Moving to Italy with a child who has Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac/Coeliac Disease
Apr 8th 2012, 9:25 pm
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2012
Location: Scotland
Posts: 2
Moving to Italy with a child who has Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac/Coeliac Disease
Hi folks,
This one might be tricky, but here in Scotland, my family and I are looking to get away to a place that understands our son's health care needs a bit better. We've heard that Italians understand coeliac disease much better, and most children are tested for it before they begin schooling. My son is 9 and we have a 13 year old daughter too. Our life at the moment seems to be all about where we can source good gluten free food, and people who understand. I do a lot of baking myself, but eating out is disastrous!!
I am currently finishing a degree in Biomedical Science and hope to work in a hospital lab once qualified, and my husband is a computer programmer.
Does anyone have any experience, or know of anyone who has a child with either Type 1 Diabetes (insulin dependant) or Coeliac Disease? Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks for your time, from a desperate mum who just wants to see her boy smile again
xxxx
This one might be tricky, but here in Scotland, my family and I are looking to get away to a place that understands our son's health care needs a bit better. We've heard that Italians understand coeliac disease much better, and most children are tested for it before they begin schooling. My son is 9 and we have a 13 year old daughter too. Our life at the moment seems to be all about where we can source good gluten free food, and people who understand. I do a lot of baking myself, but eating out is disastrous!!
I am currently finishing a degree in Biomedical Science and hope to work in a hospital lab once qualified, and my husband is a computer programmer.
Does anyone have any experience, or know of anyone who has a child with either Type 1 Diabetes (insulin dependant) or Coeliac Disease? Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks for your time, from a desperate mum who just wants to see her boy smile again
xxxx
Apr 9th 2012, 6:41 am
#2
MODERATOR
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Province of Vicenza
Posts: 19,036
Re: Moving to Italy with a child who has Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac/Coeliac Disease
Hello and welcome to the forum,
I have recently learned a lot more than I knew about coeliacs as two of my friend's three children have recently been diagnosed with it.
When the 6 year old was diagnosed, the rest of the family was given blood tests. Her 9 year old brother was borderline, and a bit worse than borderline 6 months later ... so he too was swept off to Trieste for in depth tests which included being put to sleep and being checked with a camera.
By all accounts the peadiatrics department in Trieste hospital specialises in coeliac diagnosis and treatment.
Her kids sometimes come to play and eat at my house which is why I've learnt a bit more than I already knew. I knew about breads, pasta, pizza, cakes and biscuits etc. but I didn't know that gluten can also be found in certain yoghurts and fruit juices etc.
My friend has been given a huge book which lists all the okay products, all the bad ones and all the ones to check the labels.
In Italy registered coeliacs get so much free food per month. The way you get the food could depend on the region. I've been told that in some places you get coupons which you can exchange in the chemist for gluten free products. In other places you buy the food, keep the receipts and get refunded later. Schools have to provide gluten free meals for registered coeliacs. Some pizzerias do a gluten free pizza once a week or once a month - probably depending on the size of the town and the customers - and some bakeries do a range of gluten free breads, pizza dough, cakes etc.
Chemists, health food shops, organic/bio shops all sell gluten free products and the Coop supermarket has its own range of gluten free products.... more expensive than the 'normal' stuff.
The free food is for people that are registered on the national health service and this is where it will probably make a difference to you. Unless you or your husband do get employed by an Italian company and therefore pay taxes into the system - you probably won't qualify.
EU citizens entering Italy and wanting to register at the town hall as residents are expected to provide proof of funds and private health insurance to show that they will not be a burden on the Italian system.
I hope that helps for now.
If you have any more questions about anything - do ask.
I have recently learned a lot more than I knew about coeliacs as two of my friend's three children have recently been diagnosed with it.
When the 6 year old was diagnosed, the rest of the family was given blood tests. Her 9 year old brother was borderline, and a bit worse than borderline 6 months later ... so he too was swept off to Trieste for in depth tests which included being put to sleep and being checked with a camera.
By all accounts the peadiatrics department in Trieste hospital specialises in coeliac diagnosis and treatment.
