If you have not seen the interview with Dr. Drew and Jennifer Esposito which took place 11/27/12, it has caused quite a stir in the community. The misinformation and total mishandling of celiac disease and leaky gut syndrome, not to mention Jennifer Esposito's claims of illnesses, was unacceptable.
Gluten Dude wrote about it first on his blog:
Dr. Drew Has No Clue
The Twittersphere responded quickly with outrage!
Erin, my daughter, was so angry from watching it, she has written the following letter which we sent to Dr. Drew's show:
Dear Dr. Drew,
Hi, I am an 11 year old girl that watched your show and hope to help you with your knowledge of celiac disease. First of all, not everyone has diarrhea, there is also constipation with celiac disease. They have to take your blood in tests or an endoscopy to diagnose celiac. Celiac disease is not a disorder it is a disease. When you called it only a disorder, that hurt my feelings because I am a celiac and I know what its like. It seemed like you have no clue what other kids and families go through when they find out they have it.
I was sick for many years but no one knew what was wrong. We went to doctor after doctor. They tried to tell me it was all in my head! On Halloween night, when I was seven years old and I went trick or treating,
I came home and was so sick to my stomach. I was throwing up all night long with my mom by my side. That same week I went to the doctors because I wouldn't eat anything and lost four pounds. My doctor did the same thing you did - example; "I think she has constipation nothing more, that would solve the hurting of the stomach." It kept on getting worse. My mom demanded that they do an endoscopy. They did and found out
I had Celiac Disease.
Mom started a R.O.C.K group. It stands for Raising Our Celiac Kids. One time when the kids and I were at one of our meetings, another girl came up to mom and said that she hadn't ever been able to eat a cake at a party in years. All the mothers were tearing up and mom felt joy in her heart. You see, we face people not believing our disease is as serious as it is all the time.
Please take the time to learn more about celiac disease and gluten free living, so you don't make anyone else as sad as your show made me. We need people like you to educate others and spread awareness about this horrible illness. No one should feel ashamed of this disease.
Thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
Erin Everett
We will be sending it in today and ask that you help us by signing and sharing the petition we have made on Change.org
http://www.change.org/petitions/dr-drew-show-on-headline-news-we-would-like-a-public-apology-to-the-celiac-disease-community
Let's stand together and let mainstream media know that they cannot discount the seriousness of this disease because so many still suffer needlessly and struggle to get diagnosis.
Thank you,
Nikki Everett
Director of Event Coordination
ECHO Event Solutions
Gluten Sensitivity Seminars, LLC
Founder ROCK (Raising Our Celiac Kids), Charlotte, N.C.
This is a great letter. I have an 11 year old son who could certainly educate Dr. Drew.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for commenting! I think all of our children could educate Dr. Drew :)
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful - that a child so young could see what an idot Dr. Drew made of himself....he is a disgrace to the medical community.
ReplyDeleteThanks so very much for commenting and giving encouragement to our celiac kids! I love that we give them a voice at R.O.C.K. meetings and beyond to express themselves and educate the world:)
DeleteThis is so great. I was just diagnosed with celiac disease in September, so I'm still getting used to new changes and rearranging my eating habits. Reading this gave me a huge sense of hope. I hope that Dr. Drew reads this letter and publicly apologizes to the CD community, as he should.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading Meghan and commenting! I wish you much success in adjusting to your new changes and I am glad my daughter's words helped along the way:)
DeleteGreat letter Nikki. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGreat letter! Thanks Nikki!
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for reading and commenting!
DeleteMy wife story is very similar to Jennifer's, for 15 yrs suffering from IBS, daily headaches, 5 to 6 sinus infections a year, rashes, acid reflux, cankers sores, gallbladder removed than finally being told it looked like she had MS. I discovered the Paleo diet in 2004 on a web-site called Direct MS. I got my wife off just gluten and dairy at first and her symptoms started disappearing, I had my youngest child-who was four at the time tested for celiac, he tested positive. We have been Paleo/gluten free since. She still deals with gut issues, but life is much better. Dr.Drew is just like most doctors who have a hard time listening to their patients. It was really rough in 2004, now most people know what gluten is. Thanks for posting!!
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