The Anonymous Widower

Coeliac Journey Through Covid-19 – Coeliac Diagnosis

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Coeliac Diagnosis

My health was very variable as a child.

I would often have months off school and my health only really improved, when my parents bought a second home in Felixstowe, where we spent most of our holidays.

Perhaps it was the sea air, as going to Liverpool University didn’t seem to adversely affect my health.

I had been having gut problems for years and then in Autumn 1997, I didn’t see my GP, but a very elderly locum, who as I had recently had my fiftieth birthday, gave me a present of my first blood test.

It turned out that I was very low on B12 and a course of B12 injections was arranged.

As the injections didn’t raise my levels, an appointment was made to see a consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

It was a Monday, when I went to the appointment and after a quick chat and no examination, the consultant said that they would take some blood. Which they did!

Within forty-eight hours a letter arrived on my door-mat saying that I was probably coeliac and it would be confirmed by endoscopy.

Two endoscopies without sedative or anaesthetic were performed and I was confirmed as coeliac.

The first was performed by Dr. Richard Hardwick and the second by Dr. Rebecca Fitzgerald.

My gut health has been better since, I’ve been on a gluten-free diet, backed up by three-monthly B12 injections.

A few years later, I was talking to a gastroenterologist in Cambridge and he told me that he thought he had more coeliac patients than any other in England.

The manager of Carluccio’s in the city, also told me that they sold a very high percentage of gluten-free food.

Were Cambridge testing a genetic test for coeliac disease or was it just a Whack-A-Coeliac policy?

They certainly had everything geared up for high-speed diagnosis. They even did the endoscopies without a sedative, so they didn’t need any recovery beds.

April 28, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Health | Addenbrooke's, Anaesthesia, Coeliac, Coeliac Journey Through Covid-19, COVID-19, COVID-19 And Coeliac Disease, Endoscopy, Rebecca Fitzgerald, Vitamin B12