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 Who Work In A Hospital/or The Healthcare Field

alamaz

By alamaz
in Related Issues & Disorders

Recommended Posts

alamaz Collaborator
alamaz
Posted

Ugh! I just recently started a new job at a hospital. I was dx'ed with celiac in late February of this year and am just now starting to feel REALLY good so it's taken some time to start to heal. Of course, TB testing is required for this job and I keep reacting positively or "inconclusive" to the tests except my chest x-ray is clear. The Quantiferon Golf test was inconclusive and the skin tests are all coming back positive. They are trying to tell me that they will have to treat me for latent TB which I don't believe is possible that I have latent TB because I have a history of having positive reactions to the TB skin tests all with clear chest x-rays and I've not been out of the country since 1995. In fact, when I lived overseas in the early 90's I was treated for a year for TB even though the chest x-ray was clear but I had reacted to the skin tests. At this rate I will be treated for TB indefinitely because I react positively to the skin tests.

I recall a post a few weeks ago about this same thing and several of you also react positively to the TB tests. What happens next? Is this just a matter of documenting the positive reaction? How does your hospital/workplace handle postive TB reactions?

As a side note, they just did the bubble test and I'm starting to get a severe headache. I'm not sure if it's celiac related or just stress but I never even thought to wonder if the bubble test has to be gluten free also......

Amy

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

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


blueeyedmanda Community Regular
blueeyedmanda
Posted

Hi Amy,

I work in a Hospital and I get a TB test every year, I always test negative.

Guest j_mommy
Guest j_mommy
Posted

Amy....

I was that poster a few weeks ago!!! Are you getting it read by a nurse or DR????? My nurse thought it was positive but it was not.....raised area is what counts not redness...which was what was happening to me....I had a huge red area,slight bump and itched like crazy!!! So I went to a DR and he said it was negative but wrote me a prescription saying that due to some type of allergic reaction I am to have chest xrays from now on and that I have not had a positive reaction and do not need to be treated!!

I hope this helps!!!

PM me if you have more questions!

little d Enthusiast
little d
Posted

Hi Amy

I work in a hospital and I just got my TB today and mine is just red around the site and I don't think that it had anything to do with it but right after I got really sleepy when I was fine before, but then again i did just work my 12 hr night shift. I will get mine read on thursday morning and I am usually negative but I feel like that this time I am having more of a reaction more redness this time and It itched some today.

donna

Worriedwife Apprentice
Worriedwife
Posted

I work in the healthcare field, and have not had a TB skin test done for about 13 years. I am allergic to the serum they use to test for TB. I only have chest X-rays done now.

I agree with I_Mommy, make sure you have a doctor read the results, not just a nurse. If it just red and/or itchy, that is not necessarily a positive reaction. You have to have a noticable bump from the test for it to be a positive reaction.

Good luck!

uclangel422 Apprentice
uclangel422
Posted

Before I was diagnosed with Celiac, I took a TB test at work in the hospital and it was read as positive. I had to have an X-ray and it came back negative so i was allowed to remain at work. My doctor did end up putting me on INH for TB because he wanted to be on the safe side. I was miserable on that medication.

From now on, tell them that you are prone to false positives on the skin test and just ask for an X-ray of your lungs yearly. My hospital has that option instead of the skin test.

alamaz Collaborator
alamaz
Posted
  • Author

Thanks for the responses. The irritating thing is, I told them up front about my history of reacting positively so they did the chest x-ray and the blood test. the chest x-ray was clear, the blood test was "inconclusive". The last thing I want is to be treated for a disease I know I don't have and that's honestly my biggest fear at this point is they will try to tell me i need to go on meds. So far the bubble test is looking okay that i got yesterday afternoon (so i think, it looks like a mosquito bite). i will definitely request that the DR. look at it on Thursday instead of just the nurse who is actually really nice and just doing her job.

