MauriceReed

The first description of childhood and adult coeliac disease was written in the second half of the second century A.D. by a contemporary of the ancient Roman Physician, Galen. He is known as Aretaeus of Cappadocia and his writings which have survived to more recent times were edited and translated by Francis Adams and printed for the Sydenham Society in 1856. The original Greek Text of the sections on "The Coeliac Affection" suggests that Aretaeus may possibly have understood a remarkable amount about the coeliac condition.

So, the Romans were aware of this some 1,800 years ago which show that the condition is not as recent as some may think. Take a look at the following article which makes interesting reading:

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My understanding is that the U.K. has some of the best food labelling regulations that there are. Due to pressure form Coeliac U.K. food manufacturers clearly label products that contain Gluten and also foods which although they do not contain gluten are produced in a plant where other products do contain gluten and therefore there is a risk of cross-conrtamination.

If you go to www.coeliac.org.uk you will find lots of useful info about Coeliac awareness in the UK.

In your case you may be super-sensitive in relation to gluten but the majority aren't.

In comparing the UK to much of the rest of the world we at least aknowledge coeliac disease and even provide foods on presription through our National Health Service. So many other countries are years behind us or are not bothered about food labelling.

You say you are thinking of moving to England, may I ask where from?

Hi Roger. do you get your bread on prescription? My wife does so it is in effect 'medication' I would think that if you take some in along with copies of your prescriptions from the doctors they would see that it is ok.

Mind you, I do know that many countries including the USA, Australia etc are very strict on forbidding the importation of foodstuffs by individuals.

I think that as the bread will be sealed up that it would be ok but it would propbably be down to the mood of the person checking you through. They might be coeliac aware and say Ok, on the other hand it could be a grunt who just says NO - importing food is forbidden.

Hi all, thanks for those tips. The store in Rapid City seems to be a good starting point.

As I said before, the main concern is when on the road and the bus makes a stop for lunch etc the main food outlets as one would expect, are things like Dunkin Donuts, pizza parlours & burger places. A bit of searching and tips from others are showing that there are possibilities. Luckily for me I can literally eat & drink anything, and I mean anything. I have guts of iron but it is my wife who is the sufferer and the last thing we want is for her to get ill when travelling. Fortunately if she does injest a very small amout of gluten it doesn't always affect her. For example she can take malt vinegar on fries with no ill-effects, a splash of soy sauce will have no effects either.

A lot of the places where will be over-nighting are very small towns so I dont' hold out much hope for finding a store with a range of gluten-free foods but the bigger cities such as Salt Lake & Vegas do have places like the Outback Steakhouses which will be a life-saver.

Anyway it's over a year away yet so we have plenty of time to prepare.

Cheers

For anyone travelling to the Uk I would recommend having a look at this site:-

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There is quite a lot of useful info there in addition to the info provided by the others above.

he he he I am gonna have to print most of those off and show them to my missus.

Not only is she a Coeliac, she'a also computer-intolerant!

I had mine done and don't regret it. I went to a clinic in Harley Street, London for the work. First up I met one doctor who gave me the once over and to discuss reasons for the op. I.e. I snore rather loudly and also might right nostril was forever closing up, especially when I lay on my right-hand side in bed at night. A quick inspection showed that the turbinates were large and also the septum (wall dividing the nostrils) fattened out towards the top.

The actual operation was very quick. An anasthetic is placed in the nose and shortly afterwards the doctor strips away both with a laser. The whole procedure took about 20 minutes. For about a week or so it feels like you have a bad cold with lots of fluid in the sinuses etc, this is natural.

Now I have no trouble breating at all. I still snore like a road-drill though

Hi, glad you enjoyed your trip to the U.K.

Because of Coeliac UK, the Coeliac society here in the Uk, a massive amount of pressure has been made on food manufacturers and supermarket chains to get foods clearly labelled. This has worked and when it comes to shopping it is very easy to spot safe foods as they should have the crossed gran symbol on them and alongside the ingredients list a section clearly showing any major allergy concerns such as - contains gluten, nuts, eggsm milk etc. Also, there is now a much enhanced range of gluten-free foods available from both UK and overseas food companies.

As in any country, there are always pitfalls when it comes to eating out. Again, thanks to Coeliac UK, more restauraneurs are now aware of special dietary needs and can cope. But wherever you go you will always come across people in the catering trade who have no understanding of the condition or treat it as a chosen option like vegetarianism as opposed to a medical condition.

*note over here we spell Celiac with an 'o' in it - don't ask me why

I am pleased to say that over here in the U.K. a couple of breweries now produce gluten-free beers. The come in bottles only and can be purchased by mail order.

One of the breweries now does three different types of beer.

I'm not Coeliac myself but my wife is. I have tried a couple of these beers and they are quite good. So, there is hope for all.

Hi there, I wonder if anyone on this forum can help or possibly put me in contact with somebody that can.

My wife and I are looking at the possibility of taking a vacation in the States next year. The holiday is a 15 day escorted tour of the American National Parks and it starts in Rapid City. My wife was diagnosed as suffering from Coeliac disease about 9 years ago and so when travelling has to be careful what she eats.

We did a similar tour a few years ago from Boston up through New England, into Canada crossing back into the U.S. at Niagara then heading down to NYC. Whilst we could get to a diner for breakfast where she could get bacon & eggs etc the problem comes when on the road. When the bus stops on the freeways the usual food outlets are all fast-food outlets like Wendy's, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts etc. As you will know, in these places the great majority of foods are heavily gluten-based which meant that she often had to go without. Thus, leading to extensive periods of hunger and discomfort.

The full details for the itinery of the tour can be found at the following link.

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I appreciate that this forum is intended for sufferers of Coeliac disease in the U.S.A. but I hope that you can extend a hand to a fellow sufferer visiting from the U.K.

I'd be much obliged for any advice you can give on obtaing gluten-free foods along the way so that we can take this once-in-a-lifetime vacation.

Thanks in advance.