Lactose Intolerant

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GEORGEP

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Apr 13, 2016
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Are most people with crohn's disease lactose intolerant. I have noticed that when I eat yogurt I get bloated and gassy afterwords for awhile. I can eat sharp cheddar cheese (lactose free) with no problem. I gave up drinking milk 3 years ago and switched to dairy free almond milk instead and I like the taste much better. I was diagnosed with Crohns colitis recently and I have been taking lialda now for almost a month.
 
I developed a lactose intolerance about 10 years before my IBD manifested itself. Most of the women on my mom's side of the family have some degree of lactose intolerance, so for me I think the lactose intolerance is something that would have happened anyway, regardless of the IBD. I don't think the two are related in my case - I'm the only (living) person in my family with IBD that I know of (I do have a great-grandfather on my dad's side who had UC, he's the only relative that I know of with IBD but he's been dead since the early 1950s). Since the IBD and lactose intolerance are on two different sides of my family, that furthers my belief that for me they are separate entities and not related.
 
On the scale of large populations, people of European descent have the highest rate of IBD and the lowest rate of lactose intolerance. And it's the other way around for Asians: lowest rate of IBD and highest rate of lactose intolerance.

So far as I know there is no direct correlation between lactose intolerance and IBD on the individual level either, but I have not researched that specific question.
 
Thanks, This is all new to me so I am still learning what symtoms I may have. I only have crohns in my right colon. I hope is stays that way. I started with pain in my lower right quadrant and when I had a CT scan they noticed I had inflammation and I had a colonoscopy in December that came back with severe colitis in my right ascending colon and indefinite for dysplasia due to the inflammation. I took Budesonide for 3 months and the repeat CT scan showed no inflammation and they did another colonoscopy April 4th and they did biopsies on my whole colon and they came back no dysplasia anywhere so that was good. The only symptoms I have had is some bloating, gassiness, and the pain I had . Since I have started the Lialda I am doing better. I just have to watch my diet more. I had cheese pizza yesterday and the same thing happened to me as when I eat yogurt so I am going to cut out the dairy and see if that makes a difference.
 
With me, it's not so much the lactose, but the fat content. You could try low fat versions and see if they agree with you better.
 
I have no problems with lactose. My Crohn's is in the colon. Make sure the dairy you are eating doesn't contain other ingredients that could be causing the issue. For me; gums and carrageenan that are added to diary cause me pain and diarrhea.
 
I have been lactose intolerant for about 9 years and had crohns disease for 8 years. I also cant eat fruit or veg but milk products has probably been the slowest increase in severity. I started being able to 'get away' with some milk products in small doses but It seemed every couple of months id had more things I just couldnt tolerate anymore milk wise until I was completely lactose intolerant.
 
Thanks, I did not eat any yogurt at all over the weekend and I had no problem. I can eat cheddar cheese and I drink almond milk instead of dairy milk. I saw my doctor on Thursday and she gave me a list of foods to avoid. So I will see what happens. She told me I have crohns colitis in my right colon only. I am also staying away for whole wheat breads and cereals and eating oatmeal bread and cheerios and corn chex instead of fiber one and shredded wheat, raisin bran, etc..
 
The problem with most dairy today is that it's been pasteurized. This makes the calcium in it much less bioavailable, and the structure of the milk has changed to a substance that the body has a hard time processing. Many people do much better with RAW milk. Don't overdo on any milk either, and raw milk should be from a certified organic farm at least if you were to try it out
 
Thanks, I only drink almond milk and I found that yogurt does not agree with me so I won't be eating it anymore. I can eat cheddar cheese with no problems. As far as fruit goes I have only been eating bananas and blueberries and cantaloupe. I can eat cabbage, broccoli etc if I cook it in a crock pot. If I eat it raw it bothers me. Greasy and fried foods are no good so I have been staying away from them..
 