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

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Archived

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

Go to topic listing

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):



    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):



  • Recent Activity

    1. cristiana
      - cristiana posted a topic in Related Issues & Disorders
      0

      Healthy diet leading to terrible bloating

      Hello fellow coeliacs and a Happy New Year I'd appreciate some advice. In December I gave up junk food and ate a new healthy diet, which had a lot of gluten-free oats, nuts, oranges in it, and a quite a lot of black coffee, rather than my usual lattes etc. After a week or so I felt awful bubbling and bloating in the area which I would say is the...
    2. TheDHhurts
      - TheDHhurts posted a topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      0

      Prana Organics no longer GFCO-certified

      I've been buying my seeds and nuts from Prana Organics for a number of years because the products have been GFCO-certified. I just got a new order delivered of their flax and sunflower seeds, and it turns out that they are no longer GFCO-certified. Instead, it just has a generic "Gluten Free" symbol on the package. I reached out to them to ask what...
    3. cristiana
      - cristiana replied to Dizzyma's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      2

      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      Hi @Dizzyma I note what @trents has commented about you possibly posting from the UK. Just to let you know that am a coeliac based in the UK, so if that is the case, do let me know if can help you with any questions on the NHS provision for coeliacs. If you are indeed based in the UK, and coeliac disease is confirmed, I would thoroughly recommend...
    4. trents
      - trents replied to Dizzyma's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      2

      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      Welcome to the celic.com community @Dizzyma! I'm assuming you are in the U.K. since you speak of your daughter's celiac disease blood tests as "her bloods". Has her physician officially diagnosed her has having celiac disease on the results of her blood tests alone? Normally, if the ttg-iga blood test results are positive, a follow-up endoscopy...
    5. Dizzyma
      - Dizzyma posted a topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      2

      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      Hi all, I have so many questions and feel like google is giving me very different information. Hoping I may get some more definite answers here. ok, my daughter has been diagnosed as a coeliac as her bloods show anti TTG antibodies are over 128. We have started her on a full gluten free diet. my concerns are that she wasn’t actually physically s...
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):

  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,927
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    drw80whz
    Newest Member
    drw80whz
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):

  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • cristiana
      Healthy diet leading to terrible bloating

      By cristiana · Posted

      Hello fellow coeliacs and a Happy New Year I'd appreciate some advice. In December I gave up junk food and ate a new healthy diet, which had a lot of gluten-free oats, nuts, oranges in it, and a quite a lot of black coffee, rather than my usual lattes etc.  After a week or so I felt awful bubbling and bloating in the area which I would say is the ascending and transverse colon.  Earlier in the day it might start with stabbing pain, maybe just two or three 'stabs', or a bit of an ache in my pelvis area, and then by the evening replaced with this awful bloated feeling.   I can still fit into all my clothes, there isn't any visible bloating but a feeling of bloating builds from early afternoon onwards.  The pain and bloating has always gone by the morning.  BMs normal.   I went back to my normal diet over Christmas, for a couple of days things improved, but the bubbling and bloating then came back with a vengeance.  I'm having an ultrasound in a couple of weeks to check my pelvic area and if that is clear I suspect may have to have a colonoscopy, but is there anything anyone can recommend to calm this bloating down.  I have been given an additional diagnosis of IBS in the past but it has never been this severe.   I have to confess that I might have had some gluten over Christmas, I ate a lot of Belgium chocolates which were meant to be gluten free but the small print reveals that they were made in a shared facility, so I have probably brought this all on myself!
    • TheDHhurts
      Prana Organics no longer GFCO-certified

      By TheDHhurts · Posted

      I've been buying my seeds and nuts from Prana Organics for a number of years because the products have been GFCO-certified. I just got a new order delivered of their flax and sunflower seeds, and it turns out that they are no longer GFCO-certified. Instead, it just has a generic "Gluten Free" symbol on the package. I reached out to them to ask what protocols/standards/testing they have in place. The person that wrote back said that they are now certifying their gluten free status in-house, but that she couldn't answer my questions related to standards because the person with that info was on vacation. Not very impressed, especially since it still says on their website that they are GFCO-certified. Buyer beware!
    • cristiana
      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      By cristiana · Posted

