New Here

[Akitt1]

Hello to everyone!

I have been hanging around here and reading posts for quite a few weeks. A friend of mine was diagnosed with celiac disease and I thought it might be my problem.

I have had diarrhea for my whole life. I was told years ago it was IBS and to learn to live with it. As I have gotten older I have found it to be a real problem.

I went to my primary care who told me I wasn't sick enough to have celiac disease and I was too heavy. She sent me to an allergist,who did skin testing for foods and the blood tests for celiac disease, The skin test showed positive for wheat, fish, peanuts and eggs. The celiac disease blood test came back normal. He told me to avoid those foods. Then he ran allergy bloodwork and they came back negative. I have omitted those foods from my diet and I feel better. But now they say I don't have any allergies according to the blood work. I guess the big old welts from the skin tests don't count. So according to the Drs. I don't have allergies or celiac disease.

I decided that I would stick to the diet for six weeks and see if I keep improving.If so ,that is how I will eat.

Has anyone else had all the negative tests,but felt better gluten free?Am I crazy?

Cathy

[gf4life]

You are not crazy. I tested negative on the blood tests, too. See the blood test measures the level of antibodies to gliadin (another word for gluten protein) in your blood. The antibodies are produced in your intestine, but only start to leak into your bloodstream when there is a lot of damage to your intestine. Since the damage in the intestines often starts out as patchy and the lining heals quite quickly, it can take quite a long time for some people to produce a positve bloodtest result.

You could ask a GI doctor for a biopsy to see if there is damage, but even the biopsy has some flaws. You already know that you feel better off wheat, so I would say go with that, but understand that it is much harder to get positive test results after being on a gluten free diet.

Welcome to the message board.

God bless,

Mariann

[tarnalberry]

My blood test wasn't negative, but it wasn't positive either. I determined by celiac status by how I did on the gluten-free diet. I felt better going gluten-free, and can tell when I get something that's contaminated, so I stay gluten-free.

[plantime]

My doctor diagnosed Celiac Sprue from the diet changes. You have to have almost massive amounts of damage for the tests to show positive. If you feel better on the gluten-free diet, then stick with it. A long, healthy life is very much worth not eating wheat!