My comment is a few posts below.

I’m exaggerating? Walk a day in my shoes. Typical ignorant bollocks.

How am I exaggerating, just don’t eat gluten?

You DON’T need to buy special gluten free food. Just buy food that doesn’t have gluten.

I’ll repeat again. Don’t let this to define your life.

Typical answer from non celiac

Jessica, I can’t believe you just came out with the remark about babies. “Will someone please think of the children”?!

It’s food that has been removed from the State schemes. Food is not a medicine, especially food that is available in supermarkets which everyone else has to pay for. Biscuits, pizzas, bread – what a joke.

Next we will have obese people claiming that they should get diet coke, low fat milk, weight watchers meals on their medical card. Or eczema sufferers will want their want non-bio washing powder from their doctor.

Get real and stop expecting the State to pay for everything.

My weekly shop for bread, cereal, etc costs €0. And it’s not becaues I’m a sponge expecting the government to pay for it. It’s because there are alternative foods out there.

i see CalChew with D has been taken off too, another product some coeliac’s need and whats a joke . some pen pusher again not seeing the big picture , this product is €21 to buy in chemist yet the reimbursement cost is €5.49 whose making all the money?

Meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fish, etc. You do know that farming is only around 10,000 years old. How do you think humans survived before then? Continue buying your gluten-free products like everyone else in the country buys their own food. However, maybe you can use this as an opportunity to enlighten yourself on the huge amount of dietary alternatives out there.

@ I actually before Dunnes Stores gluten free range to be honest.

Says that, doesn’t mean they stick to their word. Told me since I was under the age if 25 I wasn’t entitled to it as my parents are apparently still supposed to provide for me.

Now who’s chatting BS.?! If you don’t know anything about it, then keep your nose out if it.

Joey is correct on this point. Everybody is entitled to a DPS Card once they have a PPS Number, irrespective of age. Lots of people got supplies of GF food on DPS system and claim tax back on it too.

@ Brian Well that s what the hse told me. Just saying.

Fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, eggs.

Look up “food” on google. You’ll be surprised that you can actually live without processed gluten free chocolate.

Whatabout cider and aren’t chips (potatoes) naturally gluten free? Do people with nut intolerances get HSE allowances also?

potatoes are naturally GF as far as I know but the chips in most chippies are not, they are out of a bag and those chippies that have natural potatoes then cooked in fat which has also cooked battered sausages, potato cakes etc.

chips in the supermarkets have wheat flour amongst other thing in them.

Regards Nuts … emails the HSE them you’ll know

John F do a bit of research before your atart commenting on stuff you know nothing about, here I’ll point you in the right direction http://www.google.ie

Hi Rob, coeliac disease isn’t an allergy – it’s a disease where eating (and sometimes, using) anything with gluten (a protein in certain grains), triggers an immune reaction in the body and can make sufferers feel very ill. Gluten is in wheat, barley, rye, spelt and their derivatives – it’s often used where you wouldn’t expect, like mixed in with spices, in gravies, in soy sauce, etc.

The effects of eating a few grains of gluten-containing food can vary according to the person, but internally it affects the villi in the small intestine, for example, which in turn affects how nutrients are absorbed. People can display all sorts of reactions to gluten.

The only treatment – yes, only – for coeliac disease is not eating anything with gluten in it. So there are special processed foods that some coeliacs eat, such as bread, pasta, cereal, to replace the other gluten-containing products they used to eat. These products are often more expensive and have to be packaged differently so that no cross-contamination can occur.

People eat these alongside the other naturally gluten-free parts of their diet (fruit, veg, meat/fish if they choose, nuts, pulses etc)

Some coeliac disease sufferers are on medical cards and other schemes where they can get such products through their card/scheme at their chemist’s.

People with CD can also claim tax back from the gluten-free products they buy – this is a medical condition after all and if they did not have it they would not have to spend the extra money.

http://www.coeliac.ie is a great site for more information on CD.

Hope this was of help.

having been a coeliac over 40 yrs i have seen huge changes in product creation and the bottom line is always profit .
Example of gluten free diet ( toast for breaky and sandwich for lunch weekly )
bread GF apporx 8 slices is €1.99 (not the usual 19 slices in a slice pan) so 4 sandwiches later your buying another loaf just to do the toast and no lunch on day five, six or seven… that’s now approx €4 spent on bread a week, and that’s only if aldi have it in stock otherwise your paying €8 a week for bread in dunnes or tesco.
that’s €206 to €312 on bread annually

Example of non GF diet ( toast for breaky and sandwich for lunch weekly)
Bread 19 slices is .98cent so that covers 7 breakfasts and 6 lunches before you have to spend another euro.
that’s €51 to €102 annually

and don’t get me started on either of these sample diets about nutrition

a €200 euro difference annually on one product , one of the so called stable ones so multiply that with approx 50% of all the products in the cupboard at home.

an expensive life long disease

thanks Aoife. i guess even with your explanation I would still have to admit to being surprised that coeliac sufferers have been so well looked after to date by the state. I would never have realised this was necessary as I do know some coeliacs who seem to be able to function quite normally by just being picky with what they eat – similar to veggies!
i guess it depends what our rule of thumb is for a disability. surely this is towards the nanny state end of the spectrum??