Her kids sometimes come to play and eat at my house which is why I've learnt a bit more than I already knew. I knew about breads, pasta, pizza, cakes and biscuits etc. but I didn't know that gluten can also be found in certain yoghurts and fruit juices etc.
My friend has been given a huge book which lists all the okay products, all the bad ones and all the ones to check the labels.
In Italy registered coeliacs get so much free food per month. The way you get the food could depend on the region. I've been told that in some places you get coupons which you can exchange in the chemist for gluten free products. In other places you buy the food, keep the receipts and get refunded later. Schools have to provide gluten free meals for registered coeliacs. Some pizzerias do a gluten free pizza once a week or once a month - probably depending on the size of the town and the customers - and some bakeries do a range of gluten free breads, pizza dough, cakes etc.
Chemists, health food shops, organic/bio shops all sell gluten free products and the Coop supermarket has its own range of gluten free products.... more expensive than the 'normal' stuff.
The free food is for people that are registered on the national health service and this is where it will probably make a difference to you. Unless you or your husband do get employed by an Italian company and therefore pay taxes into the system - you probably won't qualify.
EU citizens entering Italy and wanting to register at the town hall as residents are expected to provide proof of funds and private health insurance to show that they will not be a burden on the Italian system.
I hope that helps for now.
If you have any more questions about anything - do ask.
Apr 9th 2012, 8:09 am
#3
Concierge
Joined: Apr 2007
Location: Verona/ Nr Turin
Posts: 4,672
Re: Moving to Italy with a child who has Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac/Coeliac Disease
As Lorna said. In our part of Italy, it shouldn't be a big problem. Verona has a couple of glutine free/bio pizza places - unless they've gone out of buisiness recently. And there are whole aisles of food stuffs in the supermarkets and loads of bio shops that also sell specialist foods. You are also entitled to an allowance for buying glutine free food. However, navigating the NHS system without any Italian is difficult.
Finding a job will not be easy at all either. Though not impossible. Working for the NHS will be almost impossible. You need to be fluent in Italian and possibly need to sit an entrance exam. There are loads of private labs though, but you'd still need to be fluent in Italian. There is a GlakoSmithKline lab who do hire non-Italian speakers at a higher level, but the have recently made employers redundant.
Hubby would have a better chance. Could he find a UK employer who works in Italy? Another of BE's husband works this way, but I'm not sure she'd recommend living in Italy.
Without a job to live here you will need to have a sufficient income and find your own healthcare for the first 5yrs. Some regions allow you to buy into their health service, some don't. Veneto for example, doesn't.
And finally, welcome to BE.
Finding a job will not be easy at all either. Though not impossible. Working for the NHS will be almost impossible. You need to be fluent in Italian and possibly need to sit an entrance exam. There are loads of private labs though, but you'd still need to be fluent in Italian. There is a GlakoSmithKline lab who do hire non-Italian speakers at a higher level, but the have recently made employers redundant.
Hubby would have a better chance. Could he find a UK employer who works in Italy? Another of BE's husband works this way, but I'm not sure she'd recommend living in Italy.
Without a job to live here you will need to have a sufficient income and find your own healthcare for the first 5yrs. Some regions allow you to buy into their health service, some don't. Veneto for example, doesn't.
And finally, welcome to BE.
Apr 9th 2012, 7:01 pm
#4
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: pretoro abruzzo italy
Posts: 436
Re: Moving to Italy with a child who has Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac/Coeliac Disease
hi and welcome you will find italy is an easy place to have a alegy . my whife is coeliac and in abruzzo eats well and safely,lots of resturants have seperate kichens for coeliacs , and wil go out of their way to help , chemists allso , italy verges on hypercondria but its good , as they care
Apr 9th 2012, 8:48 pm
#5
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2012
Location: Scotland
Posts: 2
Re: Moving to Italy with a child who has Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac/Coeliac Disease
Thank you so much everyone for your excellent first hand experiences and valued advice! It really does make me very reserved about moving now - it seems I have it much easier here in Scotland, as I just don't have enough Italian language skills to be able to work. I think possibly a holiday in the summer will do me for now :-) will keep you all posted if I change my mind !!!
