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Lactoferrin with Colostrum and Dairy Sensitivity

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Okay, I'm a bit worried because I've been prescribed Lactoferrin Complex by DeMeirlier, a medication that includes lactoferrin and colostrum, both dairy products.

My food allergies came back and nothing was a huge worry - except milk products, which were rated as a 'high' reaction (rated a 4 out of a possible 6). I was tested separately for milk proteins (casein, etc) and everything milk-related was at least a 3 level reaction, and most were at 4.

The medication states that it contains dairy and is made from cow's milk.

Does anyone have any experience with taking lactoferrin and/or colostrum with a sensitivity to dairy? (I mean a sensitivity to milk proteins rather than lactose intolerance.) This is a super-specific question, but I'm hoping someone is out there who has had experience with this, rather than someone who's willing to speculate.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

-J
 
Messages
15,786
I'd suppose that it comes down to whether or not there's any other dairy proteins in it. If not, it should be safe? Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine :p
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Sometimes I wonder if my lactate problem is related to my problem with milk products?

Okay, so @Hip was having a conversation about Lactobacillus and how they produce lactate and so certain people can't handle that. I had a ridiculously exaggerated blood lactate during my exercise test, so I thought I might be one of those people. I was taking a probiotic at the time I read the thread:

Ugh, had an awful crash... after taking those probiotics that contained Lactobacillus. I stopped taking them, but it was BAD. So more support for your theory, @Hip ...

Took alkaline water (a commercial brand, w/pH 8) when I had a breathing episode and it stopped it in its tracks - which makes me think (respiratory?) [edit: metabolic!] acidosis. For me, a breathing episode can precipitate a crash.

Next day, same thing - much worse. Full crash. Took water with baking soda and collapsed. Arms and hands had been hurting for a few days, and blood vessels seemed enlarged in hands. While mostly asleep, arms and hands seemed to light on fire for a minute or two, but then before I could fully awaken, the feeling died down, and those muscles seemed to relax fully for the first time in what felt like days.

It's such fun being a medical mystery! :thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown:

Now that I think back, I'm playing off the burning sensation here, but it was creepy and awful. I was so crashy that I was just lying there, pretty much hovering between awake/asleep/unconscious when it started up. My arms and hands burned like fire for several minutes. (Ugh.)

Now I'm beginning to wonder if there were milk proteins in there, and if there were, if that could possibly have caused a reaction that severe rather than the elevation in lactate. I'm seriously unsure, but I'm going to go with 'no'. Still, that doesn't make the Lactobacillus acidophillus the culprit. Here is what is in that formula:

Gluten enzyme formula
Strong acid protease (Aspergillus oryzea/niger)
DPPzyme IV Blend
Protease FCC (Aspergillus oryzae/niger)
Protease FCC (Bacillus subtilis)
Protease USP (Carica papaya)​
Amylase I FCC (Aspergillus oryzae)
Amylase II FCC (Bacilus subtilis)
Glucoamylase FCC (Aspergillus niger)
Cellulase FCC (Tricoderma reesei)
FloraFit (TM)
Lactobacillus acidophilus La-14​
FiberAid Arabinogalactans
FOS

....o...kay. Are they saying that all of these enzymes are derived from those bacteria?

Someone with more understanding help me out, here!

-J
 

MadeleineKM

Senior Member
Messages
205
Now I dont understand, the Lactoferrin complex contains milkproteins? I read that it didnt, I read a lot about it because I was afraid it might still contain traces of milk because I was going to give some to my daughter who is very allergic to milk protein. Luckily we didnt notice anything on her. If this contains milk I certainly shouldnt give her more of it
 

out2lunch

Senior Member
Messages
204
Now I'm beginning to wonder if there were milk proteins in there, and if there were, if that could possibly have caused a reaction that severe rather than the elevation in lactate. I'm seriously unsure, but I'm going to go with 'no'. Still, that doesn't make the Lactobacillus acidophillus the culprit. Here is what is in that formula:

Gluten enzyme formula
Strong acid protease (Aspergillus oryzea/niger)
DPPzyme IV Blend
Protease FCC (Aspergillus oryzae/niger)
Protease FCC (Bacillus subtilis)
Protease USP (Carica papaya)​
Amylase I FCC (Aspergillus oryzae)
Amylase II FCC (Bacilus subtilis)
Glucoamylase FCC (Aspergillus niger)
Cellulase FCC (Tricoderma reesei)
FloraFit (TM)
Lactobacillus acidophilus La-14​
FiberAid Arabinogalactans
FOS
JaimeS… are you taking these on an empty stomach? If you are, perhaps you're free ranging some bugs hiding under biofilm. Enzymes like protease, amylase, and cellulase can work as biofilm busters if not taken with food. They'll eat up the biofilm in your gut if they don't have anything else to eat up. And if there's something nasty bad hiding under that biofilm… you've just set the suckers loose! :eek:
 

Bansaw

Senior Member
Messages
521
Okay, I'm a bit worried because I've been prescribed Lactoferrin Complex by DeMeirlier, a medication that includes lactoferrin and colostrum, both dairy products.
-J
Jamie, what brand of Colostrum is Dr.M recommending?
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Now I dont understand, the Lactoferrin complex contains milkproteins? I read that it didnt, I read a lot about it because I was afraid it might still contain traces of milk because I was going to give some to my daughter who is very allergic to milk protein. Luckily we didnt notice anything on her. If this contains milk I certainly shouldnt give her more of it

Don't go borrowing trouble! If it's working for her, and she hasn't reacted to it, I wouldn't stop based off of my worries. Still, lactoferrin and colostrum are cow's milk products. From Jarrow's colostrum/lactoferrin cap here:

Other Ingredients:
Cellulose, magnesium stearate (vegetable source), silicon dioxide, sunflower lecithin and medium chain triglycerides. Capsule consists of gelatin.

Contains: Milk.

No wheat, no gluten, no soybeans, no egg, no fish/shellfish, no peanuts/tree nuts.

So they're required to list milk as an ingredient. Not 'may contain traces of', just 'contains: milk'.

Colostrum is milk: it's the first milk produced after the birth of the calf, and is rich in antioxidants, antibodies, vitamins, minerals, and anti-infectives. So it's essentially dried, nutrient-rich milk.

Jamie, what brand of Colostrum is Dr.M recommending?

He didn't recommend a brand, but I'm pretty sure that everything he's talking about is available from Kalida. It was a bit frustrating, because for some of his recommendations there are no dosages (2 pills Lactoferrin Complex twice daily - okay, so how many mg is that, and where do I get it?), but a quick internet search found all three things he recommended available from those people. Unfortunately, they will no longer sell meds - even OTC ones - to the US. Active ingredients are:

Lactoferrin (min. 95% purity): 240 mg per capsule.
Colostrum dried extract/droog extract/extrait sec (min. 29% IgG): 120 mg per capsule.

...but still made of milk. So... I'm going to ask KDM about this, I guess. Now that I've done a bit more research, it seems odd to be taking a supplement made of milk, no matter how nutritive, if I am intolerant to milk!

have you tried D-Lactate free probiotics?

I haven't, no. I gave it up as a bad job and started taking digestive enzymes, instead; they rock, my digestion is awesome now (it also helps that I've eliminated the foods that bother me). However, I need some kind of probiotic because I'm about to embark on abx therapy - 20 days of a med that is 'supposed' to be administered 1-7 days, depending on the type of infection. I'm essentially going to be rebuilding my biome from scratch. I'll need to do better than things like Clostridium alone. The probiotic KDM recommended, VSL3, has four strains of Lactobacillus. I think I need to talk to my doctor!

-J
 

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,895
I've read that colostrum can make you able to tolerate milk. It does make sense when you think about it.
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Now there's just the colostrum/lactoferrin to think about - though I did find a lactoferrin supplement available here in the US that seems to be about right, in case others find this thread and are looking for one. It's Jarrow's Lactoferrin. It is a 250-mg capsule but has no colostrum in it - I'd have to purchase that separately.

