Need Doctors Advice

[Lori L.]

I'm needing to find a doctor - I live in the southeast kansas/northeast oklahoma area. I had made a post asking if it is safe to work in a bakery if I am gluten intollerant or have celiac disease. I would like a doctor's opinion, but the doctors I have been to in this area don't seem to know much about celiac disease. Is there a doctor out there that can answer??

[WW340]

I can give you some names of doctors in Tulsa, if that would help. There may be some in Missouri, but I don't know of any in northern Missouri.

I read your other post. I can tell you that the preferred situation would be that you not work in a bakery. You might be able to get by with taking some major precautions at work. Since you don't have to do the actual baking, wearing gloves and protective outer wear, such as a smock or jacket over your clothes would help.

Eating or drinking at work would be risky from the cross contamination of floating flour. I would make sure drinks were in bottles with lids that were kept closed. Taking a shower as soon as you got home and washing your hair would be advisable.

Is the area that the actual baking is being done seperated by walls from the front where you work? If not, I would suggest having that done. The actual baked goods would be less risk than the floating loose flours. The further you can remove yourself from that, the better.

Many people, myself included, have to be careful of personal care products, such as shampoos, lotions, makeup etc, that touch the skin, another reason I would cover clothes and even hair if possible. Breathing in flour will eventually make its way to your GI tract, as it gets in mucous and gets swallowed, that is really unavoidable if it is in the air, short of wearing a mask.

We all have to do what we have to do. If changing professions is not an option, then you will just have to do everything you can to protect yourself from contamination. Flour is a toxic substance to the gluten intolerant, so you would have to treat it as such.

The best advice I can give you is to try your best and see what happens. If you can not get well in that environment, then you may be forced to do something else.

Again, if you want a Dr. in Tulsa, let me know.

[Lori L.]

  WW340 said:

I can give you some names of doctors in Tulsa, if that would help. There may be some in Missouri, but I don't know of any in northern Missouri.

I read your other post. I can tell you that the preferred situation would be that you not work in a bakery. You might be able to get by with taking some major precautions at work. Since you don't have to do the actual baking, wearing gloves and protective outer wear, such as a smock or jacket over your clothes would help.

Eating or drinking at work would be risky from the cross contamination of floating flour. I would make sure drinks were in bottles with lids that were kept closed. Taking a shower as soon as you got home and washing your hair would be advisable.

Is the area that the actual baking is being done seperated by walls from the front where you work? If not, I would suggest having that done. The actual baked goods would be less risk than the floating loose flours. The further you can remove yourself from that, the better.

Many people, myself included, have to be careful of personal care products, such as shampoos, lotions, makeup etc, that touch the skin, another reason I would cover clothes and even hair if possible. Breathing in flour will eventually make its way to your GI tract, as it gets in mucous and gets swallowed, that is really unavoidable if it is in the air, short of wearing a mask.

We all have to do what we have to do. If changing professions is not an option, then you will just have to do everything you can to protect yourself from contamination. Flour is a toxic substance to the gluten intolerant, so you would have to treat it as such.

The best advice I can give you is to try your best and see what happens. If you can not get well in that environment, then you may be forced to do something else.

Again, if you want a Dr. in Tulsa, let me know.

Thank you so much for your advice. And I would love to get some names of doctors in Tulsa. Like I said, the doctors around here don't seem to know much about gluten intolerance. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Lori