Gluten challenge?

[LoopyLou]

Hi everyone, newbie here. 

Before I get into anything, I wanted to note that I'm in the UK, so I don't know if things are done any differently here (though it sounds pretty much the same from what I've read). I thought I'd sign up anyway as the UK coeliac site I am a member of doesn't have a forum.

 

Anyway onto my queries. I'm a 28 year old female, and I have been eating a low gluten diet since I was about 21. Back then I'd have severe stomach pain every morning and be rushing back and forth to the bathroom. I went to my Dr who didn't do any tests, and just asked about my diet (which was full of bread and pasta and the like). She suggested I cut back of gluten containing food and that was it. So being young and trusting in my Dr I took her advice and went on my merry way without any questions. 

 

I cut back on the gluten by switching out bread and pasta to gluten-free varieties. I still consumed gluten though biscuits, a piece of cake here and there, a pizza ect. My symptoms completely went away and I was happy. Until just over 2 months ago when I had a severely upset stomach and D like I'd never had before. I thought I had picked up a bug from somewhere so waited a few weeks for my system to go back to normal but it never did.

 

So I go to the Dr again (a different one to before) and she speaks to me about diet and all that. She orders blood tests and apparently everything is fine so she doesn't see me again. But it was not fine, I was having digestion issues and horrible stomach pain still. So I go and see another new doctor who looks through my test results and asks me again about diet. I've told every single Dr that I eat very low gluten and this newest Dr is the only one who understood that it would mess up my test results. Apparently I've had a Coeliac blood test 3 times in the past 5 years and all of them would have been wrong. 

 

So basically she wants me to eat gluten and get retested. She did however have to Google how long I need to eat it for and told me 3 weeks, but after doing my own research it looks like it should be 6+. And is it really as simple as a piece of bread a day or should I be eating a full gluten meal? In the last couple of years I've naturally been eating less and less gluten as my diet has become more healthy (less processed food ect) so I'm really worried about worsening symptoms, as I already struggle with them about 4 mornings out of the week.

Any advice for the diet? And just in general, as it seems all Drs here aren't the most knowledgeable!!

 

Thanks in advance.

[kareng]

http://www.cureceliacdisease.org/faq/what-is-a-gluten-challenge/

 

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.
• Prior to an endoscopic biopsy we recommend 2 weeks of eating gluten.

[LoopyLou]

Thanks Kareng.

12 weeks is a really long time! Wow. I hope my symptoms don't worsen too much or I don't know how I will cope. 

I have to call my GP to book the tests when I am ready - are the specific test names I need to ask for or would I be okay with just saying Coeliac tests?