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Please help- eating gluten-free during testing?


moonless

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moonless Newbie

Do you need to be eating gluten for a Gliadin blood test? My doc says you don't but I'm not convinced? 

Basically I had a Tissue Trang IGA test which came back negative. I then started eating gluten-free while waiting for test results for EMA IGG (as was low in IGA) as I was convinced it would come back positive and it took weeks to hear anything... but it came back negative. I have been awfully ill with weight loss, abdominal pain, fatigue, joint pain, burning all over and my symptoms have mildly improved on a gluten- free diet but I don't have a diagnosis and realised now that I could have had a Gliadin test too. I'm not sure what to do because I'm severely underweight and don't want to do my body more harm by eating gluten again? Any advice would be appreciated. 


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Ennis-TX Grand Master

All blood test checking for antibodies like that require you to be eating the offensive product for 12 weeks daily.
Some people do test negative on the test but still have the damage, another route would be to only eat gluten for 2 weeks daily and get the endoscope with biopsies done to check for intestinal damage.

cyclinglady Grand Master
(edited)

I’d you can, consider  a Gastroenterologist (GI) consult.    You could have celiac disease or something else like Crohn’s.  A GI is your best bet.  

How low was your Immunoglobulin A result?  It really has to be close to zero for the test not to work, but then again, there are always anomalies (like me) who do not test positive to the TTG and I am not IgA deficient and I am biopsy confirmed for celiac disease.  

Edited by cyclinglady

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