Lyme and lactose intolerance

Hello,

I was diagnosed with chronic lyme in late September. My LLMD had mentioned that some people develop intolerances of gluten and dairy with lyme, so that was an "aha" moment. I went gluten free right away, when I figured out that the horrible stomach pains I was having all summer long was occurring after eating gluten. I hadn't had a problem with dairy, but I began limiting my intake just to be safe and to reduce inflammation. For the last five months I have been GF, but will have the occasional full fat plain greek yogurt or a little feta cheese on a cauliflower pizza or something. It usually makes me a little tired, but no nausea.

Well, last night I felt well enough to go to dinner with friends and I ate a burrito bowl…it had some plain yogurt in it and a normal amount of cheese (they didn't listen to my no cheese order, and I didn't return it). My stomach turned into a monster, and I started feeling horrible about 30 minutes after dinner. I ended up throwing up (thank god - I would not have wanted to know how I would be feeling now if I hadn't). I went to bed and I am okay today, though my stomach is still a little iffy. I am wondering if this sounds like lactose intolerance, or if it could have been food poisoning? Should I totally cut dairy, or test the waters in a week or so with the normal yogurt?

Thanks!
Jackie

There are two parts to dairy. There is lactose and there are caisiens (sp), the actual dairy protein.

Most of the products out there are for lactose intolerance but many people mistakenly think that their problem is the lactose. It is equally possible that you could be sensitive to the dairy proteins.

As far as the cheese causing you to throw up, yeah welcome to a big club. I read somewhere that people with dairy allergies (really sensitivity) tend to react about 2 hours after consuming the item that contained dairy. That's me. I would have a bowl of ice cream and exactly two hours later I would start throwing up.

I tried lactose free ice cream and had the same reaction. I had to cut our all dairy. I also had the same problem with egg whites.

Other sensitivities to things like soy caused other reactions - stomach pains and other gastric issues.

So I had to take those things out of my diet. The allergist that I was seeing at the time said most people can handle trace amounts in other foods (like baked goods), but straight (like hard boiled eggs and ice cream) causes problems.

I have gone about 18 months without dairy or eggs and about a year without soy. I am now able to have small amounts of dairy, but I make sure I have it before 2pm. That way if I get sick, at least I'm not up all night. Eggs same thing.

Part of the problem is that most of us have leaky gut issues and that causes our bodies to let food particles into our blood stream. The immune system then attacks.

Kim