IBS - a disability? NHS pay for my special drinks?

chopperharris

Wifes info

Appears to be a life long condition , and may have been a direct contributor to a lifetime of kidney stones through the dehydration result of the runnystuff periods.

She was on 6 asacol a day for 6 months , it went away , but would still have flare ups.

At six months told to go to 2 once a day and had a bad couple of months in between the appointments.Needed a steriod treatment for a month , and now stable at 4 tabs a day for the last six months.,,,no runny bloody attacks.

Have reduced gluten in the form of processed bread with a more natural bread like irish loaf ,farmhouse , scots plain batch are ok too.Limited intake of dairy(primarrily soft cheese , yoggi , nuts and garlic as these seem to irritate and cause cramping.Salads seem to make matters a bit worse , but she loves them so a well boiled egg helps , most of the food that she loves needs limits.....never a two day in a row for anything shes intolerant/allergic to.

takes a probiotic with around 7 differnt tablets everyday.

Also stays clear of artifical sugars , rarely has a real coffee.

Started smoking after 10 years off , 1-3 a day about six months ago around the time it began to stabilise .... jury is out on dr house on that one.But hey if it makes your day all that brighter when its miserable then what the hell.

A banana also helps a couple of times a week if is the runny stuff time.....hasnt needed any for months.

At one point we considered the tapwater was to blame and used bottled water for cooking and making tea for nearly a year...no difference.

Cod liver oil and miltivits , no difference.

rarely eats fried foods.

Soya , and shes a veggie , can make matters worse , same as lentil soup.But when the constipated part starts it helps at that end of ibs.

Likes fybogel instead of any other way of laxxing.

Her passing of undigested veg material has now stopped too.

bigturnip

You can get them on ebay for a lot less than £1 a bottle. You can get them in most pharmacies for a lot less than the £3 you are currently paying, the rrp is only £2.50. I would imagine the big chains like Boots and Lloyds do own brand versions for half the price.

judexx

I get Ensure on prescription.

Have just looked at the BNF (the doctors 'bible' when prescribing), and it says that Ensure can be prescribed for-

"Short-bowel syndrome, intractable malabsorption, pre-operative preparation of undernourished patients, proven inflammatory bowel disease, following total gastrectomy, bowel fistulas, or disease-related malnutrition"

http://www.bnf.org/bnf/bnf/57/28615.htm

HTH

Jude

sheeps68

Maybe you could ask your GP to refer you to a dietician to see if they could help you sort your diet out to help this horrid condition. The upside of this is if the dietician feels you need these drinks they should be able to sort out you being prescribed them.

danio_2

GustyGardenGalaxy wrote: »

Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome classed as a disability?

I ask as I have suffered with this condition for many years and, as I get older, I am only able to eat smaller and smaller amounts (I can now manage about 3 or 4 buscuits a day). I've been checked out by more doctors, gut consultants, etc than I've had hot dinners but to no avail - I simply have IBS which can be managed to some degree in some people, but none of the meds available seem to help me. Think I've tried them all!

Anyhow, to the point - because I am able to eat so very little my main diet these days consists of special nutient drinks, in this case Ensure Plus, each bottle of which is basically the equivalent of a nutritious meal.

The problem is that these are expensive (nearly £3 per bottle, I need to take two or three a day to keep me going). This costs me about £250 per month.

When I last approached them on paying for this (about two years ago), the NHS (via my doctor) point blank refused to pay.

Now I'm self employed and my income is taking a big hit I'm once again wondering if I could try and get my nutritious drinks paid for - I don't take them 'for fun' - they really are vital to me.

What can I do?

Thanks

I would certainly ask your GP to refer you to a dietician, and enquire about an "exclusion diet" my DS has recently been on this diet and it has helped him enormously

GustyGardenGalaxy

Thanks for the advice. Have tried exclusion diets to no avail.