Even though I'm sure I'm totally gluten-free I'm still reacting to something in my diet. I had ghee for the first time last week and had a major reaction. Looking back at my food diary I guess I've eaten dairy most days since I got my Enterolab results back.

I was only worried about gluten since my milk test came back as a 9 (10 being positive). Now I'm wondering if since I was totally off dairy about 3 months before the test could the number have dropped w/out dairy in my diet?

I guess I'm going to have to eliminate all dairy now.

I just want to find out if I have a problem with casein...when should I expect to see improvement if dairy is a problem? If I notice no improvement I'll have to eliminate something else.

I have no gastro symptoms from dairy except bloating. My symptoms are just like gluten symptoms and are never gastro. Could dairy symptoms be the same as gluten?

Yes diary symptoms could be the same as gluten. Even other foods that trigger reaction can produce the symptoms you have associated only with gluten. I have a specific gluten reaction - but I have had it a few times when I know there was no gluten - eating at home - nothing different. I have intestinal reactions to some of my no-no foods and some to gluten as well but the gluten response is dramatic - severe itching without any rash and the most intense cold chills - teeth rattling chills.

You need to identify the other culprits that your body is over reacting to. This can be a slow process. You can go the testing route for food sensitivities. My Naturopathic doctor does not trust these. He thinks they get the foods identified but they identify a whole lot that are false readings and you can't tell what is really reactive and what is not. He puts his patients on three weeks of eating only safe foods - the ones you are absolutely sure of - and then begin to add in one food at a time - a week at a time - if no reaction in a week, go on to try another food. If you do get a reaction you rest at least two weeks before another food is introduced. That is the slow way but it is relying on your body to decide - rather than a test that may be misread. Claire

Rachel, I think you and I have very similar cases. I too don't get any gastro symptoms from gluten except bloating, and a couple of weeks ago I figured out something was still giving me the gluten symptoms (brain fog, fatigue, acne, serious irritability!) even though I'd been very careful about not getting any gluten... One time it hit me right after eating a home-made cheeseburger and it clicked - casein! I stopped eating dairy and last week accidentally consumed half a forkful of sour cream and the next day, symptoms ahoy! So I'm pretty sure that's it. Weird that I was fine with dairy for so long and then it suddenly gave me a problem. It's almost more difficult than the gluten thing because cheese became a big substitute for me after I cut out gluten. Also, people presume you really mean lactose when you say you can't eat any dairy and offer you stuff that's lactose free... I think I am more effected by the peptides in gluten and casein than anything else. I really feel like I've been shot with a tranquilizer dart! It sucks but I feel lucky that I don't get gastro issues. Before I went gluten-free though I used to have waves of sudden nausea almost every day. Just seemingly out of nowhere. Thankfully I don't get that anymore. It was like being pregnant for 12 years!

I'm so glad this thread started as I have been freaking out. I have been eating gluten-free and extremely stringent about it- but still feeling glutened. For example, on Saturday I ate gluten-free rice bars, gluten-free cereal with rice milk and then Amy's gluten-free mac and cheese 9which is very, very cheesy) and whammo- up at 4:30 a.m. vomiting, diarrhea, chills, night sweats etc. Same thing that happens when I get glutened. So I've been trying to figure out what the heck happened. And then it occurred to me- all that cheese!

So Claire- you're saying that you can get the same symptoms from other intolerances that you do from gluten? I get that freezing cold thing too. Yuck!

I have two questions- one- do ALL dairy products have casein in them (I'm wondering about parmesan cheese as it's what I've always considered it my safe cheese)? Two- if you are casein intolerant, does it, like gluten, cause intestinal damage when you eat it? Or do you just feel yucky? Thanks, Beverly

Hi all, I think the question has been answered by others but I will add my experience as well. Yes, I too have had gluten-like symptoms caused by other foods - specifically dairy, egg, and corn. Dairy was the first to cause problems, then 2 months later eggs, then 5 months later corn. After eliminating each, I felt better in a few days. Good luck.

I also can get gluten like reactions from dairy products. I usually get mostly GI symptoms from dairy like gas, bloating, D, nausea, gagging/dry vomiting. I am pretty sure that I am casein intolerant, but have never confirmed it with a doctor.

