We recently discovered, (in a round about way), that our  9 yr. old son is
allergic to milk.
   Daniel has had problems with bouts of diarrhea since he was a small child.
They were spread out enough that we could never connect them with a
particular food. Juices seemed to be the only identifiable food problem but
the diarrhea continued with or without the juices. He was also having a
problem with sometimes not making it through the night without wetting
himself.  Needless to say at his age both these problems were beginning to
cramp his style.
   We decided that a doctor's advice was now necessary and started with a
gastroenterologist. He suggested that Daniel either has lactose intolerance
or irritable bowel syndrome.
   His first suggestion was a lactose free diet for two weeks. I laughingly
agreed to try it, but knowing that the diarrhea did not occur everyday and
Daniel did drink milk everyday, I assumed that milk could not be the problem.
I began to eliminate the things that I could identify as lactose. Which
wasn't an easy job. Within 2 days we started to notice a difference but not
in the way that the doctor expected.
   Daniel's behavior started to change. He was suddenly able to focus on his
homework. His handwriting changed. He was able to sit in school and not
fiddle in his desk. He was more interested in what was going on in the
class.( The teacher pointed these things out without us letting her know
about the diet change) He was more able to reason out problems and handled
himself better in a conflict situation. He stopped wetting the bed. And most
of all HE knew that something had changed and that he felt much better than
before.
   When we went back to the doctor he diagnosed Daniel with IBS but didn't
want to touch the behavior changes. He told us to discuss that with our
pediatrician.
   Something clicked with me on the way home. I had had a book on the shelf
for quite awhile that I never thought to look in for this problem. Don't ask
me why because I ask myself that question all the time. The book is called
"Is This Your Child" by Doris J. Rapp, MD. The first thing I read  is that "a
milk allergy can cause recurrent diarrhea, as well as a distended abdomen,
excessive belching, rectal gas, nausea, or vomiting, clucking throat sounds,
bed-wetting, ear fluid, nose congestion, asthma, leg aches or personality
changes". In another section it said "in some patients irritable bowel,
Crohn's disease, ulcers, mucous colitis and even ulcerative colitis can be
due to undetected allergies, especially to foods such as milk, wheat, eggs,
chocolate, corn and sugar." BINGO!  After all these years, there was the
answer to all the little things that were happening. We had never put them
all together. They weren't severe enough to be major problems by themselves
until recently. The realization came that our lives would be changed forever
and the sad thought came of how different things could have been for Daniel
if we had just found the problem sooner. Never the less, we are so happy to
be able to read about other people in similar situations and maybe help
someone to find the solution to they're problems much sooner that we did.
  Thank you so much to the listowners and participates for making this
possible. We would appreciate any and all help that we can get.

                                             Heidi Loncosky
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PS. Our daughter is allergic to penicillin. Would that be the antibiotic that
is given to cows. If so, how much in milk would be dangerous to someone with
a penicillin allergy?