New To Gf Diet

[Guest HannahCal]

I have only been on a gluten-free diet since Feb and would like some advise from people that have been on the diet longer. I was at the hospital overnight and the next day for testing. I had informed them that I follow a gluten free menu. I had done some homework so I sort of know what contains gluten.

Decaff Coffee

Corn Flakes (Kellogg's had told me that they have no gluten-free products)

Egg (scrambled looked like in might have some ham or something in it)

Cream of Wheat (was told that it was ok to eat because they cook it in water)

I did complain or at least voice my concern with this gluten free choices lol that I was given. The tech had given me a piece of fruit as I was going to leave because I was hungry. How would you have handled this situation?

[Guest nini]

A gluten-free friend of mine was recently in the hospital for an extended stay before her son was born, and she told me she had to lecture the nurses about what was involved in a gluten free menu. She couldn't believe that they tried to tell her that WHITE BREAD was gluten free and so was Cream Of Wheat!!! What is wrong with the level of education about this VERY important diet, that these nurses can be so nonchalant and uneducated about it.

Her husband had to take some gluten-free bread to her, and some other goodies, I brought her some stuff too, but after about a week of being there and continually getting delivered food trays with GLUTEN all over them, she told me that obviously they weren't interested in GETTING HER WELL, but in keeping her sick so that they could keep her in the hospital.

I think how I would have handled the situation is to educate them about gluten. Obviously Cream of Wheat is not Gluten free... Corn Flakes, yeah, well... that takes a little label reading, but if you already know it's not safe, tell them WHY.

I think maybe the celiac community needs to start an effort to educate hospital staff about the gluten-free menu... Get nutritionists involved, etc... start with your own local hospitals.

[celiac3270]

Fortunately, when I had to stay about 5 days at the hospital, it was Columbia Presybterian, also home to the largest celiac program in the US, so they knew what they were doing.

I got gluten-free bread, Jello, a kozy shack gelatin thing that had "GLUTEN FREE" on the label...uhh...a cup of hot water with a HerbOx....mix thing to put in it, also gluten-free.

Definitely complain, though.

[KaitiUSA]

I was told pretty much the same stuff. I explained to them why it was not and they really did not want to hear it. Whether they think we make celiac up or what I don't know but it seems like they aren't very afraid to gluten us. If they had someone with a severe life threatening wheat allergy I would like to see if they handle it the same way

[luvs2eat]

That's one of my greatest fears... that when I'm old, I'll end up in a nursing home and they'll feed me white bread (cause it's not whole wheat bread) and I'll have terrible diahrrea all the time and they'll get really mad at me and I'll get terrible bed sores.

My doctor laughed when I told her this. She said it'll be written all over my chart in such a case. But, we all know how that can go!!

Cream of wheat is okay cause it's cooked in water??? YIKES!!!

[KaitiUSA]

Yeah that is very scary to me in my mind to. Even if it would be on my chart you now how some people are..they might say its too inconvenient and feed me whatever...maybe by then it will be out there more and we won't have to worry about that....

Hello what do they think cream of WHEAT is??????

[BamBam]

I was in the hospital recently also and my husband brought me almost every meal. I could eat breakfast fairly well, cream of rice, and hot tea and jello. But my lunch and supper were brought by my husband, I even asked for a credit on my hospitla bill and they laughed at me.

BAM

[tarnalberry]

I don't think there is any reason to be quiet about this. I think you should be quite vocal. The hospital would be liable if they killed someone with a peanut allergy by telling him to eat his peanut soup after they had been informed, and this is no different. Once the hospital is informed, they have an obligation NOT TO HARM YOU!

Please do speak up, perhaps even writing a letter to the administrators of the hospital so they are aware of the problem.

[pmrowley]

I actually had to go to the ER about a month ago for some abdominal pain that wasn't going away (thinking appendicitis, yikes!) it ended up being nothing, but while I was there, they hooked me up to an IV. Of course, beforehand I had talked to the doctor, explained my conditions ("I have Celiac." "What, sprue?" "Errr, yeah." [never mind that "sprue" is an OLD term that is rather a misnomer these days....] "Oh yes, I know all about it...")

So, what do I see when they bring in the IV equipment? A bag of Dextrose. I mentioned to the tech that Dextrose IVs can be dangerous to people with my condition, depending on the makeup of the dextrose, and that it's not controlled. He raised his eyebrows at me, almost protested, then went out to check. About 15 minutes later, he came back with a saline bag.

Of course the question is, after I had talked to the doctor, why he sent the tech in with a dextrose drip? I thought he "knew all about it..."

Needless to say, that particular visit to the hospital ended up being a nightmare, due to several other issues, like drugging me to the gills with some narcotic, when I mentioned that I had pain of about a 2 on a scale of 10, and my poor wife sitting in the hospital with a completely incoherent husband. We've filed a formal complaint with the hospital and Blue Cross, we'll see what happens... But imagine if they had changed staff, and someone had hooked me up to a dextrose drip while I was incapacitated??

-Pat