casein IgA allergy questions

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

I wanted to get some opinions if I could on this issue and I

appreciate any feedback you could provide. Back in April I took Dr.

Fine's gluten/casein intolerance stool tests--at the recommendations

of the glutenator--thank you Heidi!--and discovered I was both gluten

and casein intolerant. I had been off gluten for a month or so because

I was starting to suspect it was a problem for me, and I was trying to

get pregnant. I became pregnant soon after which really helped my

resolve to keep gluten completely out of my diet. I am so glad I had

this information because I feel it will make such a difference in the

health of my babies--I am pregnant w/ twins!

However, I decided to continue eating raw dairy products. At the time

giving up gluten and dairy was just too much to consider. Also, I

wasn't sure just how bad the casein IgA allergy could be--I understood

more about the gluten intolerance issue after reading posts here and

the book Dangerous Grains. Now I am worrying that I should be

eliminating dairy as well.

Other reasons I have kept it in so far are that I don't experience any

noticeable reactions when I eat dairy; it has been such a convenient,

nutritious (I hope), and filling food for me during pregnancy--which I

feel is especially important now that I am going into my third

trimester hungrier than ever and when calcium is most important; I had

been working w/ Dr.Ron Schmid who felt the test results for the casein

IgA intolerance were of little value since I was consuming raw dairy

only; and I have been muscle-tested repeatedly w/ the results being

that raw dairy is very beneficial while the pasteurized dairy is not.

Sounds like I am making a case for me continuing to eat raw

dairy--well, I am! But more importantly, if this is affecting the

health of my pregnancy or babies in any way, I would give it up in a

heartbeat. Does anyone know more about casein intolerance and how it

affects the body--there are so many connections between gluten

intolerance and other diseases, but I haven't found much about casein.

Has anyone else eliminated casein even if they didn't have any

symptoms--has it benefitted you in any noticable way? Do you all think

that casein is decreased in fermented dairy and if so, is it

eliminated completely? Also maybe I should stick w/ butter and cream

since apparently they have little if any casein--am I right on this one?

Thanks for any thoughts or comments--I'm just confused on this one and

a little more worried than normal because I am pregnant!

Peace,

[Guest guest]

>I am so glad I had

>this information because I feel it will make such a difference in the

>health of my babies--I am pregnant w/ twins!

Congrats! It WILL make a big difference, I'm sure. I think most of the problems

I had were gluten related (esp. the nausea part!).

>Sounds like I am making a case for me continuing to eat raw

>dairy--well, I am! But more importantly, if this is affecting the

>health of my pregnancy or babies in any way, I would give it up in a

>heartbeat. Does anyone know more about casein intolerance and how it

>affects the body--there are so many connections between gluten

>intolerance and other diseases, but I haven't found much about casein.

>Has anyone else eliminated casein even if they didn't have any

>symptoms--has it benefitted you in any noticable way? Do you all think

>that casein is decreased in fermented dairy and if so, is it

>eliminated completely? Also maybe I should stick w/ butter and cream

>since apparently they have little if any casein--am I right on this one?

I really, really don't know on this one. My reaction was the same: I just

couldn't handle the thought of giving up dairy TOO, esp. since it was

a challenge to get rid of the gluten. Plus, it doesn't seem to bother my

family, and cheese is always around, and I didn't seem to have any major

reaction.

However, when I ate a lot of cream I started getting a lot more migraines.

So I completely gave up dairy as an experiment, and now have been migraine

free for 7 months (after getting 5 a month for years and years ...). Now when I

eat it I do notice the symptoms (cold hands, dizziness, incontinence (having

to go to the bathroom all the time), fast heart beat, fuzzy vision.)

But I don't crave it any more, so it's become a non-issue.

I do use kefir in cooking, and it doesn't seem to cause any problems.

What I do know is that " hydrolyzed casein " doesn't cause rats problems,

but plain casein does. Fermented dairy should be hydrolyzed ... and it

should be hydrolyzed after you digest it, one would think. Possibly the

raw dairy digests better, but raw goat milk causes the same problems as

pastuerized cow milk for me. However, I've always hated milk and only

drank it because I had to, so again, it's a non-issue. Coconut milk makes

far better ice cream in my book, and it works better in recipes too (it

never curdles!!!!). I've experimented making almond milk for the family ...

it really is tasty tho you have to shake it up before drinking (I don't have

a recipe, just toss some almonds and water in the blender and blend

the daylights out of it).

As for filling foods during pregnancy ... yeah, milk was the only

thing that made me feel satisfied when I was pregnant! So it's

a hard question. There really aren't any good studies I've found

on casein intolerance, people mainly extrapolate from

gluten intolerance. It certainly doesn't seem as

" deadly " from a symptom point of view as gluten is

though.

Heidi Jean