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, I thought that I was lactose intolerant, (after a year and a half, I figured out that I was also casein intolerant), so I kept eating cheese, for example. Anyway, a year and a half into the GF diet, I finally gave up all dairy, corn, most sugar, etc., and I was soon in remission. For about 3 or 4 months, I would occasionally try to add something back into my diet, but every time I tried, I would get sick, so I finally stopped trying, and just followed the diet for about 9 or 10 more months, and then when I experimented, I found that I could tolerate small amounts of dairy, corn, etc. Of course, from there, it was easy to work up to larger amounts, a little at a time. I'm guessing that after we totally avoid a type of food for a year or so, we have to re-develop an optimum bacteria balance in our gut, and possibly stimulate the proper enzyme production, in order to do a good job of digesting that food, so that's why I started with small amounts and worked up. IOW, approximately a year after I achieved remission, (two and a half years after starting the GF diet), I was able to start adding foods back into my diet.It's possible to "cheat" with milk, if you are only lactose intolerant, (and not casein intolerant). Cocoa will act as an "extender" for the small amount of lactase that is being produced, so that if you are producing any lactase at all, adding cocoa to milk may allow it to be properly digested. Most people, (but apparently not all), still produce small amounts of lactose, even though their production potential may be way down. This research report verifies that:
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/49/5/840
YMMV, of course, but I believe that it usually takes at least a year for the gut to substantially heal from gluten and casein damage. I had a fecal fat, (malabsorption), test done at Enterolab, over a year after I achieved remission, (over two and a half years after beginning the GF diet), and while it did not show severe residual damage, it did show that I still had a significant amount of residual damage. I believe that GI docs in general, are not aware of this, and they typically assume that the gut heals quickly.
This is also borne out by endoscopic examination, (with biopsies), of the small intestine of celiacs, long after they achieve remission. A reasonably high percentage of kids under the age of 14, will show normal histology, but a very high percentage of adults, will still show villus atrophy, contrary to what most GI docs claim, (that the gut heals quickly, if the diet is strictly followed).
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/b ... 4/art00008
I also believe that it is fairly rare for someone with MC to ever show completely normal histology, once the disease develops. The histology will be improved, of course, after remission, but I doubt that it will ever return to normal.
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