Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Celiacs In Nursing Homes - How Can We Make Sure They Are Safe.

georgie

Recommended Posts

georgie Enthusiast
georgie
Posted

A friend of mine rang in tears. Her father has dementia since a stroke and now has had a fall and been put into a Nursing Home. He has been Celiac for many years - basically eating correctly with the occasional lapse for which he suffered each time. Now he is in this Nursing Home the staff are giving him cookies as 'one won't matter', and making him sandwiches with regular bread. My friend can't seem to make them understand that he needs a special diet. He is 82 with dementia - is it worth the fight and aggro ? Or does she have to sit back and let them feed him like they are?

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Ursa Major Collaborator
Ursa Major
Posted

What your friend needs to do is talk to her father's doctor. The doctor needs to go to the nursing home and make them understand that his diet is medically necessary, and can't be deviated on. Maybe a nutritionist can go and talk to the staff and educate them.

Somebody they will listen to needs to tell those blockheads at the nursing home that they are KILLING the man with their cookies and sandwiches!

Luvs to Scrap Apprentice
Luvs to Scrap
Posted

I agree that having the dr talk o the nursing home about needing to be strict with the diet would be helpful. For some reason some people just don't believe people who live with the diet every day. Your post made me realize how lucky we are with the nursing home in town where my DH grandma lives. Someone comes in and makes her special bread and they are very careful what they give her. They even served gluten-free peanut butter cookies at the Christmas party for everyone. DS and DH were thrilled because they actually had something to eat too at the party. They have also but gluten-free sandwiches on a plate for grandma, DS and DH at other parties. DH hasn't gotten sick eating what they say is safe so I think they must be pretty careful. Grandma cheats but it is her choice not their fault and it is usually at one of our family things. My DS and DH do not cheat and it frustrates me when she does because it makes me look ultra strict and paranoid about my husband and son and being careful about what they eat. DH says if he is 80 something and lives a couple feet from the bathroom and doesn't have anything else to do he guesses it would be ok to cheat but he currently does not think it is work the big D and health problems.

Possibly providing staff with some "safe" cookies that they can give the resident might be an option too since they seem to be inclined to think he needs cookies. I wish your friend the best and hope the nursing home gets a clue soon! Kendra

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted
A friend of mine rang in tears. Her father has dementia since a stroke and now has had a fall and been put into a Nursing Home. He has been Celiac for many years - basically eating correctly with the occasional lapse for which he suffered each time. Now he is in this Nursing Home the staff are giving him cookies as 'one won't matter', and making him sandwiches with regular bread. My friend can't seem to make them understand that he needs a special diet. He is 82 with dementia - is it worth the fight and aggro ? Or does she have to sit back and let them feed him like they are?

Contact his doctor and contact the head of the nursing home or better yet have your lawyer do it. Be firm as Ursa said they are killing him and not painlessly.

Viola 1 Rookie
Viola 1
Posted

Waht a shame! And doing it to someone that can't stand up for themselves. That's scary.

Yes, ... get that doctor involved, and if necessary a lawyer.

Generic Apprentice
Generic
Posted

I don't know how it is down in Australia (I'm assuming that is where he is too). My mom worked in nursing homes for years, as a nurse. She says the food they feed the paitents is absolute crap. Every thing and I mean everything comes pre-made just add water etc. She has seen a decline in people's health eating all the preservatives and additives.

She had seen (she is retired now) about a 300% increase in bed sores, skin tears and those little "hang nail" skin pieces around the finger nails. She has always been very nutrtion conscience. When my great-grandma was put into a home they put her in the home where my mom worked. My G-Gram was diagnosed w/celiac at 82.

She said just about any time they got a new dietician or nutritionist they would give her the wrong food. They really just have no clue. (Now I am not saying all dieticians or nutrtionists are clueless, so please don't take offence if you are one). The problem is most of the food has tons of gluten in it in one form or another. The kitchen staff would actually have to cook something from scratch -oh the horror!

-Laurie

Nancym Enthusiast
Nancym
Posted

My Mom is in a pretty nice nursing home, very family like, lovely place. Anyway, even so it seems like the kitchen is extremely disorganized. Yeah, I would imagine getting a proper diet from a nursing home would be like getting the same from a hospital, really difficult. Still, they're supposed to be able to handle that.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


angel-jd1 Community Regular
angel-jd1
Posted

I know that nursing homes currently don't seem to be able to comprehend the term gluten free. I am hoping that by the time that I need a nursing home they have it down pat.

I am sure years ago they had no clue about diets for diabetic people, people with low sodium diets and so on. However, they have learned with their learning curve. I hope it is the same way for gluten free diets.

By the time my generation gets in nursing homes, they will have a jillion food allergies and intollerances to be cooking for. They had better start practicing now :P

-Jessica :rolleyes:

happygirl Collaborator
happygirl
Posted

Maybe by the time we are there, Jessica, there will be specialty gluten free nursing homes ;).

angel-jd1 Community Regular
angel-jd1
Posted
Maybe by the time we are there, Jessica, there will be specialty gluten free nursing homes ;).

