Fit to serve: Coeliac disease/Gluten intolerance
You are out in the field, rations are low, and the big Wokka drops a load of great nosh, but it's all got gluten in it, as that's all they had. Will you be able to do your job and look after your oppos?
Foods with high concentrations of lectins, such as beans, cereal grains, seeds, and nuts, may be harmful if consumed in excess. Adverse effects include allergic reactions, nutritional deficiencies, and immune reactions.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: November18
Age: 48
Posts: 258
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Onefiftty,
You offered what appeared factual truth to somebody who did not know- as gash advice. I'm not questioning your service credentials, Im just saying you got it wrong. Unless the MOD is culpable in anyway then it's Goodnight Vienna in most cases. The only factor being the pension.
You offered what appeared factual truth to somebody who did not know- as gash advice. I'm not questioning your service credentials, Im just saying you got it wrong. Unless the MOD is culpable in anyway then it's Goodnight Vienna in most cases. The only factor being the pension.
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: In the sunshine
Age: 44
Posts: 86
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Most cases maybe, but not all. I am living proof of that. And I did state that the final decision is with Occupational Medicine at Cranwell. They do pass a surprising number of people on appeal.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: November18
Age: 48
Posts: 258
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Is it realistic to offer such advice to an wannabe when the MOD are freely able to go for the 'low hanging fruit'? I hate that cliche, its applicapble though.
I was MD'd for something the navy was culpable for (and accepted it), in reality, I could have stayed in had I changed branch. After 14 years doing what I did that was not an option for me really.
I find it hard to believe the MOD would recruit any liabilities given the numbers they are now able to shuffle.
I was MD'd for something the navy was culpable for (and accepted it), in reality, I could have stayed in had I changed branch. After 14 years doing what I did that was not an option for me really.
I find it hard to believe the MOD would recruit any liabilities given the numbers they are now able to shuffle.
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Up North
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Fitness for service (and fitness for deployment) with coeliac disease is an interesting question. It is possible for some people with coeliac disease to get away with eating gluten for a short period without major problems with their guts. Indeed I have come across coeliacs who miss proper bread and will put up with symptoms for a nice slice of "crusty white" occasionally. Oddly that bread can come in brown bottles with crown-corks too!
It is possible to produce rations that cater for a wide range of dietary requirements but in the field these cannot be guarenteed.
There is a known association between coeliac disease and increased risk of malignant disease such as non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL). There is strong evidence that sticking to your gluten free diet reduces the risk of NHL. Admittedly the evidence that the gluten-free diet reduces risk of other cancers isn't always as strong, it might well be difficult to find subjects for the clinical trial!
Whilst coeliac disease may be seen as easy to control with correct diet and the medics approach seen as overly restrictive I think you can see the issue of not being able to provide a gluten-free diet has significant implications; not just immediate but for future health.
(I can only speak for the RAF here) Generally therefore coeliac disease is seen as a bar to entry into the service. If you are diagnosed after joining you would be medically downgraded and protected from deployment (in all but the most minor cases). This would also restrict you from re-engagement at the end of your current service.
Richard
It is possible to produce rations that cater for a wide range of dietary requirements but in the field these cannot be guarenteed.
There is a known association between coeliac disease and increased risk of malignant disease such as non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL). There is strong evidence that sticking to your gluten free diet reduces the risk of NHL. Admittedly the evidence that the gluten-free diet reduces risk of other cancers isn't always as strong, it might well be difficult to find subjects for the clinical trial!
Whilst coeliac disease may be seen as easy to control with correct diet and the medics approach seen as overly restrictive I think you can see the issue of not being able to provide a gluten-free diet has significant implications; not just immediate but for future health.
(I can only speak for the RAF here) Generally therefore coeliac disease is seen as a bar to entry into the service. If you are diagnosed after joining you would be medically downgraded and protected from deployment (in all but the most minor cases). This would also restrict you from re-engagement at the end of your current service.
Richard
Psychophysiological entity
For some years now I have been rather ill. Well before I was diagnosed with a fairly aggressive prostate cancer, I was feeling unwell almost every morning. By mid day, I was fair again, and by 7pm, ready for wine and a sizable dinner.
It seemed to make no sense at all, and the symptoms were often blurred with chronic back pain.
Go back a few years...my early 60s. I had a still got current Class I and a bad back. Other than that I seemed to be a very fit 62 year old. By the grace of God I'd finished flying. I was on my way home from Clacton Hospital where I'd had nothing but a session on a back stretching machine. The only possible intake of chemicals was from the strong hand wash dispensers. My hands started to itch.
By itch, I mean driving in thick Clacton traffic with my knees, while scratching my palms furiously. Before you say anything about driving like this, the decision-making was obviously being affected by whatever ailed me. The same logic that made me drive past a parked para-medic's car. I was feeling very ill and just wanted to get home.