Those with casein problems might find it interesting to investigate the protein casein. You should be able to track down info on the similarity of this protein to the gluten protein. As I understand it, the molecular structure is virtually identical. I don't know the 'science' or 'physiology' of this but wouldn't it seem that the body- especially a celiac disease stressed body - could confuse these guys and react in the same way to both. Just thinking out loud here. I do know that some doctors take casein as well as gluten away from celiac disease patients. Claire

That is very interesting, I'll have to research that

Yes,
I also have the same symptons when I eat any dairy as I do with gluten. I didn't realize that you could have an intolerance to casein, until I tested with EnteroLab. I always thought that it was lactose. I have also noticed that I have started having a problem with soy. I have been gluten-free since March 2004, and like so many others, I am extremely sensitive to gluten now.

I did not have classic celiac symptoms when I was diagnosed with severe damage. I have been gluten-free now for 4-5 months and suddenly starting have the big D very bad, even though I am gluten-free. I think I have become dairy intolerant as well, though that really, really sucks. It is only a temporary thing while I am just starting to absorb again?

It is strange, to suddenly be reacting to a food group that was fine before. Of course when you think about it, before your body wasn't able to abosorb it, so it must mean my little villi are waking up!

If you haven't already, check out my message above on this subject. Claire

My dd and I have reactions to dairy as well. We had her tested through YORK several months ago. I'm waiting for my YORK test results to arrive.
In the last few weeks they have changed their tests to include a European and a North American profile. The North American profile tests for 96 foods with a few different cheeses, casein, goats milk, gluten and gliadin. I was really excited to see the addition of casein. When my dd was tested they only tested for dairy itself. The new tested has eliminated a few foods that I wish were included but I'm excited to see my results.

I started noticing I had a problem when I was eating Amy's Rice Pizza & Mac n' Cheese.....

It's weird, isn't it? I was starting to feel so much better after going gluten-free that I thought "Oh great!" and then about 4 months in, I started to feel crappy again (this was July and I still feel carppy now ) so I assumed I was getting gluten in my system somehow or that I was micro-sensitive and couldn't even touch the stuff without obsessively washing my hands and still getting sick (and that may still be the case).

But... since July I've noticed a bunch of other things. Like vodka, which I drank in the beginning with no problem. Last time I drank SKYY, which is gluten-free, I had a gluten reaction, so now I'm thinking alcohol intolerance/problems with distilled products. Then I ate Trader Joe's ratatouille, also gluten-free, had a gluten reaction, so now I'm thinking nightshade intolerance. And my recent incident with Amy's gluten-free mac 'n cheese on Sunday which I'm still recovering from. It was a pretty violent reaction so now I'm thinking casein. It's really starting to bum me out. I was fine with gluten-free but no peppers, eggplants, potatoes, alcohol or dairy? Ugh! And I think soy might be a problem too

So, I'm going to try the elimination diet. I made a list of foods I'm pretty sure are safe for me, foods I'm questioning and foods I KNOW are out (like WRBO). I'm going to go three weeks without any of the foods in question and then try them one at a time, but I'm so frustrated! I'm sitting here starving and have no clue what to eat and I'm so tired from my last reaction that the thought of cooking is just blech! Sorry- I just needed to vent.

On a positive note, I picked up some Tropical Source gluten free, dairy free chocolate bars and they are delicious! I like the rice and the raspberry. maybe I'll just live on them, peanut butter and rice for the next three weeks.

I would like to make a couple of comments here. You mention having 'a gluten reaction'. 'Reaction' yes but it may or may not be a gluten reaction. The reactions can be the same or similar to many different things. We tend to blame gluten whenever we feel rotten when there may be another or even many other culprits lurking about.

My Naturopathic doctor sets up elimination diets like this: select the foods you feel are 'safe'. Eat only these foods for three weeks. After that begin to intoduce questionable foods - one at a time - each for one week. If no reaction go on to a second food. If you have a bad reaction stop that food and go back to the safe foods list for two weeks and then introduce another food. this is time consuming but he feels your body will tell you the truth very clearly if you approach it this way.

Yours - for whatever it is worth. Claire

On the "gluten like reaction" from casein question:

If you check out pubmed, you'll find that it IS possible to have enteropathy (villi destruction) from casein proteins, but it is actually VERY rare. (As in, handful of reported cases ever, not the <1% of the population sense.)

Casein is the protein in milk. It follows that all cheeses made with milk would have casein. Now some people are lactose intolerant and not casein sensitive. You have to get that figured out by testing. As for intestinal damage - all 'reactive' foods that are leaking through the intestinal wall are causing damage.

How do I know this? I was originally diagnosed with Type 11, Delayed Food Reactions. I was alerted at that time by Immuno Labs about villi damage and encouraged to add L-Glutamine to my supplements to help heal the damage and to adhere strictly to a diet that did not contain reactive foods. Those foods included all grains except oats and rice. Unfortunately the tests at that time did not imply a gluten response - only a reactive response to the grains.