That's what I am hoping for! ha

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,951
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    SY8
    Newest Member
    SY8
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Jacki Espo
      Covid caused reoccurrence of DH without eating gluten

      By Jacki Espo · Posted

      This happened to me as well. What’s weirder is that within a couple hours of taking paxlovid it subsided. I thought maybe I got glutened but after reading your post not so sure. 
    • Mari
      New Celiac Mama in My 30s

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Tiffany. Thank you for writing your dituation and  circumstancesin such detail and so well writte, too. I particularly noticed what you wrote about brain for and feeling like your brain is swelling and I know from my own experiences that's how it feel and your brain really does swell and you get migraines.    Way back when I was in my 20s I read a book by 2 MD allergist and they described their patient who came in complaining that her brain, inside her cranium, was swelling  and it happened when she smelled a certain chemical she used in her home. She kept coming back and insisting her brain actually swelled in her head. The Drs couldn't explain this problem so they, with her permission, performed an operation where they made a small opening through her cranium, exposed her to the chemical then watched as she brain did swell into the opening. The DRs were amazed but then were able to advise her to avoid chemicals that made her brain swell. I remember that because I occasionally had brain fog then but it was not a serious problem. I also realized that I was becoming more sensitive to chemicals I used in my work in medical laboratories. By my mid forties the brain fog and chemicals forced me to leave my  profession and move to a rural area with little pollution. I did not have migraines. I was told a little later that I had a more porous blood brain barrier than other people. Chemicals in the air would go up into my sinused and leak through the blood brain barrier into my brain. We have 2 arteries  in our neck that carry blood with the nutrients and oxygen into the brain. To remove the fluids and used blood from the brain there are only capillaries and no large veins to carry it away so all those fluids ooze out much more slowly than they came in and since the small capillaries can't take care of extra fluid it results in swelling in the face, especially around the eyes. My blood flow into my brain is different from most other people as I have an arterial ischema, adefectiveartery on one side.   I have to go forward about 20 or more years when I learned that I had glaucoma, an eye problem that causes blindness and more years until I learned I had celiac disease.  The eye Dr described my glaucoma as a very slow loss of vision that I wouldn't  notice until had noticeable loss of sight.  I could have my eye pressure checked regularly or it would be best to have the cataracts removed from both eyes. I kept putting off the surgery then just overnight lost most of the vision in my left eye. I thought at the I had been exposed to some chemical and found out a little later the person who livedbehind me was using some chemicals to build kayaks in a shed behind my house. I did not realize the signifance  of this until I started having appointments with a Dr. in a new building. New buildings give me brain fog, loss of balance and other problems I know about this time I experienced visual disturbances very similar to those experienced by people with migraines. I looked further online and read that people with glaucoma can suffer rapid loss of sight if they have silent migraines (no headache). The remedy for migraines is to identify and avoid the triggers. I already know most of my triggers - aromatic chemicals, some cleaning materials, gasoline and exhaust and mold toxins. I am very careful about using cleaning agents using mostly borax and baking powder. Anything that has any fragrance or smell I avoid. There is one brand of dishwashing detergent that I can use and several brands of  scouring powder. I hope you find some of this helpful and useful. I have not seen any evidence that Celiac Disease is involved with migraines or glaucoma. Please come back if you have questions or if what I wrote doesn't make senseto you. We sometimes haveto learn by experience and finding out why we have some problems. Take care.       The report did not mention migraines. 
    • Mari
      My only proof

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Jmartes71 That is so much like my story! You probably know where Laytonville is and that's where I was living just before my 60th birthday when the new Dr. suggested I could have Celiacs. I didn't go on a gluten challange diet before having the Celiac panel blood test drawn. The results came back as equivical as one antibody level was very high but another, tissue transaminasewas normal. Itdid show I was  allergic to cows milk and I think hot peppers. I immediately went gluten free but did not go in for an endoscopy. I found an online lab online that would do the test to show if I had a main celiac gene (enterolab.com). The report came back that I had inherited a main celiac gene, DQ8, from one parent and a D!6 from the other parent. That combination is knows to sym[tons of celiac worse than just inheriting one main celiac gene. With my version of celiac disease I was mostly constipated but after going gluten-free I would have diarrhea the few times I was glutened either by cross contamination or eating some food containing gluten. I have stayed gluten-free for almost 20 years now and knew within a few days that it was right for me although my recovery has been slow.   When I go to see a  medical provide and tell them I have celiacs they don't believe me. The same when I tell them that I carry a main celiac gene, the DQ8. It is only when I tell them that I get diarrhea after eating gluten that they realize that I might have celiac disease. Then they will order th Vitamin B12 and D3 that I need to monitor as my B12 levels can go down very fast if I'm not taking enough of it. Medical providers haven't been much help in my recovery. They are not well trained in this problem. I really hope this helps ypu. Take care.      
    • knitty kitty
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Fascinating.
    • DebJ14
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By DebJ14 · Posted

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.