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Tested Negative For Blood Test...

madminx

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madminx Rookie
madminx
Posted

Hello everyone, 

 

I just got results back from a gluten blood test. They were normal. 

 

Is is possible to get a false negative blood test because I've been on a gluten free diet since January? Also I haven't accidentally eaten gluten for over a month before the test was taken. 

I'm pretty sure I have celiac disease because when I accidentally eat gluten (even very small amounts)  I get a severe reaction and am sick for 1-2 weeks. 

 

Thanks. 

 

 

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powerofpositivethinking Community Regular
powerofpositivethinking
Posted

unfortunately those tests are worthless since you weren't eating gluten, and I'm sorry that your doctor didn't already know that before running them  :(

 

take a look at this link regarding a gluten challenge needed for blood tests and biopsy: Open Original Shared Link

 

what are your symptoms?  if you don't need an official diagnosis then skip the gluten challenge since you said you react horribly to small amounts of gluten.  if you do want to try and get the official diagnosis others will be able to help regarding best time to eat gluten so that it impacts your life as minimally as possible.  do you think your doctor would agree to the two week gluten challenge for the biopsy vs the 12 weeks for the blood test?

 

good luck!

 

Hello everyone, 

 

I just got results back from a gluten blood test. They were normal. 

 

Is is possible to get a false negative blood test because I've been on a gluten free diet since January? Also I haven't accidentally eaten gluten for over a month before the test was taken. 

I'm pretty sure I have celiac disease because when I accidentally eat gluten (even very small amounts)  I get a severe reaction and am sick for 1-2 weeks. 

 

Thanks. 

NoGlutenCooties Contributor
NoGlutenCooties
Posted

Just wanted to add that you can get a false-negative blood test even while still eating gluten.  Unfortunately, the tests aren't as reliable as one would hope.  I've seen estimates that indicate a negative blood test result is only about 70-75% accurate, while a positive test result is about 97-98% accurate.

That said, if you're already gluten-free the test is useless.

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

It is likely that being gluten free for several months could cause a blood test to be negative.

 

 

Talks about being gluten-free and getting negative blood tests:

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

 

Current blood tests are quite accurate.  Some of the older ones were not as good and that may be why the rumor that blood tests aren't reliable?  I would suggest looking at reliable sites like the Univ of Chicago Celiac Center.

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

"Even though blood tests are quite accurate, they are falsely positive 1-3% of the time (i.e., being positive without the person having celiac) and, although less commonly, falsely negative 1-2% of the time (i.e., being normal when a person actually has celiac)."

GF Lover Rising Star
GF Lover
Posted

Karen, thank you for clarifying the accuracy figures.  Research in this area has moved relatively quickly and we must use current data in our discussions. 

 

Colleen

NoGlutenCooties Contributor
NoGlutenCooties
Posted

 

"Even though blood tests are quite accurate, they are falsely positive 1-3% of the time (i.e., being positive without the person having celiac) and, although less commonly, falsely negative 1-2% of the time (i.e., being normal when a person actually has celiac)."

 

Interesting... not at all what my doctor told me just two months ago.  I'm wondering if some of the false negatives are due to the variances in what different labs consider positive vs. negative?  For example, my ttg IgA (I think I have that right... the tissue number) was only 13 and some labs would have considered that negative.  But my biopsy confirmed definite Celiac with moderate to severe villi damage.  So had a different lab and/or a different doctor looked at my test results they may have given me a false negative result.

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

Interesting... not at all what my doctor told me just two months ago.  I'm wondering if some of the false negatives are due to the variances in what different labs consider positive vs. negative?  For example, my ttg IgA (I think I have that right... the tissue number) was only 13 and some labs would have considered that negative.  But my biopsy confirmed definite Celiac with moderate to severe villi damage.  So had a different lab and/or a different doctor looked at my test results they may have given me a false negative result.

 

 

 

 

 Many of us have seen that there are a lot of doctors that do not keep up with research and current standards of practice for Celiac disease. Labs sometimes use different units of measurement so the ranges would be different.

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IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted

Hello everyone, 

 

I just got results back from a gluten blood test. They were normal. 

 

Is is possible to get a false negative blood test because I've been on a gluten free diet since January? Also I haven't accidentally eaten gluten for over a month before the test was taken. 

I'm pretty sure I have celiac disease because when I accidentally eat gluten (even very small amounts)  I get a severe reaction and am sick for 1-2 weeks. 

 

Thanks. 

 

Hi Madminx,

If you have been gluten free for 11 months, there's no way you would get an accurate result, hon. Sorry.

 

You can have a severe reaction and be sick for a few weeks even if you have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, so it's really hard to say if you have celiac or not based on that reaction. I heard Dr. Fasano say in a recent interview that NCGS affects the body in a variety of ways,

with some pretty devastating consequences, even in the absence of celiac disease.

 

Unfortunately, the most accurate testing requires gluten ingestion which raises the antibodies.

 

It is true that some people will test negative for celiac antibodies and still have villous atrophy or even "early celiac", but the tests themselves are considered pretty accurate.

 

Depending on how important it is for you to have a diagnosis of C D, the treatment is still the same. It's a tough decision, IMO

to do a gluten challenge. 

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