These are a few I took from the Irish Coeliac Society's Message Board.
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My Mum (diagnosed at 86, only a month ago) was given GF bread that needs toasting, when in the hospital.
Tastes gross unless toasted. Only problem: the hospital has no toasters.
So her introduction to GF bread was really bad.
Worse than that, she was repeatedly offered non-GF bread, sausages, croquette potatoes etc,
even though there were signs everywhere on her bed, chart, and in the 'kitchen' to say she was coeliac.
AND, to cap it all, the registrar said that she probably has 'mild' coeliac disease,
since she made it to 86 undiagnosed.
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That's more to do with bad medicine than anything else!
She's been on B12 injections for 30-40 years, has osteoporosis, bad anaemia, and so on,
all of which should have suggested CD. But was never investigated.
A truly great medical system? I think not.
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I'm not coeliac, but my boyfriend is. Just before Christmas, he was in a nasty car crash and had to stay in hospital for a while.
He was brought in semi-conscious, and by the time I got in, he was doped up on morphine,
so I had to go to give his medical details to the nurses.
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I told them that he was coeliac, and did they need me to bring anything in for him.
They said no, they could provide stuff for him. Went away happy.
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Next day, arrived in to see him again, he'd been given cornflakes and normal toast for breakfast, so had no brekkie.
Ok, I thought, it's a busy hospital, I'll just mention it again.
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Went to the nurses, told them that he was coeliac (deja vu), and they said that they knew that.
I said that he'd been given an unsuitable breakfast, so one nurse went to get the person in charge of food.
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Told her that he was coeliac, and her reply was: "yeah, I know,
he can't have salt, isn't that what coeliacs are,
we've a nice chicken breast here for his lunch, he'll be grand" ...
I ended up bringing in his meals to him...Grr!
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I spoke to a coeliac yesterday who said that her GP tested her for EVERYTHING under the Sun,
and when the patient suggested he check in case she might be coeliac,
the doctor said that she couldn't be a coeliac because:
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(wait for it)
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"YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A COELIAC"
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So, we've a new test for CD: a mirror.
If you look like a coeliac, you must BE a coeliac.
Imagine, a double blind study on the use of doctor's eyes to diagnose CD!
Come to think about it, the fact that most coeliacs are diagnosed in middle years, after years of ill-health,
is probably more to do with bad medical practice than anything else.
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Regards,
David
