Celiacs Disease

[hm671]

I've been told by my doctor that I may have Celiacs Disease (gluten intolerance). I have had no major problems with it, but I am going to be tested to confirm it. There is no cure except avoiding foods containing gluten. But as some people can suffer from severe problems with, could it bar me from at UK class 1 medical?

[Flyin'Dutch']

Probably not.

FD

[Engineer]

Not a very nice test :O

[brockenspectre]

Hi hm671 I haven't posted before as I was waiting for others with more expert knowledge to respond. However, I will now chip in my 2 cents worth. I was diagnosed a celiac nearly 25 years ago when I was in the RAF and having suffered an injury was in hospital and began to lose weight dramatically. It took a while for anyone to realise what the problem was, merely because I had always been so slim and fit up to that point! Had I not been diagnosed a celiac I would still (probably) be in the RAF as the injury to my back and hip was not sufficiently severe to curtail my career.

As far as civilian medicals are concerned I would consult an AeroMed specialist and find out. The reality has to be that a gluten free diet, unless like me you are a total foodie and will always find a good solution, can be seen to be extremely curtailing.

A celiac is born that way, we are missing that part of DNA that processes gluten (found in wheat, rye, barley and probably oats). Anything containing these or their by-products (the "modified starch" in many products) is a no-no. Gluten is the stuff that makes flour sticky when you add water to it. A celiac, because they cannot digest the gluten, instead have it sticking to the "system", essentially poisoning it and rendering it less capable or incapable of processing the minerals and vitamins in food. You can become extremely unwell. Milder forms, because not everyone reacts the same, may just mean you are tired, bloated, get upset tummies very easily, can be snappy and unpleasantly/unreasonably irritable (and feel bad for being that way) to those nearest and dearest.

If the diagnosis is confirmed it is vital that you maintain a gluten free diet, the web and the YahooGroup for coeliacs will if you research it properly tell you the downside if you fail to maintain the diet and will give plenty of tips and hints on how to manage the regime without appearing a total hypochondriac!!

On the one hand we celiacs are lucky because our genetic disease is not an allergy, in other words we don't have an instant and potentially life-threatening reaction such as folks with nut or seafood allergies.; on the other hand, if someone persists in eating gluten-full products then it is possible for the unwellness to develop into a form of bowel/intestinal cancer.

Celiac disease is most common among those of Irish ancestry (who knows why!) and is believed to be present in one form or another in 1:350 of the UK population.

A lot of diagnoses are first made when babies are weaned on to real food and these "cases" seem to grow out of the problem when they reach puberty. Because of the vagueness of symptoms, for the most part, adult diagnosis is quite difficult unless a family member is already a celiac - GPs are, however, a lot wiser than they used to be about the disease!

Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose, M&S these days produce bread and products (bread, pasta, sausages) that are gluten-free these days and the crossed-out-grain symbol is also commonly used to denote products that are gluten-free.

I love cooking and eating and welcome the introduction of GF products in stores - unfortunately as I used to make my own bread I can sadly confirm that nothing thus far produced in the GF ranges of breads/rolls is a patch on the "real stuff".

Some celiacs can tolerate a degree of "glutening" ie the inadvertent or deliberate digesting of gluten, but it is silly to do this unless it is absolutely vital! In my case I feel as if I am about to pass out and I get an appalling tummy upset!

Sorry to go on so long but .. hopefully you have found something helpful in what I have said.

Apart from being a celiac (which is just something that affects my food choices) I am as fit, healthy etc as the next person!

:ok:

PS celiac is the American spelling, in UK "coeliac" is more usual!

[Moogie]

Yeh
I was diagnosed with it last January, no problems with my medical. In fact had more problems getting my commercial endorsement for my Coastal Skipper Motorboats from the RYA than i had getting my Class 1 medical renewed.
Apart from a bit of planning and a larger suitcase(for your GF food) for overnights, reasonably easy to get by.
Good Luck
moogie:ok:

[Saab Dastard]

brockenspectre,

Thanks for your post! I'm not sure what prompted me to view this thread, but I'm sure glad I did.