I only found Celiac when my research turned up that the intestinal damage done by Delayed Food Allergy responses was identical to that produced by Celiac. That is when I started pushing my doctor about celiac.
That issue is still unclear. I am currently diagnosed with Cerebellar ataxia and upcoming tests should confirm if that is a genetic ataxia or a gluten induced ataxiz subsequent to either celiac or non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Claire

Perhaps I was misunderstood. I was saying that symptoms do not always tell you what you are reacting to. Most of the time they probably do but you certainly can have a reaction to something and think it is gluten when it is really something else. That's why having a picture of all the reactives in your diet is important.

Maybe what pubmed says about damage done by casein is true. I know from personal experience with absolute certainity that villi damage can be caused by other reactive foods - not just those containing gluten. Another reason for eliminating these offenders - the leaky gut does not heal if reactive foods are being eaten - gluten free or not. As long as leaky gut persists - reactions to foods will occur - and one can guess at whether the culprit is gluten or something else. Some people have such a distinctive reaction to gluten that they can be sure. With the other delayed food reactions it can be a real guessing game. I have been playing THAT game for 15 years. Claire

Well I don't have to worry about any *false* readings with my tests. My IgG delayed-onset tests were negative for ALL foods.
I only reacted to mustard and alfalfa (barely).
I had these tests done when I was at my abosolute worst. Not absorbing anything...losing weight...reacting to EVERYTHING. I'm pretty sure I had leaky gut which was causing all the reactions but tests show no real immune response to any foods. Also Enterolab came back negative for casein, yeast and eggs. All IgE true allergy tests have been negative as well. The only thing I've actually tested positive for was gluten. I think my Enterolab casein test may have been positive if I'd still been consuming dairy but I wasnt for a few months. I scored a 9 on that.
I guess after having IgG, IgE and IgA tests all come back negative theres not much left after that. Most of my *reactions* come after a glutening. Can Leaky Gut cause symptoms even though there is no actual sensitivities?

Lucky Rachel. I had reaction to 28 out of 100 foods tested - almost all on the high side (first test)
Second test (after removing bread from my diet as well as cakes, pies etc.) all the grain reactions still showed but antibodies were reduced. That's where I got into trouble. Not knowing that it was the gluten not the grains that was the problem. I am now testing myself following a nauropathic doctor's directives and seeing what my body says - rather than the test results. There are foods I do not need to test - I KNOW. There are others where I think I may be okay. We will see.

Leaky Gut has to have a cause? I know (for sure) that Celiac and Delayed Food Allergies both cause this. I imagine that there are other things that do as well. I am always researching so if I find out anything more about that I will post it. Claire

i, too, am having occasional "glutened"-like symptoms after being strictly gluten-free for a couple months. most people i've talked to have told me it takes the body a while to heal, and that that is not abnormal. plus, my symptoms are not as intense as they were before diagnosis. however, i notice that when i have dairy, it seems to be linked. this makes me really sad, because like some others have said, i lean heavily on that food group since cutting out bread and whatnot. i see that no one has posted on the possible temporariness of the dairy and/or casein intolerance... is there anyone out there who cut that stuff out but was able to add it back in after a while? i could do with a light at the end of the tunnel...

My GI told me to wait 6 months before trying dairy again. I guess I wont know till then if I can eat it w/out symptoms or not.

Thanks for all the information- my reactions feel very much like the reactions I get when I have ingested gluten, even though I know I haven't (or am pretty darn sure). So, I am eliminating all dairy from my diet for the time being, as well as distilled products, alcohol , and nightshades. But I'd really like to get tested. The question is, can I just get these food intolerance tests done through a regular doctor or should I go through Enterolab, York or ImmunoLab?

I know it takes a long time to heal but I am clearly, in my opinion, reacting to other foods. Thanks, B

Found this thread again when I was searching for casein stuff. For those that have tested positive for casein intolerance, are your symptoms similar to lactose intolerance? Just wondering if there is a way to figure out what is bothering me with dairy - lactose or casein - based on my symptoms without a blood or stool test.

I tried cream cheese today and have been off dairy for sometime (6 mo +), and took a gluten-free lactase pill just in case. In general, I feel fine, though am a bit tired (which may be from an accidental recent glutening). I hope its only lactose that is the problem. I've gotten so sick of doing without dairy (esp since the Gluten free Gourmet book is full of tempting recipes loaded with dairy). Anyway, sorry not to stick with the original topic of this thread entirely, but any input is appreciated.

