<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

This arrived tonight, and is so good it must be shared immediately.  GK
****
>There are good doctors out there - who are aware of the failings of the
>rest of the medical community (my OB/GYN - a male - when my husband asked
>him why they couldn't tell when the baby was going to come, said "It's
>because men don't have babies.  If they did, we would have a blood test to
>tell us to the second when the baby was going to arrive!").
>
>My son's pediatrician, a mere GP, is highly critical of many of the
>gastroenterologists.  He diagnosed Jimmy, after intensive research into
>what possibly might be wrong.  When the gastro wanted to do a biopsy on
>Jimmy - no sedation because of other medical problems, he wanted to 'just
>tie him down so tight that he can't move' - and said that "a little gluten
>- a cracker - every day or two for a week should give a positive if he's
>really a celiac"  our doctor adamantly said no.  When the same gastro said
>that Jimmy didn't have celiac because the blood tests were negative for
>antibodies (after more than a year on a gf diet) our doctor terminated his
>contact with our son's case.  Jim's doctor has fought for him non stop - he
>has searched for medications that are gf, and has written prescriptions
>that explicitly state that there cannot be any wheat, oat, barley or rye
>derivatives in the medications.  He has spent hours discussing celiac with
>Jim (who was diagnosed at 2 and is now 7 1/2). And he has avidly read any
>and all information that I have found for him.  There are doctors who care,
>and don't mind learning.

>Lee Sawyer

*****
Then there were others that were not as cheering:
****
>I also have a couple comments about doctors. Usually when I go to a doctor
>here in Warsaw I walk away with a pile of prescriptions, anywhere from 3-6.
>Most of the time I never get them fulfilled and the minor ailment gets
>healed by the body in a reasonable amount of time. Still, even here in
>Eastern Europe there are some doctors who are not so quick to prescribe a
>handful of pills . When I came down with the flu a couple months ago the
>doctor I visited told me I had two choices: either he could prescribe
>antibiotics and I'd go back to work in a day or two or I could stay at home
>for a week, take it easy and not take antibiotics. He seemed to prefer the
>second option and that's what I did. Antibiotics always mess up my stomach
>anyway. When I asked him whether or not I should get a flu shot he said
>that he preferred giving shots only to people in an at-risk group, such as
>older people, people with heart trouble, etc.
>I have found that the best thing to do is to become an informed,proactive
>patient, which to me means using the internet to find info in English
>that's totally unavailable locally. The gastro I'm seeing now seems to
>appreciate this. A few weeks ago he told me that he wanted to do a biopsy
>for a type of gastroenteritis and I asked him to write down the name so I
>could check it out on the internet. When next we met he asked if I had
>found some info, which I had.  I think this is a good way to do things
>because if nothing else it saves him from taking the time to explain the
>condition in detail. Also, in my case I can read info which was written by
>a native English speaker, which can be clearer at times than my doctor
>explaining something to me in his imperfect English or me trying to
>understand his native Polish with my imperfect Polish.
>In general Polish doctors have a tendency to the "God complex" mentioned in
>your posting. Even so, I have found that when asked they are quite willing
>to answer all my questions in detail.
>As for finding out the GF status, etc. of medications that issue is a major
>problem for me. Thankfully I really haven't been in a situation like an
>operation where serious meds are absolutely called for. In Poland it is
>impossible to find out the GF status of meds or anything else without
>calling manufacturers directly, which is what doctors/pharmacists advised
>me to do.  So far I haven't bothered.  Pharmacies don't have databases with
>this stuff the way I heard some US ones do. Pharmaceutical companies don't
>have 800 numbers for customer service. My written Polish isn't good enough
>to write a fax/letter asking about the GF status of whatever so a friend
>would have to help me with that. It's all too much trouble, though a Polish
>member on the List has helped me out with a lot of things and even given me
>a copy of a letter he sent to manufacturers. The whole situation has
>essentially forced me to stay away from all processed food, most of which
>is full of things I can't eat anyway. Sometimes it seems like people on
>this list are obsessed with finding a gluten-free Twinkie or Ring Ding. I
>can understand wanting to be able to use convenience foods as I get very
>tired of making most of my food myself, but at least this way I know what
>I'm getting.
>Well, I may have strayed from the topic a bit but I thought you might be
>interested in what the situation is like over here.
>
>Dan
>Warsaw, Poland

****
>     tell me about it! today my doctor tried to find  a gluten free
>antibiotic and decongestant for me and gave up. I told her try  doing this
>everyday! my first diagnosis was horrible-the doctor said after awile  I
>could eat wheat again. talk about getting my hopes up. the diet would just
>be  for a little while they said. thanks for a chance to let us vent.
>-Aimee