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

[boomingrosemary2]

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?

dhdjdbrjrkbr You are contradicting yourself. You said:

'No wonder the NHS is skint if its buying people pizza bases and biscuits for a very common intolerance.

Most people on gf are just doing it as an attention seeking fad.'

And now you say:

'I said gf people not CD people! I know many people who claim to be GI and make a big fuss about it, but still eata normal pizza when they fancy it.'

In your first statement, you incorrectly claim that fussy faddy dieters are getting free prescriptions, none of this is true, because you have to pay for prescriptions like everyone else. And like I said earlier, the NHS gives gf prescriptions to people who have diagnosed with CD, not fussy eaters/gf intolerant.

Let's recap:

Intolerance: WIND/STOMACHACHE, feeling unwell. (non life threatening).

Allergy: You get a rash (mild penicillin allergy) and/or anaphylactic shock (nut allergies)/ runny nose and itchy eyes (hayfever) (can be life threatening).

Coeliac disease: AUTOIMMUNE DISORDER (body attacks itself when you eat gluten which leads to bowel cancer, osteoporosis, infertility, total destruction of the vili (part in your gut which absorbs the nutrients in your food).

Doesn't everyone in Wales and Scotland get free prescriptions?

dhdjdbrjrkbr I do not about that, I only know I have to pay like everyone else where I live.

Prescriptions in Wales are free. Not sure about Scotland.

The reason they're free in Wales is because it is prioritised above other things in the NHS budget.

Alis Do you know if free gluten free prescriptions are given to people who decide to have a gluten free diet just because it is the new fad ( as dhdjdbrjrkbr claims) or only to people who have been diagnosed with coeliac disease?

COELIAC DISEASE DIAGNOSIS: Blood test + endoscopy. (Not people saying they've got an stomachache).

Only people with coeliac disease get gluten free food on prescription. It is certainly not a fad.
Mortality among children with coeliac disease was very high until they discovered the cause in the 1930s. It still is high in developing countries. It's a serious disease.

Prescriptions are like first class air travel, only 10% of them are actually paid for in the UK.

Bread and pasta and flour has been for centuries a staple of human diets cutting it out is a choice not being able to eat it for celiacs is life threatening so science has come up with a substitute which medical professionals have decided is a medical product so people with celiacs disease can get a prescription for I really don't see what ypur gripe isdsd

And tbh the 2 people with celiac disease I know are now quite glad of the glutten free thing because supermarkets are not stocking food that has a bit of taste to it as prescription bread isn't the tastiest thing to eat

Pasta isn't at all, its relatively modern and not a staple for most humans.

I do! I know a couple of coeliacs (diagnosed) and someone who has some kind of gluten intolerance but nothing diagnosed.

Diagnosed coeliac has the prescriptions, GI person does not. dhd is very much mistaken in their belief that doctors hand out such prescriptions willy nilly

Hope that is glutten free

It's a virtual biscuit. It's palm oil, hydrogenated fat, sugar, nut and cost to the NHS free!

Eugene, nice dig and inaccurate about other conditions being self imposed. Many type 2 diabetics have normal BMIs and it is due to some other factor, eg genetics, some races have a much higher incidence of type 2.

My ds has a gluten free diet on advice from his paediatrician and dietician. He is believed to have coeliacs but his blood test was messed up (long story) and as has he also has ASD and was already going through a very difficult time with school etc, we decided not to go through with the endoscopy. (The Paediatrician was in total agreement with this by the way.)

We did however, have evidence from his food diary corroborating symptoms (both GI and a specific type of rash seen in CD) to gluten intake, as well as evidence that his failure to grow/slow physical development suddenly improved when gluten was removed.

Despite all the evidence and the agreement of both paed and dietician that he almost definitely has CD and being told not to keep him on a totally coeliac diet, he is not entitled to gf food on prescription. In order to meet the criteria for that you have to have full diagnosis via endoscopy.