I have suffered over 25 years of severe, chronic abdominal pain and associated digestive problems - which has been put down to adhesions from an appendectomy. I have also suffered for years from a skin rash - hitherto unexplained - but exactly like that which I now realise is associated with coeliac disorder.

Add to these the fatigue and (clinical) depression I'm just recovering from makes me think that getting tested for this condition would be a wise move!

SD

[Moogie]

Saab
Sounds like typical Coeliac/celiac diseasse. Also associated with Coeliac disease is a thing called Dermatitis Herpetiformis which is a very itchy skin rash, esp elbows and knees, across shoulders. Forms with various stages. There is a strong link between DH & Coeliac disease. Over half the patients with DH have the same intestinal abnormality with damage to the villi on biopsy as do coeliacs.
My advice to you is to seek a proactive GP that will send you for intestinal investigation/biopsy rather than just blood tests. The biopsy is the definitive test as it examines(under microscope) a tiny portion of your Duodenum for villous atrophy. Blood tests are not, NB, not the definitive result as they only test for antibodies against alpha-gliadin(AGA), endomysial antibody(EmA) or tissue transglutaminase(tTG). They are usefull in screening for coeliac disease but are unsufficient to make a definite diagnosis.
Anyway the biopsy is a piece of piss, day procedure under sedative, out in 10 mins. The only drawback is you have to take 'Clear out' liquid the day before-involves several hours on the potty!!! Oh boy, what fun.
Please please look at any of the Coeliac sites on the internet. If you are in the UK, the UK coeliac society is full of info.
Most countrys have a coeliac society.
Note spelt Coeliac in the UK & Ireland but Celiac every else.

Good luck-dont forget Biopsy, not just bloods,
Moogie

PS: FYI
the most common symptoms in untreated Coeliacs is diarrhoea, then weight loss, abdominal bloating, wind, mabey anaemia, resulting in leathargy, tiredness and pale complexion. So, typical saturday night on the rip symptoms except lasting all the time!!!

[Daysleeper]

Those symptoms also sound a lot like what I had before having a chunk of my bowl removed due to Chron's Disease.



Might be worth having a look at NACC (http://www.nacc.org.uk/content/home.asp) the national association for Chron's and Colitis.


From their website

The main symptoms are pain in the abdomen, urgent diarrhoea, general tiredness and loss of weight. Crohn’s is sometimes associated with other inflammatory conditions affecting the joints, skin and eyes



Just to add why not join my campaign for thinner endoscopes! I was walking like John Wayne for a week after a check up :\

[Moogie]

Yeh
I didnt have a problem with the endoscope but had bad cramps for about a week afterwards. Most people have no problem whatsoever.:sad:

[markflyer6580]

My 3 year old daughter has recently been diagnosed,whilst talking about what we thought the kids may end up doing,I would like to think she would become a pilot(obviously).
As we know kids will do as they please,but would coeliacs be a career stopper in terms of the military? No moaning about pushy parents please!

Certainly during my time in the forces I did not hear of anybody with it,and the diet solves the problem,however in a warzone you do not have too much choice in terms of food intake.
Women do not fight on the frontline so you could argue that it doesn't matter but the forces can be really anal about such things,having had a medical discharge myself for a trivial injury.

Any body know the rules? Cheers Mark
:ok:

P.S any other good tips foodwise would be much apprieciated.

[Flyin'Dutch']

I doubt that having coeliacs would be a bar for a career in flying but the military can be a fickle lot and especially for the more desireable functions where they have more candidates than places they could use it as part of their selection criteria.

An awful lot of good things can happen before your daughter is old enough to have to make any career moves and something better than a career in the military may well be on the cards.

:p

More information on this website:

http://www.coeliac.co.uk/

[Bad medicine]

Many militaries have a ban on significant dietary intolerances due to the requirement to be able to live on ration packs, etc. These are generally not suitable for coeliacs (or lactose intolerance, etc).

Cheers,

BM

[markflyer6580]

Thanks chaps,I'm sure she won't be daft enough to join up anyway!

As for ration packs,they are enough to put you off eating for life!:ok: