That can be deadly and needs to be strictly avoided 100%. A food intolerance is a differnet response, and can cause damage over a period of time with continued exposure, but is not usually an immediate threat. However, if you are having an immune response in yuor digestive system, as in celiac, then you do wnat to avoid it 100% so the antibodies will go down. There is something called casein mediated enteropathy, where that happens and causes villi damage like celiac does.

More people have latcose intolerance than casein intolerance. Lactose intoelrance is not usually a problem other than discomfort and GI upset. I have casein intolerance and it affects me in various ways. If I have dairy (cheese especially which is mostly casein protein), I get some midl GI upset and symptoms. but if I have had a glutening or other GI irritation, I get "wired" and cant' sleep. I once was up for 3 days running after eating some cheese, and didn't even get tired. I finally got a few hours sleep on the 4th day, and more the next and then got back to normal after a week. So it can have different affects on different people. I did try some cheese a couple months ago to see what would happen. It only bothered me a little as far as sleep and some mild GI symptoms. I figure that is because my gut was pretty well healed. But I don't eat it because any symptoms are not really worth it to me.

[MissBonnie]

wow thanks so much for that. i didnt know much about casein sensitivity but if it can cause glutening like symptoms then that could well be my problem! cutting out all cheese and other dairy products beyond lactose from now on.