Lactose free milk?

I have a question. I don't handle milk well at ALL. Now, is it the lactose in the milk that bothers people with Crohn's or is it something else in milk. I know this question might vary on the person, but any input would be appreciated.

I wold suggest just trying to go lactose free for awhile to see what happens. You could get the test done as well. Some people I've heard can handle milk while taking a good probiotic.

A2 milk suits some better than A1 milk - interesting read is 'The Devil in Milk' by Keith Woodford

http://www.nzfarmersweekly.co.nz/article/7174.html

I use the Lactaid milk on cereal and in tea or cooking, but to drink, I think it has a bit of a different taste. The chocolate Lactaid milk is the best chocolate milk you will ever have though! My daughter is lactose intolerant and that was the only way we could get her to drink milk when she was little. Most of her friends would request it when they came over too. If I am going to have any other milk based product (ice cream, cottage cheese, really cheesy meal...) or really NEED a glass of milk, I take the lactaid pills in a massive dose. The dosage on the bottle is not nearly enough to prevent symptoms for me.

Lactose is the sugar in all milk, and it is digested by the body using an enzyme we produce called lactase. Lactase production decreases in all humans as we age, but in Crohn's patients this enzyme might be harder to make than normal because it is primarily a product of the ileum. Since Crohn's patients most often have inflammation in the ileum, it would make sense that Crohn's patients might be particularly susceptible to lactose intolerance.

It is easy to test if you have lactose intolerance. Simply drink a glass of whole milk on an empty stomach. Gas production in the belly is the first thing you'll notice - that is the result of bacteria digesting the lactose rather than your own lactase enzyme. Doctors test this in the office by measuring how much hydrogen you breathe out when you have had a glass of millk. After the gas comes the nausea and perhaps vomiting and diarrhea, all typical responses to undigested lactose.

A sensitivity to the casein in milk is probably harder to determine and might require allergy type testing. As someone else posted, there is some evidence that of the casein in cow's milk, which comes in two types (A & B), the type A is responsible for most people's sensitivities. In the US you cannot find out which type you're drinking, but in New Zealand and Australia, for example, dairy farmers have started advertising which kind of casein they're milking. Goat's milk might be the solution to this problem, as I think goats only produce the B-type of casein.

I learned all this by reading on the web, and I'm no expert. But my first symptom of inflammatory bowel disease was the sudden onset of lactose intolerance during my first pregnancy. I started passing blood in my stool right after my baby was born.

Thanks Kazbern, Lactose intolerance was one of my first symptoms too, but at age 13. With Lactaid milk I was still able to enjoy some of my favorites, but since my last resection in March even that has given me some trouble. Thanks to your explanation about where the enzyme is made it makes more sense. I have to add soy milk into my lactaid milk when making my custards and puddings. Soy won't set up properly, but full on Lactaid seems to be too much for my sensitive system right now.