I've been suspecting lactose intolerance in my 8 yr old for a couple of years. It's been mild, usually some extra gas after drinking milk or eating ice cream, but now it's becoming increasingly severe. After birthday parties with pizza and/or ice cream, he's often doubled over with stomach pain until he has a bowel movement. After last night's ice cream social at his school, more abdominal pain, yet almost no noticeable or smelly gas.
He is HLADQ 2,3
Question is, should I suspect more than lactose at this point? Should I schedule a visit with his pediatrician, and expect a referral to a gastro, to get confirmatory lactose intolerance testing? Or should I spare him all that and just be more vigilant and cut the milk??
Incidentally, he's never liked white milk, and I don't push it, so he's not getting lactose everyday. Could the infrequent lactose be the cause of the lactose intolerance? His body stopped making lactase enzyme because it took too many breaks from milk??
My son's worsening lactose intolerance
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Hi, The topic of lactose intolerance was presented at the two weekend seminars I attended at Columbia University Celiac Disease Center in New York hosted by Dr, Peter Green. They stated that " The enzymes the body uses to breakdown lactose are produced by the tips of the villi, and the tips are the first damaged. I was told I was lactose intolerant before the doctor was done with my colonoscopy as I was awake for both the endoscopy and the colonoscopy. Jon
Zizzle,
Cocoa extends the effectiveness of the body's lactase enzyme supply by a factor of roughly 6. Try chocolate milk or ice cream — it should be roughly 6 times as tolerable as regular milk. IOW he should be able to consume approximately 6 times as much chocolate milk as regular milk before a reaction is triggered.
If he's still producing any lactase at all, he may be able to get by for a few years or more by switching to chocolate milk.
Tex
Cocoa extends the effectiveness of the body's lactase enzyme supply by a factor of roughly 6. Try chocolate milk or ice cream — it should be roughly 6 times as tolerable as regular milk. IOW he should be able to consume approximately 6 times as much chocolate milk as regular milk before a reaction is triggered.
If he's still producing any lactase at all, he may be able to get by for a few years or more by switching to chocolate milk.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Of course, that's assuming that he isn't also casein-sensitive. If he is, that trumps the lactose issue, obviously.
Tex
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Yes, I've known the chocolate milk was more tolerable...never knew why! Thanks Tex!! That said, he occasionally gets chocolate milk with lunch, but I think he said even that is bothering him lately. I fear villi damage and the start of gluten sensitivity, since he's not fond of bread and cakes, etc. But he still loves pizza. I guess I'll keep watching and save my pennies for Enterolab testing sometime next year.
Update:
I bought lactose free milk and Breyer's lactose-free vanilla ice cream and he's enjoying them just fine. He's even getting chocolate milk at school some days without noticebale discomfort, so I don't suspect casein sensitivity, at least not for him...
My daughter may get Enterolab testing before he does, because we can't seem to firm up her daily loose stools even after avoiding all legumes, and she complains of frequent tummy aches. She has maybe 2-3 normans a week, the rest are mucus-filled loose or watery D, usually 1-3/day. After accidental legume ingestion, she gets D full of undigested food. She had a plain quesadilla at a healthy restaurant and ended up with horrible orange WD a few hours later. I just can't make sense of the patterns. I wonder if a high powered stool culture might be in order (Genova Labs CTSA), especially considering her bout of shiga-toxin producing E-coli 3 years ago. I'll never forgive myself if I let this turn into Crohns, UC or MC.
I bought lactose free milk and Breyer's lactose-free vanilla ice cream and he's enjoying them just fine. He's even getting chocolate milk at school some days without noticebale discomfort, so I don't suspect casein sensitivity, at least not for him...