My casein intolerance can mimic not only my dairy but my gluten also. I can get a rash from both dairy/lactose and I have noticed a rash type thing slightly different from the gluten. With dairy/lactose and casein is the lower abdominal cramps and the diarrhea and the diarrhea also goes with the gluten.

It is frustrating if you know you have a dairy sensitivity but don't know whether it is lactose or casein. I believe the literature supports that with celiac patients it is most often casein. I have a relative who tried taking the lactaid pills and they did not work at all which suggests that she is okay with lactose but not with casein. It's a tough way to test. Claire

I have a book called the UnCheese cookbook. There are recipes for uncheese, things that have no dairy etc that you can make out of different things and it is like cheese.

I find that, if it's a lactose problem (and almost anyone will experience lactose intolerance symptoms if they eat too much milk at a time, because it's a dosage thing), I get gas, amongst other things. Casein, however, gives me constipation - instant hemmhroids, pretty much. (Note, here I mean constipation in *hard stools* not necessarily infrequent.)

and from other reactive foods as well. Also from medications, from serious infections. It is not exclusive to Celiac as is commonly believed. Claire

Thanks for your above replies. I will be seeing a gastroenterologist today and will be asking him to test me for delayed allergies, including casein. I seemed to handle the cream cheese well from yesterday, so keeping my fingers crossed that it is just lactose....I miss cheese

I have been having gastro problems for the past month too. I will try an elimination diet. But, what can I replace cheese with to really fill me up? I have a very high metabolism and I need to eat often.

I hear you on the "no cheese" thing.....not much out there that is as hardy. Nuts maybe, if you aren't allergic......

I went to a gastro today and he did not believe that the Elisa tests were accurate and didn't want to do one (also was a bit put off that I asked about it since he claimed my regular doc could have ordered the test). He said the only test that will accurately settle the lactose vs. casein issue is a lactose test they do in the office. Guess you have to drink a bottle of "lactose" (what that means specifically, I don't know), and then they monitor your blood for 5 hours. (No, we patients don't have lives, and can waste 5 + hrs in the dr office feeling like crap....ugh!!).

What's the opinion on this here? Have others had dr's say the ELISA test is crap? Have others been tested for lactose vs. casein with the "lactose test"?

Thanks.

I know for a glucose test you have to drink glucose but never heard of drinking the lactose. So what does he say he does for a casein test? I really don't know a lot of mine showed up in allergy testing.

Ducks go quack and I know some doctors are quacks.

I told him that dairy bothers me and that I seem fine when I've taken lactase pills, though I wasn't sure if casein may be bothering me too. The above test is a way to test for lactose intolerance. I guess if you don't get sick from the lactose, its the casein that gets you...... Not really sure that the thing is worth my time. He was an older doctor too, so maybe this is some sort of 'old-school' way of testing??

To test for lactose intolerance takes about a month.

Spend 5 days without any dairy.

Have lots of butter but no other dairy for a few days.

Then 5 days without any dairy

Then repeat process with cream, live yoghurt, soft cheese, hard cheese, neat milk, in that order, always with a few dairy-free days in between.

Note - live yoghurt should have a high level of live organisms in and no added ingredients. The organisms turn virtually all the lactose to something else. The other foods are in order of lactose content from smallest to largest.

If your symptoms are absent or very low for the first three and significant for the last three kinds then you have lactose intolerance.

If you have to go low-fat or for any other serious reason avoid butter, start the regime at the cream stage.

You can adjust your diet by avoiding the products that trigger it off the worst and using the ones that trigger it off less, or not at all, lightly for the duration of the problem or however long you like.

I got the results predicted above and went largely dairy free (though not worrying about butter) for about a year and now seem to tolerate dairy far better, as well as I can tell! I never took lactase pills so can't comment on their usefulness.

Quinoa drink was and is my favourite milk substitute (a bit expensive though)!

Don't avoid any class of foods altogether without very serious reasons.

Wait- I'm REALLY confused. You mean cream has less lactose than hard cheese? Maybe I misread but I always thought it was the other way around (my doctor told me that most people with lactose intolerance can eat cheeses like parmesan). Thanks, Beverly

I appreciate everyone's help, but considering I am feeling pretty ill today (and have been super careful this past week with gluten since discovering some sources), I think I have a casein intolerance. I was feeling lucky and had cream cheese again today (as well as a lactase pill), and although I don't have brain fog, I feel like I've been glutened. Yuck. Guess that's it for me as far as testing myself with dairy.

