Hi all, I am not new to the list but do not post often.  I do continue to
read the list as I am always open to new information regarding living without
dairy.  I participate in other lists that go through quiet periods and it
doesn't bother me.  We don't have to have scientific discussions all the time
-- we can just share with each other what our most recent challenges or
successes have been, right?

My 10 yo daughter became sensitive to dairy just over a year ago, after a
simple "stomach bug."  She was suffering from nearly constant lower abdominal
pain when I discovered dairy made her worse.  I eliminated cheese and milk
from her diet and within a day she was 75% better.  When she continued having
mild symptoms, I searched out and eliminated all dairy from her diet,
including trace ingredients, and after a few more days she was 95% better.

She has other GI problems also so we have been strictly avoiding dairy for
over a year.  She has been both skin tested for milk and casein (milk
negative, casein +1) and had the hydrogen breath test for lactose.  The
allergy tests were considered negative and the LI test very strongly
positive.  However, she had NO symptoms during or after the LI test, which
confused things even more.  I have gotten three different opinions from three
different pediatric gastroenterologists about her not reacting to the lactose
-- not much help <g>.  Personally I think she was reacting to casein, but I
didn't pursue allergy testing any further because she was doing better
without dairy and she'd been through enough medical testing by that time.

Her other GI problems are finally better after a very tough winter, so we are
getting to the point now that we would like to test her tolerance to dairy,
in case she had a rare, temporary "sensitivity" to casein that showed up only
in GI symptoms.  Fortunately she has never reacted to dairy with more than
abdominal pain (though that could be quite severe) so we don't have to worry
about anaphylaxis.  I can't test her this week because she's going to a day
camp, but am considering trying the tiniest bit of dairy next week.  She
would like to know how sensitive she is, as she feels very restricted
avoiding every possible trace of dairy and would like to know for sure if
it's necessary now that it's been a year.  We are glad to continue to live
without dairy if it is necessary for her to feel better.

Anyway, that's where we are in our "dairy odyssey."

Kris Moore