When is the best time to get an Upper Endoscopy after a postive blood test?

[GFKerry]

Greetings all!

New to the group so not sure if this has been covered somewhere in the thousands of posts.

I was diagnosed through a blood test with Celiac in October. My GE said that he'd like to do a scope but had me scheduled at the end of February. From my reading and understanding, the upper scope should be done soon after diagnosis and while still eating gluten. I will have been gluten-free for almost 5 months by the time of the scope. I'm wondering if I should skip the scope and an unneeded medical procedure or to go ahead and just get it done. I'm feel pretty good now after cutting the gluten and working on regenerating my gut health. Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.

 

[GFinDC]

Hi,

You are correct, the endoscopy should be done soon after the positive blood tests.  But it seldom is.  I don't think there is any point in doing the endoscopy after being gluten-free for 5 months.  Instead, you could start eating gluten again and get an endoscopy after 2 weeks.  That's if you really need a firm diagnosis.  Otherwise just stay gluten-free for the rest of your life and don't stress your body by a doing a gluten challenge.

[Fenrir]

You'd be wasting your money on that scope if you are gluten-free for 5 months, there's a pretty goo chance it would come up negative even if you were a celiac at that point. 

[Scott Adams]

I agree, 2 weeks eating gluten likely isn’t enough time...2 months would be the minimum but for some people that isn’t enough time.

[Bluesapphire57]

I was told specifically to not go gluten free until the endoscopy was done. 

[GFKerry]

  On 2/11/2020 at 9:48 PM, GFinDC said:

Hi,

You are correct, the endoscopy should be done soon after the positive blood tests.  But it seldom is.  I don't think there is any point in doing the endoscopy after being gluten-free for 5 months.  Instead, you could start eating gluten again and get an endoscopy after 2 weeks.  That's if you really need a firm diagnosis.  Otherwise just stay gluten-free for the rest of your life and don't stress your body by a doing a gluten challenge.

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Thank you! Looks like I need a new GE!

[cyclinglady]

If getting an endoscopy, you would need to consume gluten daily (1 to 2 slices of bread or equivalent) for two weeks:

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

https://www.beyondceliac.org/celiac-disease/the-gluten-challenge/

The challenge is much much longer (8 to 12 weeks) when getting the blood test, but you already have a positive.  

Was that your GP/PCP or a GI (Gastroenterologist)?  Whoever it was is NOT celiac savvy.  Scary.  If a doctor can not google it, what other diagnosis is he missing?  Yikes!