Lactose Intolerant

My son started showing signs of lactose intolerance about a month ago. I took him off Milk and gave him soy and it goes away. I tried to start him back on reg. milk once his stomach felt better but the same. Yesterday we ran out of soy milk so I gave him a tad bit of reg. milk and poor thing suffered so I know for sure he is not tolerating dairy anymore. Does anybody think that this could have something to do with the ITP or maybe it is just a coincidence that this has happened at the same time? My four year old is now starting to show signs that her body is rejecting milk. So maybe it is just an allergy that runs in the family.

At the ITP conference two years ago Dr. Lieberman (Liebman?) said that clearing up gut issues could help platelet counts. In my personal experience, clearing up my gut issues seems to have contributed to a sustained remission from Rituxan. I turned out to have fructose malabsorption which looks a lot like lactose intolerance but the mechanism is a bit different.
Erica

I would need to go back into one of my medical books to confirm the percentage but from what I remember only 15% or so of the actual population is lactose intolerant. People who are lactose intolerant actually lack lactase (an enzyme) to digest the lactose in milk. More often, people are outright allergic to dairy. In the beginning of an allergy a person can at times get away with using lactaid pills to get by so they can have their milk. I do not recommend doing this. Eventually, the allergy will go full force (BTDT).

Having dealt with food allergies extensively I can tell you they are very related to ITP in that it is the immune system in the gut that determines our overall health. We were the opposite in this house. My son had 40+ food allergies and then the ITP hit. So when it hit, I understood why.

Dairy allergies are one of the most notable inherited allergies there is. It is predominantly so because of two reasons. 1) people don't drink raw milk anymore which has all of the enzymes our bodies need to help digest it in their whole, unaltered form. Thus, it ends up causing leaky gut. 2) Companies add whey and casein (milk proteins) to almost every packaged food to increase their protein content. Eating these things in their unnatural state is not something our bodies were made to do.

You really should pull all dairy. *Some* people can still handle butter or ghee because those are fats, not proteins. This is individual and you'd have to just test it to see. My ITP boy could not do butter, the rest of us could. I do not recommend soy milk as a replacement. It is a phyto-estrogen and presents its own health issues. Including a high likelihood of allergy to it. The best substitution is coconut milk because of it's good fat content (especially for children). So Delicious makes it and it comes in half gallons. Usually a health food store or the health food section of a regular grocery store sells it. The next best option would be hemp milk for its protein content. Then any of the nut milks (almond, hazelnut, etc). and lastly rice. Rice milk is mostly carbs (as are the the nut milks) but is an option when necessary.

Healing the gut is critical in healing ITP. I'm sooooooo glad that after years of keeping such a tight diet due to allergies we are down to 1 from that original 40+. And it's dairy. Looking forward to that one going away as well.

best wishes, hope this helps,

patti

Here's some info about populations and lactose intolerance - also good info about the mechanism of it:

Frequency
United States
The prevalence of primary lactose intolerance varies according to race. As many as 25% of the white population (prevalence in those from southern European roots) is estimated to have lactose intolerance, while among black, Native American, and Asian American populations, the prevalence of lactose intolerance is estimated at 75-90%.2

International
Of the world's population, 75% is estimated to be lactose-deficient. Lactose intolerance is very common among Asian, South American, and African persons.

Source:
emedicine.medscape.com/article/187249-overview
Lactose Intolerance
Author: Praveen K Roy, MD, Comments and Criticisms Editor, Cochrane Colorectal Cancer Group; Adjunct Associate Research Scientist, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute
Coauthor(s): Abhishek Choudhary, MD, Resident Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Missouri-Columbia; Mohamed Othman, MD, Resident Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine; Homayoun Shojamanesh, MD, Former Fellow, Digestive Diseases Branch, National Institutes of Health; Jack Bragg, DO, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Missouri School of Medicine; Gautam Dehadrai, MD, Department Chair, Section Chief, Department of Interventional Radiology, Norman Regional Hospital; Showkat Bashir, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, George Washington University, Washington, DC
Contributor Information and Disclosures

Updated: Aug 12, 2008

(back to me) I had heard that Asian people were highly lactose intolerant and when I went on a trip to Japan I was excited that it would be easy to find dairy free foods. It was not! There was milk in the coffee, and ice cream, and even cheese on lots of foods which I had heard was considered to be disgusting! Of course traditional Japanese restaurants did not use dairy.
Erica