Do I Not Have Celiac?

[Sean75]

Hi so I thought I had celiac after reading up on it and learning about all the symptoms, many of which I had. I tried a gluten free diet for 3 weeks, and did seem to be feeling a bit better, but not as huge a difference as I was expecting. Last night I ate a big plate of spaghetti to see how I would react after being gluten free for 3 weeks. I feel no different than I did while eating gluten free, which I suspect I probably would have had a bad reaction if I had celiac or a strong gluten sensitivity. Does this mean that I probably have something else going on, and not a gluten sensitivity? Thanks!

[nvsmom]

That's hard to say... three weeks isn't a very long trial period. I actually felt worse for the first couple of weeks as my body adjusted. It took a few months to really start feeling consistantly better.

I would advise you to try a longer gluten challenge after getting blood tests for celiac. You need to be eating gluten for the tests to be as accurate as possible. Eat gluten for a few weeks and get tested; most (~75%) celiacs will have positive blood tests. If your tess are negative, try a gluten-free diet for a few months to see if it helps; it often takes a lot of time for improvements to be observed if gluten is an issue for you.

Good luck!