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Negative Blood Test But Many Symptoms


Kat123

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Kat123 Newbie

I have just got my blood test back for celiac and they were negative. My brother has celiac disease and my father had ulcerative colitis and my sister has rheumatoid arthritis. I have many symptoms; diarrhea everyday for months, headaches (sometimes migraines sometimes just dull headache), brain fog, overwhelming tiredness, joint pain especially in toes and fingers, ringing in the ears. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's 20 years ago and have been taking levothyroxine ever since. I was also diagnosed with a b12 deficiency 10 years ago, sometimes I have shots, I take sublingual everyday.

 

As I said the celiac blood tests were negative but they did show a vitamin d deficiency, low sodium, low white blood count, and slightly low b12 despite supplements. They didn't test for any other vitamins, only d and b12. Thyroid numbers were all ok (I take 150mcg levothyroxine everyday) except T3 uptake which was low. They also repeated the thyroid antibody test which also came back negative. This is very surprising as 20 years ago they were very highly positive. I am wondering if because my immune system is depressed (i.e. low wbc) could this produce a false negative in the antibody test because you are not producing enough of any antibodies? Also I was eating gluten but only a slice or two of bread a day, is this enough?

 

Thanks so much for any input! 


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kareng Grand Master

Get a copy of the blood tests and see what they actually tested. Sometimes, they don't do the correct tests. So I would check all that first. Were you gluten free for any time period?

Kat123 Newbie

Get a copy of the blood tests and see what they actually tested. Sometimes, they don't do the correct tests. So I would check all that first. Were you gluten free for any time period?

I was gluten free for only a few days when tests were done. I feel terrible in the first 2 weeks of being gluten free, by the way. Bloated and awful heartburn!

GFinDC Veteran

Hi,

 

Well, regardless of medical testing, you know your body is reacting to gluten in some way.  People without a gluten intolerance shouldn't have any symptom changes on going gluten-free.

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    • par18
      Thanks for the reply. 
    • Scott Adams
      What you’re describing is actually very common, and unfortunately the timing of the biopsy likely explains the confusion. Yes, it is absolutely possible for the small intestine to heal enough in three months on a strict gluten-free diet to produce a normal or near-normal biopsy, especially when damage was mild to begin with. In contrast, celiac antibodies can stay elevated for many months or even years after gluten removal, so persistently high antibody levels alongside the celiac genes and clear nutrient deficiencies strongly point to celiac disease, even if you don’t feel symptoms. Many people with celiac are asymptomatic but still develop iron and vitamin deficiencies and silent intestinal damage. The lack of immediate symptoms makes it harder emotionally, but it doesn’t mean gluten isn’t harming you. Most specialists would consider this a case of celiac disease with a false-negative biopsy due to early healing rather than “something else,” and staying consistently gluten-free is what protects you long-term—even when your body doesn’t protest right away.
    • Scott Adams
      Yes, I meant if you had celiac disease but went gluten-free before screening, your results would end up false-negative. As @trents mentioned, this can also happen when a total IGA test isn't done.
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