The drive took me onto some hundreds of acres of farmland, where a windy road normally makes a very pleasant drive between the two towns. I made it to the first bend and dialed 999. The ensuing conversation was right out of Monty Python. What kind of feckwit I'd got hold of beggars believe, but she was insisting on an address. "we can't find you unless you give me an address"
I protested that the description I'd given would have allowed every policeman or ambulance driver in Essex to find me. She was in Swansea, so that didn't count.
I screamed obscenities at her in between screaming with pain. Again, whoever I was, didn't resemble my normal self. The pain in my chest was all consuming. My face in the mirror was ashen and my lips mauve. The elephant on my chest got off occasionally for me to have another go at pleading for someone with a brain. At first it seemed that I was dying with a major heart attack. Everything I'd been taught seemed to fit.
Loads of cars went by - including a paramedic vehicle - and no one stopped. I got better.
Anyway, back to the topic, three GPs independently came to the conclusion that it must have been Anaphylaxis. Other than this, all I do is carry an Epipen. sp?
So, a few yeas go by and I seem to feel more and more ill a lot of the time. To this day, I don't know if there's a connection. But now, beer, and horrors! Scotch, all make me feel unwell - but so does a packet of chrisps or brown bread. Nothing seems to make sense, and the GP finds nothing but blood platelets that are "too big" !!??
I can spend days feeling okay. Then something gets me and I feel like I'm getting the flue. Groaning around, aching, rheumaticy, 100 years old...then, as quickly as it comes, it goes again, say, 36 hours. Gone. Not a trace
I can't eve touch washing up liquid, or strong soap. Cake is just a memory. Two bottles of fine Scotch are still in the cupboard after 3 years. Perfect adherence to a gluten / wheat free diet can leave me okay for days. One transgression, and I may as well have walked in front of a truck. But worse, the chemical thing - which may be unrelated, but blurred in with - can get me anytime. Mosquito spray, break-cleaner, any volatile thing, are all suspects, but nothing is consistent enough to be totally clear.
At 65, despite not being able to run anymore cos of back pain, I could still cycle quite hard, and swim for hours. Slowly, this thing is getting me, cos something will creep out and cause 'that feeling' when I least expect it so making plans is almost impossible.
What I find very difficult to cope with is not knowing exactly what's going on. Two or more things blurred together making diagnosis difficult perhaps. But a huge amount of blood was pulled last summer, and nothing conclusive found.
There is no way on Earth I'd find myself in command of even a light aircraft without a safety pilot now.
It seemed to make no sense at all, and the symptoms were often blurred with chronic back pain.
Go back a few years...my early 60s. I had a still got current Class I and a bad back. Other than that I seemed to be a very fit 62 year old. By the grace of God I'd finished flying. I was on my way home from Clacton Hospital where I'd had nothing but a session on a back stretching machine. The only possible intake of chemicals was from the strong hand wash dispensers. My hands started to itch.
By itch, I mean driving in thick Clacton traffic with my knees, while scratching my palms furiously. Before you say anything about driving like this, the decision-making was obviously being affected by whatever ailed me. The same logic that made me drive past a parked para-medic's car. I was feeling very ill and just wanted to get home.
The drive took me onto some hundreds of acres of farmland, where a windy road normally makes a very pleasant drive between the two towns. I made it to the first bend and dialed 999. The ensuing conversation was right out of Monty Python. What kind of feckwit I'd got hold of beggars believe, but she was insisting on an address. "we can't find you unless you give me an address"
I protested that the description I'd given would have allowed every policeman or ambulance driver in Essex to find me. She was in Swansea, so that didn't count.
I screamed obscenities at her in between screaming with pain. Again, whoever I was, didn't resemble my normal self. The pain in my chest was all consuming. My face in the mirror was ashen and my lips mauve. The elephant on my chest got off occasionally for me to have another go at pleading for someone with a brain. At first it seemed that I was dying with a major heart attack. Everything I'd been taught seemed to fit.
Loads of cars went by - including a paramedic vehicle - and no one stopped. I got better.
Anyway, back to the topic, three GPs independently came to the conclusion that it must have been Anaphylaxis. Other than this, all I do is carry an Epipen. sp?
So, a few yeas go by and I seem to feel more and more ill a lot of the time. To this day, I don't know if there's a connection. But now, beer, and horrors! Scotch, all make me feel unwell - but so does a packet of chrisps or brown bread. Nothing seems to make sense, and the GP finds nothing but blood platelets that are "too big" !!??
