Dairy Intolerance After Being gluten-free For A Year?

[melikamaui]

I am so tired (have been up all night with my sick little one) and I know that somewhere in the recesses of my brain I know this, but it just isn't coming to the surface. Is it possible for someone with celiac disease to suddenly develop a dairy intolerance? My son has been gluten-free for over a year now. I know he isn't contaminated (I've gone over it my head about 1,000 times) but he is really sick with classic contamination symptoms. Vomiting, diarrhea, terrible stomach cramps, anger, lethargy, etc. The only thing I can think of is that I let him have Trader Joe's gluten-free macaroni and cheese the day he got sick. He's had this food before, but not for awhile. Is it possible that he developed a severe reaction to dairy all of the sudden?

Thanks,

Melika

[Mummyto3]

I'm no expert, but from all the research I've done, I have come across this. I asked our dietician about it but she said you can't get a dairy intolerance once you go gluten free. I don't accept this.

I've posted this from Coeliac UK as I wanted you to have the right info rather than just from me x

What is lactose intolerance and what are the symptoms?

Lactose is the main sugar in mammalian milk, for example cows, goats, and sheep. Lactose is broken down into glucose and galactose by the enzyme called lactase.

In lactose intolerance, lactase is either absent (alactasia) or deficient (hypolactasia).

This means lactose is not broken down and unabsorbed lactose passes into the colon where it is fermented. Lactose intolerance results in symptoms such as bloating, excess wind, abdominal pain and diarrhoea.

Types of lactose intolerance

Lactose intolerance can be divided into three categories:

congenital alactasia is a rare condition inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. It results in life long complete absence of lactase

primary lactase deficiency is an age-related condition, characterised by a progressive loss of lactase activity. This leads to a partial absence of lactase

secondary lactose intolerance can follow any gastrointestinal illness where there has been damage to the brush border cells of the small intestine.

What is the link between lactose intolerance and coeliac disease?

Coeliac disease is a frequent cause of secondary lactose intolerance. A 2005 study involving people with lactose intolerance found that 24% of subjects had villous atrophy, confirming coeliac disease (1).

Untreated coeliac disease results in damage to the lining of the gut. The enzyme lactase is found in the brush border of the small intestine. This is why people with coeliac disease can be deficient in lactase at diagnosis.

Once established on a gluten-free diet, the gut is able to heal and lactose digestion returns to normal. Lactose intolerance is therefore usually temporary. However, it can take up to a couple of years for lactase production to return to normal depending on how long it takes the gut to heal.

Diagnosis of lactose intolerance

The symptoms of lactose intolerance are very similar to those of coeliac disease. Lactose intolerance does not involve a response by the immune system and no antibodies are produced.

Lactose intolerance should be considered in patients with on-going symptoms known to be following a gluten-free diet. Lactose intolerance can be diagnosed by the Hydrogen Breath Test. This is a non-invasive test and has good sensitivity and specificity (2).

Many people with coeliac disease do not have lactose intolerance because enough lactase is available in parts of the small intestine that are unaffected. Foods which contain lactose can be an important source of calcium in the diet. It is important lactose intolerance is diagnosed before changing the diet.

[melikamaui]

Thank you for posting that! I'm not sure now how to feel about all of this. I think I'm just going to remove dairy from his diet and see if he improves. Other than how sick he was for the last 3 days or so, he's been complaining of stomach aches off and on and I know he isn't getting cc.

Hopefully going dairy free will help. Thanks again!

Melika

[Mummyto3]

Thank you for posting that! I'm not sure now how to feel about all of this. I think I'm just going to remove dairy from his diet and see if he improves. Other than how sick he was for the last 3 days or so, he's been complaining of stomach aches off and on and I know he isn't getting cc.

Hopefully going dairy free will help. Thanks again!

Melika

If you want to know or sure if its lactose, he can always be tested. Or you can just remove dairy from his diet.

Hope he improves quickly x

(whereabouts are you? UK or US)

[melikamaui]

If you want to know or sure if its lactose, he can always be tested. Or you can just remove dairy from his diet.

Hope he improves quickly x

(whereabouts are you? UK or US)

I'm in the U.S. And I did decided to just completely take him off dairy and see if he improves. I took him to his doc today and she agreed. It's so nice to have a doctor who *gets* celiac disease. She really understands what we are going through and is gluten-free herself!

[Mummyto3]

I agree, its great to know a dr understands. I was pleased the dr who took my boys blood yesterday had some knowlege on testing for coeliac.

[GFinDC]

There is no test to prove that a food is 100% gluten free. The best test right now is down to 5 ppm. Which means there could be up to 5 ppm in the food. The more common tests are 20 ppm. So, if he is eating a lot of processed foods, he could be getting enough gluten to keep him sick.

There is no labeling law in the US right now, so anyone can put a label on a food and call it gluten-free, and not even test it at all. That doesn't mean all gluten-free foods are unsafe, but some may be. And if you eat a lot of processed gluten-free food, you are potentially eating a little bit off CC every time. And it adds up. So the safest way to go is to not eat much of the processed gluten-free foods.

[October3]

I'm newer to the celiac side of things, but from years of chasing down food intolerances I can say definitively you can develop food intolerances at any time even if you are not celiac. The theory with food intolerances is that damage to the gut allows larger particles of food to pass through (leaky gut) and your body doesn't like this. Leaky gut is very commonly a result of an overabundance of yeast in the gut and yeast loves to feed on foods that young children like - things that are sugary or acidic as well as starchy foods like potatoes. So I would say yes it is definitely possible that he has developed a dairy intolerance. However, if the symptoms you are seeing are his typical gluten CC symptoms I would still suspect that something listed as Gluten Free was actually CC first. Generally different food intolerances give you different symptoms. There might be some overlap but if you have a list of symptoms linked to a particular food and they are all present it seems unlikely a different food is causing that same exact list.

Just my 2 cents.

[melikamaui]

Thanks everyone. We were doing zero processed foods for awhile and nothing changed. Just yesterday I let the boys pick out some gluten-free treats from Whole Foods that we used to have all the time. (Cookies, cereal, etc) I guess I'll see if he worsens or improves.

[WhenDee]

I know it would be hard on you (and on him!) to recheck this, but don't discount the possibility of an everyday common stomach bug! I remember from my daughter that it takes two weeks to rid the body of milk proteins entirely, so you'd have to wait that long, but you could check him after that. It would be worthwhile, I think, to be sure. Dairy is a big food group to avoid when you're already off the gluten.

[melikamaui]

I know it would be hard on you (and on him!) to recheck this, but don't discount the possibility of an everyday common stomach bug! I remember from my daughter that it takes two weeks to rid the body of milk proteins entirely, so you'd have to wait that long, but you could check him after that. It would be worthwhile, I think, to be sure. Dairy is a big food group to avoid when you're already off the gluten.

I took him to his doctor to make sure it wasn't a bug. She was pretty convinced it wasn't. He's doing much better off dairy. Though you are right, dairy is another HUGE category of food to avoid. It has complicated our already complicated lives!

[Laura HaHe]

You can develop other intolerances after going gluten free. My daughter developed a reaction to soy after going gluten/dairy free. My naturopath said this is probably due to the fact that we started giving her a lot of soy, to a child who already has food intolerances. So yes, your son can develop more food issues after going gluten free. I was told to rotate common allergens, for instance we alternate her "milks" from coconut to rice to almond, and her nut butters we alternate from peanut to hazelnut to sunbutter etc. to try and prevent this from happening again.

[melikamaui]

That's good advice Laura. Thanks!