There's also Symbiotic's Lactoferrin, which is 500-mg of Lactoferrin (and therefore a bit more expensive, but not more expensive per dose - it's actually cheaper per dose). The brand I think KDM recommended had 120-mg of Colostrum per pill, and Symbiotic's states the Colostrum is one of its 'other' ingredients... but doesn't list an amount per pill. I've contacted them to find out, but so long as it's in the ballpark of 200-300-mg, it'll be about right.

-J
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
:thumbsup::hug:
I hope you have a positive outcome if you try that!

So far so good, @Gondwanaland ! Started on kiddie dose (tiiiiny scoop) twice a day, and am now on two kiddie scoops twice a day. Digestion is improving, though believe it or not, I think I'm getting die-off symptoms from the nasty bacteria already! The back of my neck is stiff and I feel headache-y a bit. Dizzy for the first five minutes after I take. Symptoms of C. pneumoniae in particular seem worse (breathing is tough).

But you know what helps with that? Exercise! All of a sudden I can! Don't worry everyone, I'm not pushing myself too hard... but all my usual 'warning signs' that buzz around my head when I'm pushing it are definitely quiet for far longer. No exaggerated heartrate or thumping in my chest, no unusual shortness of breath, no maybe-I-should-just-lie-down feeling. No tingling, no numbness, no increased brain fog. Two days ago I potted plants outside. Yesterday, I moved my living room furniture, scooted my giant floor rug, scrubbed the floor under it on my hands and knees... and all without feeling anything but an ache in my lower back. I could scarcely believe it, and kept waiting to get the warning signs I was pushing myself, but they never arrived. I thought, "it's just a delayed crash. Just wait and see if you're still all right tomorrow." But tomorrow is now today. Today I wet-Swiffered the floor, swept my deck, rolled my rug out on my deck and vacuumed its underside (it was REALLY dusty, okay? The rug pad had come straight from the attic.) Then I dragged it back in. And I'm still fine.

When I'm sure to move around a lot, I breathe more easily and feel better - you hear that, guys, for the first time in over a year, exercising has made me feel better and not worse! I'm not sure why - maybe it's forcing me to regulate my breathing, or maybe it's helping me move some of these toxins out in the trash heap where they belong. I'm also drinking a LOT of water to that end.

Finally, and this is the most miraculous for me, I had a burst of creativity the second day I took it, like a blockade had been removed from my brain. I got up in the night four separate times to write down story ideas - because they were ALL the kind you just couldn't roll over and swear you'd remember knowing you never will - but eventually gave up and opened a Word document and put the last two down that way.

The gut, guys. The gut is where it's at. ;) This is not day twelve or twenty, people. This is day FOUR.

I think it's amazing how even swallowing the probiotic can help with the lungs though. Yesterday I would've sworn I didn't have a lung infection (and I scoffed at my dx of C. pneumoniae until I read the impact it has on one's breathing) but today I was coughing things up, so. Yesterday was the first day I gargled with a mouthful of water + probiotics before swallowing, and I noticed this made my throat feel dry, sore, and tight. Not painful, but definitely uncomfortable. Not ruling out coincidence - but we'll see if I continue to cough tomorrow.

In summary, the right probiotics are magic.

-J

P.S. - You don't have to adjure me not to move. I am being very careful and I know how to listen to my body and stop the moment it signals me I'm overdoing it. So far this has not happened. I also recognize I am not 'cured' and have identified an even greater than usual need for B-vitamins and antioxidants in general. Hopefully the injections I'm going to start getting can help with this...

Also, I'm hungry a lot. Anyone else noticed this?
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Important addendum to previous post: anytime I had to do any physical activity, I also took 400-mg of CoQ10. That has always helped me not feel crash-y, but NEVER to this extent!
 
Messages
88
Location
Oxfordshire, UK
@JaimeS
Great to read that you are doing so well.

Which digestive enzymes are you taking- you mention earlier in the thread that the ones you are taking have really improved your digestion. I am in need of some ,but think some of them inflame my gastritis.........

Enjoy your improvements!

Mels