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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

there should be more help for people that need gluten free foods

229 replies

boomingrosemary2 · 30/01/2015 13:12

I have celiac disease so I can't have bread, cakes or pasta. The cost of the free from foods is sometimes 500% more! I get a free prescription for bread and pasta but sometimes I fancy a cake or something. Just looked at some small cakes, similar size but the normal one was 50p the free from was 2.49!

Aibu to think we should get more help with these?

OP posts:
WeAreEternal · 30/01/2015 13:35

I think that bread and pasta on prescription is utterly ridiculous.

If you are intolerant/allergic to something then you simply don't eat it.
If you can afford and want the overpriced substitutes then that's great but having bread is not a medical necessity and so should not be funded by the NHS.

And by the way I am also celiac and I'm allergic to dairy and eggs.

PtolemysNeedle · 30/01/2015 13:35

Help as in free cake on the NHS?

Grin Grin Love it!

Cliffdiver · 30/01/2015 13:36

Grin formerbabe

YABU cakes (whilst lovely) are not essential and there are far more important things for the NHS to spend money on.

DD1 grew out of CMPA when she turned 1 and for almost a year when breastfeeding I was dairy free and had to pay over the odds for treats.

DD2 had allergies to dairy, egg, soya and wheat and again is breastfed and when I was eliminating all of these from my diet our food bill was astronomical (for breakfast, lunch, snacks and treats).

Would you not rather the NHS spent money looking into a cure/treatment options?

SnowWhiteAteTheApple · 30/01/2015 13:39

Just don't eat those things. I can't imagine ever asking a doctor for bread or pasta when it's available from the supermarket. What a waste of NHS money.

OOAOML · 30/01/2015 13:47

lotsofbooks that is shocking! If a baby needs a specialist formula then they need it - how can they expect people to pay that?

ShadowSpiral · 30/01/2015 13:57

Cake's hardly essential for anyone, and I don't think you should be able to get it on prescription.

Also, I don't know what the current prescription charge is, but is it really less than a gluten free cake? Assuming you're not on free prescriptions that is.

What really is disgraceful is doctors refusing to prescribe specialist baby formula for babies with problems like cmpa.

Dowser · 30/01/2015 14:03

Agree artandco and if you have dodgy bowels sugar is another baddie.

At least keeping away from cakes will keep sugar content down.

People need to read wheatbelly by dr Davis. He goes into reasons why modern wheat is bad for so many of us and why gluten free flowers may not be exactly beneficial either.

benbobby · 30/01/2015 14:04

I don't have Celiac Disease but neither do I eat bread, cakes or pasta. I think you will survive. Wink

GraysAnalogy · 30/01/2015 14:26

No sorry the NHS shouldn't have to pay for your cakes.

sparechange · 30/01/2015 14:29

You actually think the NHS has a duty to provide people with a bit of cake when they fancy it? Confused
What about diabetics? Should they get special cakes on the NHS as well?

Hamiltoes · 30/01/2015 14:32

It does seem unfair that the NHS is not allowing them a little bit of cake.

Am i the only one who thought of Marie Antoinette here Grin

OP I hope you are kidding...

FamilyAdventure · 30/01/2015 14:50

No, I really don't think the NHS should be prescribing cake.

TBH I'm a bit Hmm about bread and pasta. Neither are especially nutritious or essential and I would have thought someone who can't have wheat was better off eating something different than a heavily processed substitute.

PrimalLass · 30/01/2015 14:54

I don't think any of it will be available on prescription for much longer, because it is easy to find GF things in the supermarket now and the prices are dropping.

PtolemysNeedle · 30/01/2015 15:05

Maybe we could also start giving out free diet coke to diabetics. And free Lo salt and that weird cholesterol lowering butter substitute to people who have high blood pressure.

Thinking about it, I got blisters once from a pair of cheap shoes, perhaps the NHS should be paying for me to wear comfy expensive uggs all winter?

Also, eating puffy bread makes me a bit bloated, do you reckon the NHS should pay for me to have pitta or flatbread when I fancy it instead?

softlysoftly · 30/01/2015 15:21

Grin joke right? I'll actual give that 8/10 for inventiveness!

Oh and I don't think you should get a scrip for pasta or bread either.

rocketnot · 30/01/2015 15:24

There are plenty of things that are absolutely fine for you to eat and are cheap and free from gluten. The cost only doubles when you buy the specific free from section things.
Expecting the nhs to give any more help is ridiculous. Do better research.
We also have multiple food allergies in this house. We get nothing on prescription and make our own cakes. Yes it's not ideal but I'm grateful we can at least eat fresh fruit and veg if all else fails. And potato. You are lucky to get what you get on prescription. Most people just enjoy the things they can eat and research and buy stuff thats not got those ingredients in.
In all seriousness find an online support group it's great for finding bargains of things you can have. You would be Suprised where sells things that you can eat without advertising it. Aldi is great!

rumbleinthrjungle · 30/01/2015 15:46

There are plenty of things that are absolutely fine for you to eat and are cheap and free from gluten. The cost only doubles when you buy the specific free from section things.

