Blood Test Preparation Advice

[Adam35]

Hi there,

 

My doctor has recently requested a blood test for coeliac disease (sorry that's how we spelt in here in the UK!) after suffering from constant abdominal pain every day for over two weeks now. This has been coupled with other symptoms common of this disease, such as low mood/mood swings, extreme fatigue, back pain, nausea etc.

 

I have always ate a diet pretty high in gluten, including a lot of pasta and bread, but since I have been suffering from these symptoms for the past few weeks I have cut back a bit on the amount of gluten I have ate. I was just wondering would these affect the results of my blood test, or would I have antibodies present due to the amount of time I have been eating gluten.

 

Any advice would be great, thanks!!

[NoGlutenCooties]

The only recommendation I've seen is for folks doing a gluten challenge after an extended period of time of being gluten-free.  I was never a big bread and pasta person, but did consume gluten daily in other foods (e.g. soy sauce) and my bloodtest came back positive.  However, it was a "low positive".  I think it takes quite awhile for the antibodies to get out of your system, and they wouldn't go away by cutting back on gluten - only by cutting it out completely.  So in my opinion, it doesn't seem like you'd have a problem.

 

(Edit: the recommendation I referred to is to eat the equivalent of 2 pieces of bread each day.)

[Adam35]

Thank you!

 

Was the low positive enough for them to do an endoscopy? 

[SkyBlue4]

If you're still eating gluten, you'll probably be okay to test. 

I was never a huge gluten consumer even before I was diagnosed and my labs were still positive.

[NoGlutenCooties]

Thank you!

 

Was the low positive enough for them to do an endoscopy? 

 

Yes.  The lab that did my bloodtest considered anything over 11 as a positive.  I was at 13.  They did the biopsy and found moderate to severe villi damage.  So I have no faith in the "weak positive" thing.  As far as I'm concerned... positive is positive.

[nvsmom]

Yes.  The lab that did my bloodtest considered anything over 11 as a positive.  I was at 13.  They did the biopsy and found moderate to severe villi damage.  So I have no faith in the "weak positive" thing.  As far as I'm concerned... positive is positive.

I agree. I think of it like a pregnancy test... There's no such thing as a little bit pregnant. There's no such thing as a little bit celiac - just the severity of our symptoms may vary.

[Adam35]

Thanks for the input everyone, I feel a little more confident now that this test won't be a waste of time. In fact as crazy as it sounds I somewhat hope it comes back positive, as it seems the only other diagnosis they are willing to give me is IBS and at least with coeliac disease there is a treatment, as opposed to being told sorry there's not much you can do!