@Sherbet Bell, I just checked the Aldi bread made by Lynch`s today and although it clearly says Gluten Free, the first ingredient is wheat starch. I have checked online and in some countries, wheat starch is acceptable but most people are saying that it`s not. I`m afraid to chance giving it to my daughter, have you had any symptoms from it?

@ mariead cheak with the 2012 food list from the coeliac society, they send out update on products to it members, http://www.coeliac.ie, check under the section food or codex standard ” A product labelled ‘gluten-free’ must contain less than 20mg gluten/kg (< 20 parts per million(ppm)). This level is suitable for the most sensitive of coeliacs.

the coeliac society staff do a great job and a huge amount of work so too do all the volunteers over the country

Aoife forgot to mention that if a person with CD eat small amounts of gluten too often they not only feel ill, but after a time they can develop cancer in the intestine :-( God forbid it happens with any of us!!!

Wow it’s not that hard! Are you serious?? It’s near impossible to eat out. Most places don’t have a clue and many assume it’s just a silly fad diet. The only choice many people have is to bring gluten free sandwiches. I presume you don’t realise what foods have gluten in them. Imagine a life with no bread, cakes, pasta, pizza, crisps, sauces etc! This is why we need gluten free foods. These alternatives are very expensive, I have never got them on prescription but I can understand that people on low incomes would find it hard to afford these foods.

Yes Niamh, I’m aware what foods contain gluten. Im not even a coeliac and yet find it easy to avoid.

You find it hard when you’re “eating out”. Should the HSE cover your restaurant bills now also?

People on low incomes have social welfare and numerous other allowances. The State shouldn’t pay for their food also.

How would you know if you are finding it easy to avoid? It is not written on most foods if they are gluten free or not. The only way to know if they have been cross-contaminated with gluten is trial and error. The agony that you would suffer if you ate the wrong thing would teach you what to avoid! Also the long term side-effects like cancer and infertility are very dangerous. As for your comment about the govt paying for my restaurant bills, I said that I bring sandwiches as opposed to eating out, e.g. it is not possible to get a roll from spar for lunch. I merely meant this as an example of where we need to use these specific products.

I hate people with your attitude. you have absolutely no idea. as the saying goes walk in their shoes. I have 3 people who are celiac. and whom suffer severely if even have contaminated food we are talking a 4 year old hospitalised due to sickness and dehydration. We are a family on an exceptionally low income. We have no problem if they would bring these gluten free products down to the same price as your so called food you buy from your local supermarkets. This are not luxury items we are talking basic bread and flour at €6.00 a go when ordinary flour is €2 bread rolls €4 for 6 when you can buy 6 for €2. Please do not make judgements on this you know absolutely nothing about please close your narrow minded mouth.

Joey take your head out of that dark smelly place and try to listen to what people are telling you and stop being a reactionary, its kinda sad

then i don’t believe you William, as it’s not flour we are talking about it’s gluten.

Gluten is a protein found in the flour. Ironic that you say ” either educate yourself on the matter or live the disease then comment other wise stay stump” yet come out with such an ignorant comment, especially as a coeliac.

Now off to Aldi with you to buy your own bread.

Flour isn’t gluten!! There are gluten-free flours. Gluten = Wheat, rye and barely.

Cereals, bread, biscuits, cakes, most processed foods, chocolate, crisps, processed meat… All contain gluten.

Flour isn’t concrete either. Did anyone say “flour is gluten”? It’s from wheat, rye, barley etc and is FOUND in flour.

Sean, don’t buy processed food! We don’t.

Can you not live without crap cereals (porridge is OK btw), biscuits, fake chocolate (dark chocolate is OK), f*****g crisps! …….

What you think its 100% insane or your wife ?

@Joey.. either educate yourself on the matter or live the disease then comment other wise stay stump

No other European country has ever provided it through drug schemes.

Joey I beg to differ, when we lived in the UK my husband got prescriptions for gluten free food.

Joey – a slice pan of bread for me costs €3.50, and it’s about half the size of a normal sliced pan. How much does a sliced pan of bread cost you? You have NO idea about how incredibly expensive gluten-free food is. None whatsoever. It isn’t about entitlement. It’s about being able to afford very basic food items.