Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Help: Celiacs in the navy- told to bring my own food on deployments

Cheerymarie

By Cheerymarie
in Coping with Celiac Disease

Recommended Posts

Cheerymarie Apprentice
Cheerymarie
Posted

backstory: I was diagnosed via biopsy and blood test 9/25 is when I was told by the GI doctor (civilian). I went to navy medical for sea duty screening and was told “bring your own food on deployments” which honestly isn’t possible for a 9 month carrier deployment nor do I WANT to live off gluten free snacks, while working such long hours. ( I feel like I will become malnourished)  I was also told by the navy doctor “not everything on the ship has gluten in it” yes I agree but you’re referring to the salad bar and I can’t live off iceberg lettuce and carrots. Also there’s a serious concern for cross contamination. Then he told me “ I mean you can have a little gluten just don’t eat bread” I’m convinced this dude is a flaming idiot. So he’s sending me to sea and I’m terribly scared I’m going to get those HORRIBLE stomach pains again (which I’m still having less intense versions of) which is what got me into the ER which is how I got a referral to the civilian GI. I have been in for 5 years and my job is primarily an at sea job as I am a nuke. I have already done my time at shore, plus some due to knee surgery. I don’t know what to do, I really don’t want to be super sick again. 

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

You need to take this up the chain of command. Go immediately to your chaplin who will be able to assist you in this process.  Make sure you bring the records from the GI doctor with you along with a letter from him/her detailing the seriousness of your condition and the need to be gluten free. You need to be aware that the Navy will likely have 2 options, permanent shore duty or a medical discharge. If needed pull  legal into the situation. Having dealt with Navy doctors you have my sympathy. I hope you can get this resolved quickly.  I would think it would be very hard to be a celiac on board a ship. Especially if we should (heaven forbid) get into a confilict somewhere.

 

Ennis-TX Grand Master
Ennis-TX
Posted

Hmm, while not quite possible to live off for extended amounts of time they do make a bunch of gluten free meal bars. meal shakes etc. Augason Farms used to have freeze dried gluten free food/meals, and mountain house makes some of the MREs gluten free just check their list and select the "gluten free" check box. Bar wise I swear by Julian Bakery as a dairy free low carb bar since I do not do carbs but fats and protein only. There are cheaper and other options. Meal shakes Pioneer Labs makes a full celiac support one, MRM makes some decent ones. others have talked about oragain and garden of life shakes.  
Perhaps see about talking to the chef/cooks on your ship your deployed on. If you can inform them of your issues perhaps you can make arrangements for you to keep a dedicated mess kit and use it to fix gluten free food and meals. Eggs, and canned veggies are my go to meal in the mornings and evenings, along with stir frys, super simple and fast to make.

  • 2 months later...
celiacsojourness Rookie
celiacsojourness
Posted

Wow I really feel for you here. I used to work on ships doing research and I eventually quit and changed careers because no one was able (ahem, or willing) to try and accommodate me; I got many of the same "a little won't hurt" comments. While I quit because I was in the early stages of my recovery and very sensitive and nervous, I have learned a few tricks since then that may be able to help you:

-Hard boiled eggs. Not the best if cooked in a gluten pot, but in odd situations where a kitchen had to accommodate me, they happily provided me with hard boiled eggs and yogurt

-Dehydrate your own food. I made stew recipes with ground meat and then threw them in a dehydrator. Then I took the crust (it was crusted to the bottom) and put it in a blender. Voila, a powder! It rehydrates as a super tasty soup

While those two options can't last for a 9 mo. deployment, they may help close the gap for the first few weeks when you're trying to work with the kitchen. Perhaps you can get the civilian doctor to write you a medical note (I used one once from my doc that had a prescription for "gluten free food" and a note about cross contamination and it helped). I truly wish you the best of luck.

Celiac4762 Apprentice
Celiac4762
Posted

Hopefully if this problem gets spread around enough the navy (or any military branch for the matter) will start making gluten free MRE's. I mean that's all they need and they'll have a large group of readily available, strong, healthy people willing to serve their country. I am looking into joining the navy or coast guard, is permanent shore duty possible?

 

and I wish you the best of luck on solving this, I guess what the guy above said. Go up the chain of command and let them know what's by up. 

