Can people with Coeliacs Disease claim DLA

bjorky

I have had Coeliacs Disease since birth and its been caused me severe problems throughout my life but never claimed DLA but a friend of mine has the same problem and she got awarded it, i am confused as i dont want to waste the DLAs time

Indie_Kid

Do you have any care and /or mobility needs?

ramsas

bjorky wrote: »

I have had Coeliacs Disease since birth and its been caused me severe problems throughout my life but never claimed DLA but a friend of mine has the same problem and she got awarded it, i am confused as i dont want to waste the DLAs time

Why not ask your friend all about it? makes sense to me.

bjorky

I have spoken to her and she gets low rate care, i got low rate care dla for something else but i dont claim now, i was told i have aspergers and ME now so i havent been told to fill in a form nor do i have a clue how to fill it in as my welfare officer has now left the council, i cant cook food at homes due to exhaustion, its all microwaved, my fatigue makes me stay in bed near 24/7

Trialia

In that case, your M.E. would be far more likely to have a major contribution to you getting DLA than your being a coeliac. I would ask someone from the Pension Service to help you out - I had help with my DLA forms as I also suffer from chronic fatigue.

soolin

I have coeliac and as long as I am compliant with my diet I am 95% fit and well. We have no protection at all under any act , there was a big campaign last year to try and force restaurants to offer food suitable for us, but I think quite rightly it faled. Most of us would be horrified to think we were considered disabled.

My diet is difficult, it cause me stress and I get upset very easily but it is manageable. Side effects do include ME like symptoms, but again this is something that can often be dealt with as it is usually caused by a non adherence to the diet causing low vit and iron levels. You need to get an interested clinician to actually do some work to see whether you have normal side effects of CD or whether you have ME.

Seek out a gastro consultant who truly understands the difficulties and is prepared to look at the side effects and maybe even offer dietary support through a dietician.

Indie_Kid

ramsas wrote: »

Why not ask your friend all about it? makes sense to me.

The friend may have different needs though.

there was a big campaign last year to try and force restaurants to offer food suitable for us, but I think quite rightly it faled.

Why do you think it's right that it failed? I am severely wheat intolerant and taking food out when I'm out isn't always an option.

soolin

Just another thought, you mentioned microwaving food and that worries me. There are super sensitives that can't eat the de glutenised wheat that they put in a lot of supposedly gluten free food, the politics of all this is far too complicated for me to understand let alone try and explain. Basically though items sold as suitable for a coeliac in the UK are allowed by law to have a measureable amount of gluten in them, seriously! In other countries gluten free must be gluten free.Therefore if you are using alot of gluten free ready meals' or even eating de glutened bread available on prescription then you are eating gluten and that will affect your energy levels

I am not super sensitive at all but even I have to linit the amount of some supposedly gluten free foods I eat. The only way for us to stay completely safe is to cook everything from pure basic ingredients and from scratch. Plain meat, (watch Iceland their mince used to have gluten in it from the flour they used to make it loose enough to pour a portion out from frozen), vegetables, rice , pottatoes and fruit. Avoid anything else, do not touch ready meals with a bargepole and severely limit any UK issued GF foods that are based on wheat.

Even as someone who is not as careful as I ought to be I would struggle to find naything suitable to zap in the microwave on a regular basis

soolin

here's a link for you about the gluten curently allowed in GF food, it also explains why seveal products I have eaten over the past few years and which appear in the directory are now labelled as 'may be unsuitable for coelaics', they are the same product, the labelling has just been changed to reflect more precisely their gluten status.

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/labellingterms/glutenfree/

The amount is small but if you are very sensitive to it, as many people are, then eating these foods every day will build up a level that you may not be able to tolerate.

Indie_Kid

soolin wrote: »

I am not super sensitive at all but even I have to linit the amount of some supposedly gluten free foods I eat.

Thanks for this. I have been told I *can* have some wheat in my diet. (gluten isn't an issue - I eat oats a lot) However, doing so does cause severe pain.

I went out last night and went without any food (as did my friend - different reason though) because I am fed up of the pain and the weight loss. I didn't have any time to prepare any food last night before I went out and I didn't have any bread.

young

Tesco and Sainsbury now both do "Genius" bread that is very liek the real thing and gluten free of course. Worth checking it out, as way superior to the 'bread' you get on prescription.