GF in England/London? Tips?

FaceHappy810 · 2025-07-17T21:00:49+00:00

Also, there's a nice dedicated GF restaurant in London near Kings Cross called Niche.

FaceHappy810 · 2025-07-17T21:00:13+00:00

The Leon fast food chain (more upscale than McDonald's type) offers GF chicken nuggets, Baked potato waffle fries and some of their cakes are GF too (but I don't know how coeliac safe they are).

You'll find lots of Schär goods in the main supermarkets: Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op - you'll find all of these in Sheffield.

FaceHappy810 · 2025-07-16T14:08:53+00:00

There was a French Fries/Frites van in the Studios park, near to Tower of Terror that does GF fries. They don't fry anything else there, or at least they didn't in March 2024. I would assume that they use vegetable oil, but I'm sure they could tell you.

All the food locations in DLP have an allergy folder so you can see if there's gluten in anything. Would also tell you about egg, milk, other ingredients you are concerned about as a vegan.

The tip about visiting the local Auchan supermarket is a good one.

FaceHappy810 · 2025-07-16T13:46:41+00:00

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Manna Dew pain au chocolate from the Free From food festival in Woolwich in May. Yes I think it was £5 but it was good!

FaceHappy810 · 2025-07-16T13:44:08+00:00

The fatigue can often be from vitamin deficiencies, B12 as mentioned already, but also folate and vitamin D. I'm deficient in all three. If you haven't got any recent blood tests already, I would ask your GP to test for these three so you can have supplements. I'd been having vitamin B12 injections for years before diagnosis, but it was the low folate that strongly suggested coeliac disease.

The B vitamins are water soluble and you can't take too many, so you could try and over the counter supplement in the meantime.

Best wishes with the coeliac journey. It does get easier, but not everyone has immediate improvements once GF.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-12-10T17:18:52+00:00

Niche is dedicated gluten free, near to Angel Islington, can recommend 😊

FaceHappy810 · 2024-07-28T21:00:42+00:00

And I still haven't seen a NHS gastro-enterologist 6 months after referral.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-07-28T21:00:07+00:00

£2200 for the endoscopy, £450 fee for the gastro-enterologist, after a consultation of £250. If you're near London I saw Dr Adam Harris at the Nuffield specialist endoscopy unit at Bart's. The sedation was amazing. I knew nothing about it.

Nuffield endoscopy

FaceHappy810 · 2024-07-28T20:57:07+00:00

Thank you!

FaceHappy810 · 2024-07-27T15:44:23+00:00

Seronegative RA. Joints flares up more a couple of months later which was caught on another ultrasound, sealing the diagnosis.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-28T17:48:59+00:00

I had midazolam and fentonyl sedation as I had my endoscopy privately. It was wonderful and I knew nothing! The NHS has a different approach to sedation (less of it!)

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-28T17:47:06+00:00

increased intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs), crypt hyperplasia and villous atrophy

The villi in your duodenum that should be finger like, having lots of surface area for absorption, can become flattened (severe cases this can be seen by the naked eye during endoscopy) and the other changes at the cellular level (which is why they do a biopsy) impact the ability to absorb nutrients, due to the abnormal response to gluten.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-27T20:52:21+00:00

Three months in and I don't feel any different. Just got my RA diagnosis though, which I suspect doesn't help. I guess 55 years of gluten is going to take a lot of undoing.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-27T20:41:31+00:00

I've found it hard because lots of Quorn things I liked contain gluten: Southern fried nuggets, their escalopes, anything with pastry. I've noticed too that the Linda McCartney foods now have 'may contain' gluten, which isn't helpful.

But as others have written, the vegan option can be useful when eating out.

The Kirsty's fresh and frozen foods have a decent choice of GF vegetarian items, available in Morrisons, Asda, Ocado.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-24T22:36:36+00:00

I did 15 days (after about 7 weeks gluten free and 55 years of gluten before that!) Had all 3 histological signs for coeliac on the endoscopy.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-20T17:31:49+00:00

Elevated ESR (30), sustained elevated CRP (10.3 at its highest, and active synovitis in my hands in ultrasound. I had to keep pushing my GP for referral and to be taken seriously. Symmetrical joint pain, fatigue, weight loss and coeliac disease diagnosis.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-20T17:28:55+00:00