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      126,059
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    Lynda Huber Davis
    Newest Member
    Lynda Huber Davis
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      120.9k
    • Total Posts
      69.1k
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • trents
      Options - 7 year old boy - Helicobacter pylori and serology

      By trents · Posted

      Kathleen, I am not sure I agree with you that your son is asymptomatic with regard to his celiac disease. The horrible stomach pains you describe in your first post could be celiac symptoms as easily as they could be H. Pylori or viral infection symptoms. Yes, the social impact of having celiac disease is perhaps the most difficult dimension of the disorder to deal with. It requires thinking ahead and providing safe substitutes for snacks and party foods so that your son doesn't feel left out and singled out or different. Some of those feeling are unavoidable but they can be minimized. Dining at eateries is a huge challenge to celiacs as even when you order gluten free menu items they are often heavily cross contaminated back in the kitchen from being cooked together with wheat things or handled with the same utensils. You need to be bold in asking a lot of questions and requesting that your son's food be cooked in separate pots and pans. It's awkward at first but you get used to it. Speaking of CC (Cross Contamination), how careful you have to be with this will depend on the sensitivity level to gluten your son will demonstrate. This can be a challenge to get a handle on for those celiacs who are of the "silent" type. By "silent" is meant they are largely asymptomatic. It is common for sensitivity levels to increase over time when gluten is withdrawn from the diet as whatever tolerance we may have had to gluten when we were being exposed to it constantly may disappear. Whether or not that proves to be the case, it would be important for you to have his antibody levels checked at regular intervals (say every six months to a year) to check for compliance with the gluten free diet. And I would not worry about him touching wheat food products. It is highly unlikely that any significant exposure will occur transdermally. That would only be an issue for the most extremely sensitive subset of celiacs. Of course, you wouldn't want him getting wheat flour on his hands and then putting fingers in his mouth.  At school, you will need to pack his lunches and also have conversations with the school dietary staff to ensure his safety.  I know this all seems overwhelming right now but you are not the only parents who are having to go through this kind of thing. Celiac disease is not uncommon and thankfully there is much more public awareness about it than there was a generation ago. It can be done. It's the kind of thing that requires parents to be willing to find that extra gear of assertiveness in order to keep their child safe and to guard his/her psyche as much as possible. Count your blessings. It could be worse. He doesn't have cancer. This might be helpful in getting off to a good start with eating gluten free. Some of it may be overkill depending on how sensitive to minute levels of gluten your son is:  
    • trents
      My bone structure is disintegrating and I’m having to have my teeth removed

      By trents · Posted

      Staci, take note of the forms of magnesium and zinc I recommended. With some of the vitamins and minerals, the formulation can be very important in how well they are absorbed. Many of the vitamin and mineral products on supermarket shelves are in a form that maximizes shelf life rather than bioavailability which, in your case, would seem to be a critical issue. And with magnesium, if you use the typical over the counter form (magnesium oxide) you may find it has a definite laxative effect (think, "milk of magnesia") simply because it isn't well absorbed and draws water into the colon. Spend some extra money and get quality vitamin and mineral products and research the issue of bioavailability. There are forum members who are knowledgeable in this area who may have recommendations. Do you have Costco stores where you live? Is Amazon available to you?
    • Kathleen JJ
      Options - 7 year old boy - Helicobacter pylori and serology

      By Kathleen JJ · Posted

      And yes, of course it's better to know and we will adjust.  It's just, he's 7 and in our house we can control what he gets. But he plays soccer 3 times a week and in the changing room the boys share candies. I can and will tell him not to accept them any more, but "mistakes" will be made.   I'm really burdened by the potential social impact for him. He so loves to go to a restaurant as a family - I'll guess that's finished. Going to birthday parties at another kids house? I am reading about Coeliacs and apparently the fact that something as much as TOUCHED something with wheat is enough, even if he doesn't feel the symptoms - how can we control that bar from keeping him locked up?    And the worst worry of all: how do you tell a little boy to do all of this to not have symptoms that he does not have. If he'd been having horrible diarrhea or feeling really tired, we could tell him 'see, you feel so much better now, that kind of food was just not good for your body', but now, what will our argument be? For clarity: of course we will put him on the diet, I am not saying I don't believe in the necessity of that, it is just that it will be quite a stretch to 'sell' it to him 😞
    • StaciField
      My bone structure is disintegrating and I’m having to have my teeth removed

      By StaciField · Posted

      I’m 41. You have helped me achieve the goals of finding a way of getting nutrients into my body so I will see how it works for me. Thank you so much.
    • Kathleen JJ
      Options - 7 year old boy - Helicobacter pylori and serology

      By Kathleen JJ · Posted

      Thank you for your reaction. The reference values are both "<10", although I found a medical paper from Netherlands (I'm Belgian) who use the same values and there the see a positive daignosis as twice more then 200 and a positive biopsie. I didn't see how to change this in my original message, sorry...
×
×
  • Create New...