My daughter may get Enterolab testing before he does, because we can't seem to firm up her daily loose stools even after avoiding all legumes, and she complains of frequent tummy aches. She has maybe 2-3 normans a week, the rest are mucus-filled loose or watery D, usually 1-3/day. After accidental legume ingestion, she gets D full of undigested food. She had a plain quesadilla at a healthy restaurant and ended up with horrible orange WD a few hours later. I just can't make sense of the patterns. I wonder if a high powered stool culture might be in order (Genova Labs CTSA), especially considering her bout of shiga-toxin producing E-coli 3 years ago. I'll never forgive myself if I let this turn into Crohns, UC or MC.
Hi Zizzle,
That's a good test for your son. The Breyer's lactose-free ice cream was what I used to convince myself that I was casein-sensitive back when I was trying to sort out my food sensitivities. Unlike your son, I reacted to it.
I agree that you need to do some food sensitivity testing for your daughter ASAP. The mucus indicates major inflammation.
Tex
That's a good test for your son. The Breyer's lactose-free ice cream was what I used to convince myself that I was casein-sensitive back when I was trying to sort out my food sensitivities. Unlike your son, I reacted to it.
I agree that you need to do some food sensitivity testing for your daughter ASAP. The mucus indicates major inflammation.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
I met a local allergist at a friend's allergy support group meeting. He's at a widely acclaimed practice, and interestingly, has a specific interest in the role of T-cells in food and environmental allergies. Is this the kind of specialist I should see, or a pediatric gastro? Or should I see if my Inegrative Medicine doc will accept her just to order all the non-traditional stool tests? I don't want to waste time with the wrong doctors anymore!!
http://www.allergyasthma.us/jeong.html
http://www.allergyasthma.us/jeong.html
This article about the role of various E-coli strains in IBD is depressing, both for my daughter, and probably for lots of MCers. Sigh.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 20176/full
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 20176/full
A correlation between intestinal colonization by E. coli and bacterial adhesion of CD-associated E. coli strains to intestinal epithelial cells has been observed. Bacterial adhesion to intestinal epithelial cells is the first step in the pathogenicity of many organisms involved in infectious diseases of the gut. Adhesion enables the bacteria to colonize the mucosa and to resist mechanical removal from the intestine. Studies on the adherence properties of E. coli in IBD have yielded the general conclusion that IBD-associated E. coli strains are able to adhere to various human cells or cell lines. It was reported that adhesive E. coli were isolated from 62% of patients with CD and 68% with UC but from only 6% of normal controls. Another independent study reported that 86% of isolates of E. coli from IBD patients were adhesive compared with 27% from patients with infective diarrhea and none from controls
The ideal doctor you're seeking would be a pediatrician specializing in GI issues who is interested in the role of both mast cells and T cells in food sensitivities (in the digestive system, not in the body systems that allergists typically treat — the digestive system is off the radar of most allergists). The biggest problem with allergists is that they think in terms of classic allergies, and the issues that we face seem to be much more complex than that.
I believe I mentioned that reference (in your second post) in my book. IMO, the E. coli colonization is probably an opportunistic event, rather than a cause of IBDs. IOW, they attach because the host is in a vulnerable state, but they don't create that state of vulnerabiity — they just take advantage of it. The vulnerability exists because the immune system is overtaxed by all the issues caused by stress, leaky gut, food sensitivities, etc., and it simply doesn't have sufficient resources available to deal with lower-priority issues such as E. coli. When you're in the swamp, fighting alligators, you don't worry about the leeches.
IMO, a vitamin D deficiency probably also plays a role in the vast majority of those cases where E. coli begins to propagate in the gut.
Tex
I believe I mentioned that reference (in your second post) in my book. IMO, the E. coli colonization is probably an opportunistic event, rather than a cause of IBDs. IOW, they attach because the host is in a vulnerable state, but they don't create that state of vulnerabiity — they just take advantage of it. The vulnerability exists because the immune system is overtaxed by all the issues caused by stress, leaky gut, food sensitivities, etc., and it simply doesn't have sufficient resources available to deal with lower-priority issues such as E. coli. When you're in the swamp, fighting alligators, you don't worry about the leeches.
IMO, a vitamin D deficiency probably also plays a role in the vast majority of those cases where E. coli begins to propagate in the gut.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.