I was thinking too - if you get ill from the lactose, regardless of whether casein is or is not present in the drink, it says nothing about casein intolerance. If its in the drink and you get sick, who's to say what made you sick. If its not in the drink, then you would not know for sure (unless you did not get ill at all from lactose, but I doubt that's a possibility considering how damaged my system is).

Actually, there's a lactose-intolerance breath test that doesn't require much time at all.

I was diagnosed lactose-intolerant with a lactose drink and blood test. I had to fast for I think it was 12 hours before. What they did was take a blood sample before the drink, then give me the drink (with an enormous amount of lactose in it!), wait 20 min. take another sample, wait another 20. min. and a last sample.

The idea is that if you are able to digest the lactose, your blood sugar will go up after the drink. If you digest all of it, obviously your blood sugar raises more than if you just digest some of it, so this test will give some indication of how severely lactose intolerant you are. And if your blood sugar only raises a tiny little bit or not at all, you're not able to digest lactose, aka you're lactose intolerant. It's logical really, and it's not a quack test.

My blood sugar went DOWN, btw. I wasn't terribly sick afterwards, just woozy from low blood sugar and all the needles.

As far as I know, simple lactose intolerance shouldn't give much more than digestive symptoms... brain fog, irritability and that type of symptoms would make me suspect casein intolerance. Which is a different kind of intolerance, the similarity in name is confusing. As far as I know, casein intolerance doesn't necessarily mean that one doesn't digest casein, it means that your body has an immune reaction to the casein. In the case of lactose intolerance, bacteria in the intestines feed on the undigested lactose and form gas and stuff, and the lactose holds on to water - hence gas and D. But lactose doesn't really cause an immune reaction AFAIK, so taking an lactase enzyme should be enough to help if it's just lactose intolerance.

About the enzymes (Kerulac, Lactaid etc.) - if you totally lack these enzymes in your body, like I do, the dosage on the box/bottle isn't NEARLY enough. I used to take three- four times that for it to work.

Hard cheese is virtually lactose free. Cream is not. Where on earth do people get these ideas?

To test for casein, though... I've decided that I'm probably casein intolerant as well. The way I did it, was not eating ANY dairy for a while, then trying some hard, matured cheese and getting sick. Since the cheese is lactose free, I conclude that my reaction was to casein instead. I seem to be ok with moderate amounts of goat cheese though.

Pauliina
fairly new to gluten-free, old hand at lactose free

I did a breath test for lactose intolerance in April which was negative. Also, my gluten numbers were still so high that it seemed as though I had been intentially eating gluten to my doctor. I think that my body is reacting to casein as though it is gluten because the proteins are so similar. Thus, antibodies to gluten are being produced, which causes the blood numbers to stay up and symptoms to continue with damage. I cut out casein early last week and already feel much better. I am keeping it out until my next appt. after Christmas to make sure it makes my numbers go down.

If you are right about what you say here you have gone a long way in supporting what I have been writing here for awhile. That a person who is gluten-free (for whatever reason) needs to weigh the casein factor very carefully. The gluten/casein similarily is a real issue - read up on the mimicry factor - and gluten-free people may need to be CF even if they do not have demonstrable casein intolerance. Certainly if gluten-free does not relieve the distress (after a fair trial) then this contributing factor should be looked at. Other factors as well, of course.

Thanks for a perceptive and enlightening post. Claire

Sorry if this was already answered but could someone tell me exactly what casein intolerance is. What is casein, what is it in, if it is same as dairy. Was diagnosed with casein allergy, but a dietician said that is just an ingredient in cow's milk only. Should I be avoiding more products?

Sorry if I sound negative but dieticians cannot always be trusted. Their education does not really prepare them to deal with anything out of the ordinary -basic healthy diet etc.

Casein is the protein component in milk. Lactose is an enzyme. The molecular structure of the milk protein casein is almost identical to the structure of the wheat protein gluten. There is a concept of 'mimicry' - this is where the immune system attacks things that are very similiar in nature - it will attach body cells that are 'like' the target. The target may be gluten but the immune system attacks body cells that resemble gluten. It is thought that the immune system could see casein and think - ah. gluten. This could then extrapolate to an attack on body cells that resemble gluten.

Clear as mud?

Do some reading on the subject of 'mimicry',

As for avoiding more products - the decision of course is yours but I would think that casein needs to go. Not to disuade you, but I personally think going CF is harder than gluten-free.

