Can I be tested now - Or Do I need to do the Gluten Challenge

[TwinMamma09]

Hi All,

I am wondering if I need to do the Gluten Challenge to be tested. I have been Gluten free about 4 months. 

Here is my story -

About 3 years ago I started having stomach issues like painful gas, stomach aches, D, as well as extreme irritability, fatigue, thin nails, and pale coloring, . I looked into many different sources for my issues and eliminated things in my diet artificial sweetener. Long story short, I found information about Gluten symptoms and Celiacs and NCGS and thought BINGO!!! Of course I went straight to taking it out of my diet and saw a HUGE difference. I've been Gluten free for about 4 months now and I finally felt rested, happy, and my stomach seemed more normal. I rode that high for a bit until I started having stomach issues again. I am thinking I was getting CC'd as my family still eats Gluten. I worked hard to eliminate sources of Gluten and completely cleaned up my diet. Since then I have wondered about my twin 8 year-old-girls having similar symptoms and thought I really should be tested as well as get them tested.

So here I am. I want to start with the blood tests and move on to the endoscope but wanted to know if I should do the Gluten Challenge first. I decided to try a small regular flour tortilla last night and I had terrible stomach issues within 30 minutes. I'm a small girl - 120 pounds and my stomach swelled up to the point I looked 6 months pregnant. The pain and bloating was more than I could bare. I barely slept last night and have had all kinds of stomach issues today. I am so scared to keep eating Gluten and function like a normal person but I also don't want the test results to be inaccurate. 

I would appreciate any feedback or insight!

[kareng]

Just now, TwinMamma09 said:

Hi All,

I am wondering if I need to do the Gluten Challenge to be tested. I have been Gluten free about 4 months. 

Here is my story -

About 3 years ago I started having stomach issues like painful gas, stomach aches, D, as well as extreme irritability, fatigue, thin nails, and pale coloring, . I looked into many different sources for my issues and eliminated things in my diet artificial sweetener. Long story short, I found information about Gluten symptoms and Celiacs and NCGS and thought BINGO!!! Of course I went straight to taking it out of my diet and saw a HUGE difference. I've been Gluten free for about 4 months now and I finally felt rested, happy, and my stomach seemed more normal. I rode that high for a bit until I started having stomach issues again. I am thinking I was getting CC'd as my family still eats Gluten. I worked hard to eliminate sources of Gluten and completely cleaned up my diet. Since then I have wondered about my twin 8 year-old-girls having similar symptoms and thought I really should be tested as well as get them tested.

So here I am. I want to start with the blood tests and move on to the endoscope but wanted to know if I should do the Gluten Challenge first. I decided to try a small regular flour tortilla last night and I had terrible stomach issues within 30 minutes. I'm a small girl - 120 pounds and my stomach swelled up to the point I looked 6 months pregnant. The pain and bloating was more than I could bare. I barely slept last night and have had all kinds of stomach issues today. I am so scared to keep eating Gluten and function like a normal person but I also don't want the test results to be inaccurate. 

I would appreciate any feedback or insight!

If you want to be tested for Celiac, then you would have to eat gluten.

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

Antibodies take time to build into the blood stream before they can be detected through blood analysis. For a gluten challenge we recommend eating 1/2 slice of bread or a cracker each day for the duration of the challenge.

• Prior to blood testing we recommend 12 weeks of eating gluten.

[TwinMamma09]

I appreciate the response. I have also read that if you haven't been Gluten free for over 6 months that you may still have accurate blood and endoscope results. Have any of you found that to be true or no? 

[kareng]

Just now, TwinMamma09 said:

I appreciate the response. I have also read that if you haven't been Gluten free for over 6 months that you may still have accurate blood and endoscope results. Have any of you found that to be true or no? 

If you want to gamble that your original antibodies were soooo sky high they wouldn't be back to normal.  OR that the damage to your intestines so severe it couldn't have healed (did you almost die of malnutrition?)

The problem is, people go back and try to get a positive test after all this time being gluten-free,  and when it is negative - the doctors say "you don't have Celiac" and there is no further help for you.  No follow up for Celiac, etc

 

[Udream2]

I’m a twin mama to 8yr old twins too! So my daughters had problems for years and I removed gluten when no pediatrician believed food was causing their symptoms. Even after removing gluten for a good year my one daughter kept having anxiety and it seemed worse after we ate out, even though we were doing gluten-free. A blood test showed her numbers were well over 100, so it is possible to have an elevated bloodwork while on a gluten-free diet, however we were not taking contamination into consideration b/c we didn’t know much about celiac. We all did the challenge and one twin is celiac and the other NCGS (she actually has way more symptoms and dairy sensitive as well).  After challenge the endo showed my celiacs intestines so bad and also EoE with gluten as the trigger.