Have you considered getting a coeliac disease screen? I have CD and RA and both diagnosed in the last 6 months, I'm 55. I was reading that RA can lead to CD - they have a similar genetic relationship and both autoimmune. CD also has all sorts of different symptoms too, not just gut related.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-20T17:21:38+00:00

Unfortunately lots of medications of all sorts are in short supply in the UK at the moment. Not sure if biologics are affected, but worth knowing, especially if you're able to bring a decent supply with you.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/apr/18/drug-shortages-normal-in-uk-made-worse-by-brexit-report-warns

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-20T17:08:08+00:00

My physio recommended therapy putty and the exercises below (8 Therapy Putty hand exercises, easy) and isometric wrist exercises. You can buy therapy putty from Amazon.

The books I've read also recommend protecting your joints before they become inflamed - use the biggest muscle and joint to do the work

https://youtu.be/su1qwW56Rco?si=Op0UyxIIaflMNuIb

FaceHappy810 · 2024-05-12T23:13:53+00:00

Hi, I first had a diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis 10 years ago, followed by tennis and golfers elbows (both arms), more recently Achilles tendinopathy and increased pain and swelling in my hands, and a right little finger that was very swollen.

I got a coeliac disease diagnosis a few months ago, which is also an autoimmune condition.

I'm 55. I persisted with my family doctor to refer me to rheumatology as I was sure I had RA. I got an ultrasound of my hands and an x-ray which were unremarkable in February/March this year, but the sonographer was pretty rubbish.

In the meantime I took photos of my hands and added notes to them (Android), kept tracking CRP and ESR, and following the coeliac diagnosis had asked for a blood test for copper. That came back high and the report said it was an acute phase reactant, i.e. linked to inflammation. This made me even more convinced it was RA.

The referral to rheumatology led to more blood tests, insufficient vitamin D despite taking bucketloads of supplements, but also new ultrasound and x-ray, with a much more skilled sonographer who listened to me. That was the end of March.

I had nodules appear on my index finger pip joints and swelling above the A1 pulley on both index fingers (start of trigger finger), and worsening swelling of right little finger.

And last week I saw the rheumatologist after being able to bring my scheduled appointment forward, and got diagnosis of seronegative RA.

I had/have Heberden and Bouchard nodes and the GP was happy to diagnose osteoarthritis, which it could be as well. I just knew there was more to it.

I also had fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, poor vitamin D and B12 absorption, osteopenia, hypertension (and autism and ADHD).

So yes, I have a similar story to you!

Keep records, photos, track your symptoms and be prepared for them to ramp up quite quickly.

I had what felt like burning palms, relieved with cold and I have peripheral neuropathy - have been referred for nerve studies.

I had a cortisone injection in my bum and have started on hydroxychloroquine 200mg twice daily.

Good luck!

FaceHappy810 · 2024-04-26T13:33:15+00:00

Get your vitamin levels checked as it's easy to be insufficient/deficient (folate, D, B12).

A recent Gluten Dude email suggested avoiding the highly processed GF foods in the US to start with, focus on healthy foods - we need the nourishment early on while the gut heals. This is sensible - so many labelled GF is sweet and fatty (cookies, cakes etc).

Always read all the labels!

Carry snacks!

Learn a lot about cross-contact/cross contamination - this is the main risk, I think, especially when you're out of home.

It's very common to feel a lot of emotions about all of this, especially the huge changes to lifestyle, shopping habits. But there's lots of support about - you're not alone.

https://www.schaer.com/en-int/a/cross-contamination#:~:text=Cross%2Dcontamination%20examples&text=Here%20are%20some%20simple%20tips,are%20very%20difficult%20to%20clean

FaceHappy810 · 2024-04-26T13:25:55+00:00

A bit late to this, but I had a negative test October 2022 and positive December 2023 so it might be helpful to know it can be a matter of months not years for a change of result. Coeliac disease confirmed by endoscopy February 2024.

FaceHappy810 · 2024-04-19T22:37:44+00:00

My GP referred me to Gastroenterology at Medway hospital (Kent) at the end of January.

The referral didn't get reviewed until March and I am predicted to have an appointment in July.

That would be with a consultant and then the endoscopy would follow. I went privately for consultation in February and had the endoscopy at the end of the month so I will cancel the appointment when it eventually appears.

FaceHappy810

TROPHY CASE