      Hi @Dizzyma I note what @trents has commented about you possibly posting from the UK.  Just to let you know that am a coeliac based in the UK, so if that is the case, do let me know if can help you with any questions on the NHS provision for coeliacs.    If you are indeed based in the UK, and coeliac disease is confirmed, I would thoroughly recommend you join Coeliac UK, as they provide a printed food and drink guide and also a phone app which you can take shopping with you so you can find out if a product is gluten free or not. But one thing I would like to say to you, no matter where you live, is you mention that your daughter is anxious.  I was always a bit of a nervous, anxious child but before my diagnosis in mid-life my anxiety levels were through the roof.   My anxiety got steadily better when I followed the gluten-free diet and vitamin and mineral deficiencies were addressed.  Anxiety is very common at diagnosis, you may well find that her anxiety will improve once your daughter follows a strict gluten-free diet. Cristiana 
    • trents
      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome to the celic.com community @Dizzyma! I'm assuming you are in the U.K. since you speak of your daughter's celiac disease blood tests as "her bloods".  Has her physician officially diagnosed her has having celiac disease on the results of her blood tests alone? Normally, if the ttg-iga blood test results are positive, a follow-up endoscopy with biopsy of the small bowel lining to check for damage would be ordered to confirm the results of "the bloods". However if the ttg-iga test score is 10x normal or greater, some physicians, particularly in the U.K., will dispense with the endoscopy/biopsy. If there is to be an endoscopy/biopsy, your daughter should not yet begin the gluten free diet as doing so would allow healing of the small bowel lining to commence which may result in a biopsy finding having results that conflict with the blood work. Do you know if an endoscopy/biopsy is planned? Celiac disease can have onset at any stage of life, from infancy to old age. It has a genetic base but the genes remain dormant until and unless triggered by some stress event. The stress event can be many things but it is often a viral infection. About 40% of the general population have the genetic potential to develop celiac disease but only about 1% actually develop celiac disease. So, for most, the genes remain dormant.  Celiac disease is by nature an autoimmune disorder. That is to say, gluten ingestion triggers an immune response that causes the body to attack its own tissues. In this case, the attack happens in he lining of the small bowel, at least classically, though we now know there are other body systems that can sometimes be affected. So, for a person with celiac disease, when they ingest gluten, the body sends attacking cells to battle the gluten which causes inflammation as the gluten is being absorbed into the cells that make up the lining of the small bowel. This causes damage to the cells and over time, wears them down. This lining is composed of billions of tiny finger-like projections and which creates a tremendous surface area for absorbing nutrients from the food we eat. This area of the intestinal track is where all of our nutrition is absorbed. As these finger-like projections get worn down by the constant inflammation from continued gluten consumption before diagnosis (or after diagnosis in the case of those who are noncompliant) the efficiency of nutrient absorption from what we eat can be drastically reduced. This is why iron deficiency anemia and other nutrient deficiency related medical problems are so common in the celiac population. So, to answer your question about the wisdom of allowing your daughter to consume gluten on a limited basis to retain some tolerance to it, that would not be a sound approach because it would prevent healing of the lining of her small bowel. It would keep the fires of inflammation smoldering. The only wise course is strict adherence to a gluten free diet, once all tests to confirm celiac disease are complete.
    • Dizzyma
      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      By Dizzyma · Posted

      Hi all, I have so many questions and feel like google is giving me very different information. Hoping I may get some more definite answers here. ok, my daughter has been diagnosed as a coeliac as her bloods show anti TTG antibodies are over 128. We have started her  on a full gluten free diet. my concerns are that she wasn’t actually physically sick on her regular diet, she had tummy issues and skin sores. My fear is that she will build up a complete intolerance to gluten and become physically sick if she has gluten. Is there anything to be said for keeping a small bit of gluten in the diet to stop her from developing a total intolerance?  also, she would be an anxious type of person, is it possible that stress is the reason she has become coeliac? I read that diagnosis later in childhood could be following a sickness or stress. How can she have been fine for the first 10 years and then become coeliac? sorry, I’m just very confused and really want to do right by her. I know a coeliac and she has a terrible time after she gets gluttened so just want to make sure going down a total gluten free road is the right choice. thank you for any help or advise xx 
×
×
  • 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.