Back to the thread topic. Shop bought gf food is ridiculously expensive, horribly sweet and full of all sorts of fillers and rubbish. You're really much better off making your own at home. We do buy gf bread and it cost us a fortune when ds had packed lunches in primary school, as the loaves were tiny, meaning he needed two sandwiches rather than one. These days there are far more options and loaves of a decent size available. The other things we buy fairly regularly are gf pasta and wraps, purely because they're both something that's not quick and easy to make ourselves and buying them means ds can enjoy the same meals as everyone else at home.

The most difficult thing we've found is finding ds something to eat when we're out and about. The growing trend for people choosing a gf diet has actually had a positive impact on that though and we are finding more and more that there's at least one option for ds on many menus.

Thanks for your recap about the difference between intolerance, allergy and CD EugenedeRastignac. I sometimes feel like having something like that printed on my forehead because I get fed up with people assuming I'm on a fad diet when I say I have coeliac disease.

Me and my mum both have CD and can get gf food on prescription if we choose to. I pay for my prescriptions and my mum has free prescriptions because she is a pensioner. I don't know why people think we normally get free gf on prescription, it's only if you have free prescriptions anyway.

My MIL has gluten intolerance and she often complains because she can't get food on prescription. But then she'll quite happily eat a big slice of non-gf cake when she fancies it.

Rosie I was generalising, but it is still true that being overweight and not exercising increases the likelihood of getting diabetes. I know because a fair amount of my family died from it. Knowing it can be in my genetic make-up makes me more careful (read my posts above to OP how to avoid overeating sugary gluten free food).

As for smoking and cancer, sure, there are people who smoke and live a 100 years but surely it is not the healthiest habit. And according to the NHS smoking increases your risk of having not only lung cancer but other types of cancer too (sad but true).

Bread and pasta and flour has been for centuries a staple of human diets cutting it out is a choice not being able to eat it for celiacs is life threatening

It was a staple because it was cheap, easy to make, filling and the ingredients were readily available. There's nothing to say that it has to be a staple these days. Not being able to eat it isn't life threatening

Bread and pasta and flour has been for centuries a staple of human diets cutting it out is a choice not being able to eat it for celiacs is life threatening so science has come up with a substitute which medical professionals have decided is a medical product so people with celiacs disease can get a prescription for I really don't see what ypur gripe isdsd

How the heck is it life threatening to not eat bread and pasta? I don't eat them, or rice, or cake, or pastry, because they are awful for my medical condition (type 1 diabetes) and I can assure you I'm still alive and healthier for it. I don't get other food subsidised to make up for it, and nor bloody should I.

The reason stuff is available on prescription is because the prescription brands, most of which you cannot buy in a shop, contain a high level of calcium, which as a coeliac it is very hard to absorb. The shop bought stuff doesn't contain it.

But calcium supplements are cheap enough to buy.

Still don't see why I should fund people to have bread and pasta, neither are health foods in their original form and certainly not in gf versions.

There are many, many things you can get on prescription that are unnecessary though...paracetamol and ibuprofen, calpol, sudocreme to name a few.

Scottish people I know seem to get stuff on prescription just because its free. People don't value something if its given for free.

I have multiple food allergies and intolerances, including wheat, although I am not coeliac.

It's not necessary to consume products that are faking being bread, or pizza, or pasta or whatever. You can eat alternatives - potatoes, sweet potatoes or rice.

I don't buy anything that is 'free from'. It's overpriced and packed full of rubbish in an attempt to emulate the thing that it actually isn't. I get that sometime you just want a cake or some bread to have with some soup for an easy and filling lunch. I bake my own gluten-free (and dairy-free, nut-free, soya-free) cakes and breads. Much nicer, definitely much healthier, and cheaper. Doves Farm flour is excellent and Dr Oetke's raising agents are GF. the Doves Farm flours have recipes on the back for cakes and breads. The cakes are FAB. I use the basic vanilla recipe for cupcakes and add things like chocolate chips, blueberries, mashed banana. The bread is good as well. I add chopped sundried tomatoes and chopped green chilli olives to make a ciabatta type thing. Both cakes and bread freeze well.