^^This

millionsofpeaches · 30/01/2015 16:03

I have coeliac disease and I don't bother getting stuff on prescription as it would probably work out not much more expensive to just buy stuff at the supermarket and is a lot more convenient than having tro get the pharmacy to order things in (as my mum has found). I actually think they could give vouchers instead and then it would be your choice whether you bought gf bread, crumpets, cakes or whatever.

Also to all those saying just don't eat bread or pasta. Really? I have a diagnosed medical condition, which requires a special diet in order for me to avoid anaemia, calcium deficiency, brittle bones, bowel cancer and severe upset stomach. Why then should I never be able to eat bread again when there are alternatives available? And why should I have to pay £2.50 for a small loaf? Surely you wouldn't begrudge people like me one loaf a week?! Or maybe you would Smile

Anyway op, like people have said make your own cakes or maybe you could start a business selling cheaper (and probably nicer!) cakes than the ones in the supermarket.

curiousgeorgie · 30/01/2015 16:09

This is a wind up.

The doctor prescribes you bread and pasta??

I have a serious nut allergy and I'm lucky to get my epipen.

What happens to you if you eat gluten??

millionsofpeaches · 30/01/2015 16:38

Actually I am going to have a bit of a rant.

Coeliac disease is a medical condition with consequences as I described above. There is no cure or medicine you can take, it is controlled by diet. If there was a pill I could take prescribed by the nhs I would take it and no one would bat an eyelid. So why is it so incomprehensible that bread and pasta is prescribed? (As I said above I do not use the prescription and think vouchers would be a better solution, but anyway.)
I think that a lot of the trouble with the lack of understanding is from people declaring themselves gluten intolerant without a diagnosis and then magically being able to eat gluten if they feel like it. It minimises the severity of the disease and leads to confusion and lack of understanding from people who have not experienced coeliac disease first hand. And I am not someone who loves the drama of having a medical condition, it's a pita and I try not to make a fuss as much as possible. It just pisses me off when people like me are accused of taking the piss themselves.

Anyway, rant over. Sorry op for derailment!

MuddhaOfSuburbia · 30/01/2015 16:47

what peaches said

I'm coeliac and live in terror of the eye roll when I eat out

because gf is a current fad (Gwynnie, I'm lookin' at you) ppl assume that if you say you're coeliac you're somehow Making A Thing- I think it's on the shitlist of illnesses/conditions that noone believes in unless they actually have them

it is a PITA. I'd do anything not to have to say 'you did get that that's gluten free, didn't you?' to harrassed waiters in pizza places and just dig in to the dough balls like everyone else Grin

Stinkle · 30/01/2015 16:53

Hear hear millionsofpeaches

My 13 year old DD is coeliac. It's an actual diagnosed disease, with serious consequences if not treated. If it could be treated with medication on prescription I'm sure no one would bat an eyelid.

We do get bread on prescription but DD thinks it's vile we don't use it. It would actually be more helpful if our GP would prescribe GF flour, etc, but he won't

My DD2 has trouble (understatement of the century) sleeping so has been prescribed melatonin, no one begrudges her that and it probably costs more than a bag of flour now and then.

VictorineMeurent · 30/01/2015 16:54

DH bakes his own GF bread with flour that costs the same as ordinary flour, the bread is much nicer. Apart from the bread and pasta, which is only £1.40 a bag we all eat gluten free with him. I have not noticed this is expensive. I have two main cake recipes, and orange almond torte and a flour free chocolate cake.

Stinkle · 30/01/2015 16:56

And yes to people not taking it seriously.

We get lots of "oh, can't she just have 1 biscuit" "one small cake won't hurt"

No, she cannot have just one biscuit and one small cake will hurt her. She cannot have any gluten whatsoever!!!!

I've slipped up once in the early days, not pretty

sparechange · 30/01/2015 16:57

peaches
You are acting like bread and pasta are on a bar with water and oxygen Confused
They aren't essential, hence lots of us get by never having to eat them.
To act like it is a human right and therefore the responsibility of the NHS to provide you with them is really very entitled.
Eat rice instead of pasta, or rice pasta which is widely available.
Make cakes with ground almonds instead of flour
Bread and cakes are not a human right!