I can spend days feeling okay. Then something gets me and I feel like I'm getting the flue. Groaning around, aching, rheumaticy, 100 years old...then, as quickly as it comes, it goes again, say, 36 hours. Gone. Not a trace
I can't eve touch washing up liquid, or strong soap. Cake is just a memory. Two bottles of fine Scotch are still in the cupboard after 3 years. Perfect adherence to a gluten / wheat free diet can leave me okay for days. One transgression, and I may as well have walked in front of a truck. But worse, the chemical thing - which may be unrelated, but blurred in with - can get me anytime. Mosquito spray, break-cleaner, any volatile thing, are all suspects, but nothing is consistent enough to be totally clear.
At 65, despite not being able to run anymore cos of back pain, I could still cycle quite hard, and swim for hours. Slowly, this thing is getting me, cos something will creep out and cause 'that feeling' when I least expect it so making plans is almost impossible.
What I find very difficult to cope with is not knowing exactly what's going on. Two or more things blurred together making diagnosis difficult perhaps. But a huge amount of blood was pulled last summer, and nothing conclusive found.
There is no way on Earth I'd find myself in command of even a light aircraft without a safety pilot now.
Psychophysiological entity
Sorry to highjack the thread, but I guess that it's germane. It's just that life is rather revolving around the subject at the moment.
In my case? Well, rather informal really. A neighbor, a lady GP, first suggested that I might have been hit with my first reaction. One of the GPs at my local practice concurred. His dad had practically exploded outside an Indian restaurant, with no time for a bacteriological reaction. His dad was also a GP, and in their ongoing investigation, got clued up on the subject. Another practice GP - much nodding and issuing with replacement Epipen.
Doctor said, "we're seeing a lot of this these days."
It seems that it doesn't get better. The reaction becomes more vicious as time goes by. Certainly feels like it.
My last 2 days in the UK were hellish. Again about 36 hours bedridden. Didn't know if I could crawl to the car. Suddenly, I felt better. By the time I was at LHR, I was chirping away as normal, nice dinner and wine. Beats me.
Odd this thing about enlarged blood platelets. You'd think they wouldn't fit down the little pipes.
Anyway, tonight, not too bad. Last night, crap. And so it's gone on for some years.
Thing about crisps. I noticed that I was getting 'that feeling' after going to the pub at lunch time. I changed to fruit juice.
BUT, kept buying the tasty crisps with all the sticky goop sprayed over them. Same feeling. Like a burning - buzzing throughout my whole body. A contemporary at home says that he can no longer eat Indian food. Knocks him for six, and he loves it. Monosodium glutamate was his buzz-word for the day. Who knows, perhaps at a certain age one becomes allergic to life. 
My wife thinks it's all in the mind. Heard that one before somewhere.
Diagnosis?
In my case? Well, rather informal really. A neighbor, a lady GP, first suggested that I might have been hit with my first reaction. One of the GPs at my local practice concurred. His dad had practically exploded outside an Indian restaurant, with no time for a bacteriological reaction. His dad was also a GP, and in their ongoing investigation, got clued up on the subject. Another practice GP - much nodding and issuing with replacement Epipen.
Doctor said, "we're seeing a lot of this these days."
It seems that it doesn't get better. The reaction becomes more vicious as time goes by. Certainly feels like it.
My last 2 days in the UK were hellish. Again about 36 hours bedridden. Didn't know if I could crawl to the car. Suddenly, I felt better. By the time I was at LHR, I was chirping away as normal, nice dinner and wine. Beats me.
Odd this thing about enlarged blood platelets. You'd think they wouldn't fit down the little pipes.
Anyway, tonight, not too bad. Last night, crap. And so it's gone on for some years.
Thing about crisps. I noticed that I was getting 'that feeling' after going to the pub at lunch time. I changed to fruit juice.
BUT, kept buying the tasty crisps with all the sticky goop sprayed over them. Same feeling. Like a burning - buzzing throughout my whole body. A contemporary at home says that he can no longer eat Indian food. Knocks him for six, and he loves it. Monosodium glutamate was his buzz-word for the day. Who knows, perhaps at a certain age one becomes allergic to life. My wife thinks it's all in the mind. Heard that one before somewhere.
Psychophysiological entity
barnstormer1968
Yes, it's difficult to understand what's going on sometimes. A pal in the UK has just told me that his wife has had another attack - the 4th - that may well be a reaction to a specific substance. She's a very fit lady that belongs to a walking group etc.. First time she was rushed to hospital with blue lights going.
I'm not really able to get much medicine while I'm in the US, but having said that, while in the UK not much was really found. A lot can be achieved with self discipline - that's my problem.
The only way is a water diet...distilled and boiled again. But even then, I was going to introduce fruit after the first couple of days, but even that is listed as affecting some people!! After my last post, I spent some more time looking at typical allergies. There doesn't seem to be anything that doesn't affect somebody and some of the reactions a very severe, life threatening, even.
Any thought of simply brutalizing oneself with the suspected product, in the hope of desensitizing oneself, is a route to the morgue. Not many people die with the reaction, but a big enough proportion of sufferers die to make it inadvisable to experiment too widely.
