Have I Messed Up My Test?

[Adr61]

Hello and hopefully anyone who reads this is doing well. I've had various health issues with no confirmed cause yet. I had covid in Feb that kind of started it all. Not too long after I ended up with colitis and the stomach pain never really went away. I ended up going to my doctor after a few months and we just really pinpointed gluten as a possible cause, this week I will be getting a blood test to confirm Celiac Disease. I had no clue what this was to be honest. Getting to the point as I have rambled, I didn't realize I needed to continue eating gluten before the test. I was only really gluten free for about 1 week. I have my blood work on Thursday. My doctor said to continue eating it and I should be okay for the test. I'm concerned I blew it though, if this test also comes back inconclusive I have no clue what comes next for me. I've lost 20lbs (bmi of 16.4 currently) and functioning normally can be tough. I'm rambling again, I can't help but worry if that one week off would be enough to cause the test to not be as accurate. My Dr. didn't seem all that concerned but she also said she doesn't have to do this test very often. I ordered a pizza today, it was great but I already feel like garbage.

[trents]

Welcome to the forum Adr64!

It is likely that the week off gluten will have a slight impact on the antibody test scores but unless they are very borderline positive it should not effect the big picture. To put this in perspective, when someone has been gluten free for a long time and wants to be tested to confirm their assumption of celiac disease then the "pretest gluten challenge" guidelines from the Mayo Clinic are the daily consumption of 2 slices of wheat bread for 6-8 weeks. 

It is also possible that you have NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity) which has many of he same symptoms as celiac disease but does not produce antibodies or damage the villi of the small bowel. So, there is no test for NCGS yet but it is 10x more likely than celiac disease.

[trents]

Also, ask your physician to order these tests: Total Serum IGA, tTG-IGA, Deamidated gliadin peptide (DGP IgA and IgG). 

Many physicians are fairly ignorant about celiac disease and testing and so will only order the tTG-IGA. Some people's immune systems react atypically so these other tests may catch what the tTG-IGA might miss.

[Adr61]

Thanks so much for the reply and information! Would NCGS be able to cause colitis of the cecum? This is more of a curiosity for me. A few weeks after I got covid, I got colitis that put me in the hospital. The doctors still don't know what cause that but I still feel the pain in that spot of my stomach. I'm feeling absolutely awful after eating gluten. Again, thank you so much for the jnfo and just being there. I've had a tough 5 months and it's been hard getting to this point. 

[trents]

What I can tell you is that other bowel diseases are more common in the celiac population than in the general population. I don't think there is necessarily a cause and effect but more likely a genetic connection as, in general, autoimmune diseases tend to cluster. But, I really can't give a definitive answer to your question in regard to NCGS. We know much less about NCGS than we do about celiac disease. We aren't even sure what is the immune system pathway engaged by NCGS.

[Adr61]

Interesting... Thanks for the advice, I'll have to call the office tomorrow and see if I can get ahold of the Dr before my test. No clue what tests I'm doing and no clue if she will have free time to get back to me before my test on Thursday. Thanks so much! Hopefully my tests will give me some answer to what's going on. 

[trents]

https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/screening-and-diagnosis/screening/

The link above will take you to a primer for celiac disease antibody testing.

Some experts believe NCGS may be a precursor to celiac disease.

Keep us posted.