> About a year ago, my ten-year-old daughter was diagnosed with
> acute LI,
> based on a score of 80+ on her breath-gas test.  The
> lactose-free diet does
> appear to work, for the most part.  Lactaid pills do not seem to be
> effective, although her GI Dr. feels that they only work with
> about 50% of
> the LI peditric population, based on his own experience.  My
> question;  My
> daughter's symptoms do not seem to be at all typical for LI,
> although the
> onset does appear to be initiated by ingestion of milk products.  Her
> symptoms include headache, vomiting, lethargy and diarrhea.

If its any comfort, I get all those symptoms with ingestion of milk
products.  In fact I have them right now - due to an attack of getting home
very late from work and ordering pizza on Monday night!

I am pretty sure my sensitivity is towards casein as well as (or possibly
instead of) lactose (I react very badly to hard cheeses).  As the end result
is much the same (I can't eat dairy products) I haven't bothered confirming
whether its one or the other or both apart from my own food monitoring.
Most dairy products have some of both!  However, its another reason for me
not to bother to try lactaid pills  (in addition to the fact that they are
not available on the NHS (not thought "necessary") and my specialist doesn't
believe in them).  As the lactaid pills don't work on your daughter this
might be the case with her as well, who knows.  The best thing for her is
probably to implement a completely dairy free diet - healthier in the long
run anyway!  I've been doing the dairy free thing (badly, generally) for
longer than they have been around anyway, so I guess its easier for me to
live with than many people (I also pre-date the wide availability of fake
dairy substitute foodstuffs!).

One other thing though - your daughter is probably getting to the point
where she is able to make a value judgement herself about whether to exclude
dairy altogether or not - it might be she is willing to put up with a
certain amount of discomfort to enjoy a treat (an ice cream, or something).
I discussed it with my specialist and he said as I don't have an allergic
reaction (its an intolerance instead) there isn't any real problem in doing
that - so I have the occasional treat!

HTH

Megan