Hope this helps Claire

Yes. Thank you, Claire, it is much clearer now. And, I agree, CF may be harder at least now that I'm gluten-free. When you give up something, you tend to substitute other things and when you find out your substitutes are just as bad, ouch.

I'm so glad we have this thread! I am going in Tuesday to see an allergist to be tested for food and other allergies. We suspect my apartment is making me sicker 9i think there's a mold problem as i CLEARLY feel better when I'm out of it and sick as a dog when I'm in it). My question is, can an allergist test for an intolerance as well as an allergy? I suspect I have a milk allergy (the chronic ear infection link for me) but I'm also wondering about a lactose/casein intolerance. Sometimes, but not always, I get really noxious gas from eating something like parmesan and other times, I'm fine. No clue but I'm glad this thread exists! Beverly

I wasn't trying to imply that it was a quack test, rather that the doc himself was off, sorry if I gave that impression. For one, he claimed the ELISA blood tests are crap and don't work, whereas several people here have had good luck with them (then again, I know very little about the tests, but when people here have used them and a celiac disease book suggests it......makes me wonder). I have a hard time seeing the value in a test that not only takes 5 hours out of my day according to him, but according to you, I would have to fast as well, and, I will most certainly feel like crap afterwards. Not fun.

I am 90% certain that it is both lactose and casein bothering me. 1) Hard cheddar gave me bloating and gas a few weeks ago (very low to no lactose) and 2) the last time I took a lactase supplement, I still felt like crap, though that wasn't always the case.....leading me to believe it is both. Based on what others have said, casein is probably something to avoid anyway, so I will have to get used to a life without cheese BTW - Lactaid has gluten, so no one should take that! I can send you all their email response to me if anyone wants to see for themselves. And I agree with you above, one lactase pill doesn't work for me either....when I say pill, I mean 2-3 (I use a brand with greater amount lactase than Lactaid)

Another thing about this doctor (sorry to go back and forth) - he tried to tell me that one week of eating gluten would give me a pos. biopsy result!! What?!? Here is a man that doesn't trust ELISA, but would trust doing a biopsy after only one week of gluten (I have been gluten-free for a year, with frequent mistakes for the past 4 months - though I have since found the source). Based on reading, biopsy's are pretty unreliable (i.e. a negative test doesn't mean you don't have celiac disease - true for almost all scientific tests though b/c you can't prove a negative) and it can take 3-4months to 5 years of eating gluten to sustain enough damage to get a positive test. Stupid doctor.

Lactaid has gluten! No wonder I got sick. I was trying to figure out if I was casein or lactose intolerant and I was craving cheese like crazy so I took a Lactaid pill. Oops.

I just went on the Lactaid website and sure enough the kind that I took is not gluten-free. Only the Fast Act caplets and the Original Strength caplets are gluten-free.

I did not know that any were gluten free - the rep implied that they all had gluten (I asked her to email a list of gluten-free products and only Lactaid milk made the cut - no Lactaid pills....hmmm.)

i talked to a Lactaid rep and she could not find the info on Lactaid Ultra but said Fast Act was gluten-free. can y'all post the name of the offending Lactaid? i've been taking both Ultra and Fasta Act lately and haven't noticed anything in the way of symptoms.
and back to the casein/lactose question:
i was feeling pretty crappy there for a while a few weeks ago when i had been gluten-free for a couple of months. then i discovered Lactaid, and the fact that the Kraft cheeses i like contain 0g of lactose. with that combination, i have improved 100%. no more D, bloating, gas, etc.
the other thing is that i have pretty much stopped trying to eat all kinds of fruits and veggies everyday, and i feel so much better from that too. my support group leader last month said when we're newly diagnosed we have to treat our stomachs like babies' stomachs, they can't handle large quantities of some things (really fibrous veggies, fruits/ dairy). so it is not a regimen that i'll keep up for a long time because obviously it's not the healthiest but for now it is working wonders. and i do still eat some of those things, but not like i was before.
so do you guys think that since i feel fine when i take/drink Lactaid, my problem would be more lactose intolerance than a casein thing? and would i be doing any damage to my system by still continuing to eat lactose even though i feel fine?
thanks! sorry this was so long.

I took Lactaid Ultra. I mentioned the two kinds that were gluten-free. But maybe they are not, according to the rep. I would think that if you are fine when you take Lactaid (but maybe switch to a gluten-free brand) then it is just lactose intolerance. Lactose shouldn't damage your system when you are taking the enzyme to digest it.