Help Getting Testing In Uk

[tpchan85]

Hello

I'm really struggling to get comprehensive testing done in the UK. My brother suffers from celiac disease confirmed by antibodies and biopsy. I suffer with IBS and some signs of malnutrition also trouble with chronic heartburn and esophagitis, my symptoms improve drastically on the gluten free diet. On the NHS everywhere I go they only do the anti-TTG IGA (mine always comes back like <0.1 in the range), they do not control test total IGA and the doctors look at me blankly when I try to explain this is not enough. I managed to get the intestinal biopsy done which came back negative, how ever, I had only been eating gluten for 6 weeks and they only took 4 samples.

 

I want a way to determine conclusively whether I should stop eating gluten or not. But I cannot find anywhere, even private hospitals, that offer the same comprehensive blood tests that doctors offer in the US. The only tests I can find are TTG, EMA and genetic testing.

 

What should I do?

[cristiana]

Hi tpchan

 

I am afraid I don't understand all these different tests but I do know that a lot of UK GPs have been sent info on this site - see link.

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

If it suggests any tests that you haven't had, it might be worth showing to a doctor and having another try.   But maybe you are looking for tests outside the NICE recommendations?  As I say, I am sorry, but these tests confuse me!