From what I've read most people with any IBD become lactose intolerant. I know I have. Aged cheeses seem to be ok but every case is different as we all know
 
I know I can eat some canned veggies and some canned fruits. Nothing with seeds or nuts! I try to KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid! :)
 
As far as I know and see from personal experience and what I heard from friends with IBD and from my gastroenterologist, there are two types: Those who have always been lactose intolerant from childhood on and those who developed lactose intolerance duet to inflammation especially in the small intestine. If I understand it correctly, it should only occur when the small intestine is affected, as the resorption capacity is decreased, same with fructose for some of us.

As I child I was not lactose intolerant, so it's unlikely that it will stay there forever. As the role of gut flora is not completely clear about lactose intolerance, there is not a certain advice to help with lactose intolerance apart from reducing the daily intake of lactose.
In fact, I have noticed an improvement of my lactose intolerance in the past few WEEKS, when I changed my diet again completely, slowly increasing the intake of sour milk products. Finally I'm now able to tolerate "normal" dairy, not the labeled lactose free products. Set yoghurt is now working, same with quark. I don't overdo it of course. I have never thought that this would be possible ever again, so I'm very thankful to my nutritionist. If she is right, a healthier gut flora, altered by foods and in the beginning also probiotics helps the small intestine to be able to get along with lactose again.
According to my nutritionist this is nothing surprising and a normal process. If you are not lactose intolerant from childhood on, it's very unlikely that it will persist for the rest of your life, especially when being in remission (unfortunately I'm still far away from remission, so I'm very surprised about that good outcome after such a short amount of time).
 
How does Lactose intolerance manifest in you? I have stopped eating any dairy or gluten for about half a year, even prior to getting a diagnosis - but dairy never made me bloated or have gut pain, it would give me a strong fever and an overwhelming exhaustion, particularly in my legs, sometimes a headache.

This coming from someone who had easily 2 litres of milk a day with no issues in the past.
 
Anonymous77 said:
How does Lactose intolerance manifest in you? I have stopped eating any dairy or gluten for about half a year, even prior to getting a diagnosis - but dairy never made me bloated or have gut pain, it would give me a strong fever and an overwhelming exhaustion, particularly in my legs, sometimes a headache.

This coming from someone who had easily 2 litres of milk a day with no issues in the past.
Click to expand...

The small intestines makes the lactase enzyme that breaks down lactose. If your small intestines is damaged, inflamed, diseased, etc, than the brush boarder cells of the small intestines can't make(or can't make enough) lactase to break the sugar down. Some are genetically susceptible to a decrease of lactase production during adulthood(strongly correlated to ethnicity). If you stop eating milk products then your body naturally makes less lactase(the body is efficient-it won't make it if it doesn't need it). Some lactose intolerant people find that there is a threshold amount of lactose they can eat before symptoms kick in. They are producing some lactase but once they eat more lactose than lactase they are producing can break down is when symptoms come on. Some find that while they can't drink milk; they can eat milk products that have reduced levels of lactose-such as hard cheese, fermented milk products like yogurt and kefir. Your description of fatigue and fever after drinking milk does not sound like lactose intolerance due to decrease lactase production but more of an allergy. An allergy would be associated with your body producing antibodies that "sees" milk proteins as foreign and attacks it like it would a bacteria/virus. The milk protein casein is usually the problem(however there can be others). Some people with milk allergies find they can drink goats milk(which has a different casein protein) with no problems.

Lactose Intolerance
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance#genes
Lactose intolerance by ethnic group
http://milk.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000661
Food allergy symptoms
http://www.livestrong.com/article/456821-food-allergies-that-cause-fatigue-sore-muscles-and-fever/
 
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Thanks for the information, seems to make sense seen as protein shakes set me off the worst and they are just milk proteins. Though bizarre that it developed when I drank milk like no-one else before, especially around the same time that I developed crohns.

It shoots any hopes of having milk again in the foot.... Almond milk it is.
 
Anonymous77 said:
Thanks for the information, seems to make sense seen as protein shakes set me off the worst and they are just milk proteins. Though bizarre that it developed when I drank milk like no-one else before, especially around the same time that I developed crohns.

It shoots any hopes of having milk again in the foot.... Almond milk it is.
Click to expand...

You could try goats milk?
 

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