NHS GP thick as a brick about coeliac disease, couldn't even figure out how to prescribe g free products

Apparently coealic is so very rare that only 1 other person at the surgery which services 1000's has coeliac! Well this is the same surgery that told me i had ibs and it was all in my head and did i want anti depressants.

This is the same practice that missed the fact i had pernicious anaemia + kept me undermedicated on levo for years while i felt like sh*t.

Same Gp who refuses to believe there is a link between CF and Hashimotos. Doesnt know what adrenal fatigue is either. Oh and refused to prescribe ndt despite nhs endo recomendation

So i finally got my diagnosis of coeliac, i then had to get my gastro to write to the gp to instruct her to prescribe g free foods and creon (which she had also been refusing to prescribe).

So after he writes she finally agrees to give me g free foods on script. I turn up having taken valuable time off work and she couldnt tell me how it worked and what products were available. Told me to ask my pharmacy or coeliac UK. i told her it was different in every borough. Had to wast more work time going to pharmacy who said the gp needed to look up the products in the BNF, even gave me the page numbers. Then back to go to tell her to photocopy the pages from the BNF so i could tick what i wanted.

And this GP knew i was coming for g free products as i had copied her on a letter to my endo.

Thick as a brick. i dread to think how many patients at that surgery have coeliac and are undiagnosed while their health suffers.

On the plus side - because she can't figure out how the system works, what with coeliac being so rare - she said i can have as much stuff as i want. So today i picked up a script for about 20 items. I dont think she knows you are only allowed a limited number of products per month.

This will go some way to cutting my bills since i have to fund my own ndt.

Oh, i did notice that the script says 'to be reviewed in Dec 13' so maybe she thinks i'll be cured of coeliac by then, hahaha!

[Hidden]

Oops - should be a blog really.

Once the site update comes in, Admin will have the power to move things around...!

L

[rebeccak]

The best people to speak with are at the Coeliac Society coeliac.org.uk/

You can get bread, pasta, flour, biscuits etc on prescription but frankly they're not brilliant. Non-prescribable products like Doves Farm pasta and flour (really good), Genius bread are much, much better, however they are more expensive than their non-GF counterparts. GPs are more knowledgable about coeliac these days, however there is still a lot of ignorance about it. The good news is that most food products are labelled well nowadays so it is easyish to avoid. Good luck!

[AnthonyMs]

It can be a struggle to get that diagnosis at times...glad you're now reeping the awards of your efforts.