My endoscopy is today. Did I eat enough gluten?

[suisuisui]

I ate SO much gluten for the holidays. my family baked croissants every day and I shoveled them in. In the days leading up to the new year I ate lots of pizza, tacos, pastries- typical junk food. January 1st I had to stop. I work as a scientist and I needed to get a lot of paperwork done- so I didn't want to feel like garbage. I mostly completely cut out gluten. 11 days later, today is my endoscopy. 

There's no way my stomach has healed in that time right? For the past few days I've included small amounts of gluten like in meatloaf or croutons on my salad (I'm in a lot of pain rn). Anyway, what do you think?

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, suisuisui!

Were you eating gluten free prior to the holiday binge? In my mind that is a more important question than have you eaten enough gluten since terminating the holiday binge.

The Mayo Clinic guidelines for a pretest gluten challenge are the daily consumption of two slices of wheat bread (or the gluten equivalent) for 6-8 weeks leading up to the antibody blood test and for two weeks leading up to the endoscopy/biopsy.

If you have been consuming significant amounts of gluten for a long time prior to the gluten hiatus on Jan. 1, then you should be okay. I would think there couldn't have been much healing taking place to void the results of the biopsy. But, if your only significant exposure to gluten happened over the holidays, there is a question.

By the way, you did not mention having antibody testing done. Normally, that is the first step in celiac disease diagnosis which is then followed up with a biopsy for confirmation.

And it's not the stomach that is affected by celiac disease, it's the small bowel, particularly the villous lining.

Edited January 11, 2023 by trents

[suisuisui]

10 minutes ago, trents said:

Welcome to the forum, suisuisui!

Were you eating gluten free prior to the holiday binge? In my mind that is a more important question than have you eaten enough gluten since terminating the holiday binge.

The Mayo Clinic guidelines for a pretest gluten challenge are the daily consumption of two slices of wheat bread (or the gluten equivalent) for 6-8 weeks leading up to the antibody blood test and for two weeks leading up to the endoscopy/biopsy.

If you have been consuming significant amounts of gluten for a long time prior to the gluten hiatus on Jan. 1, then you should be okay. I would think there couldn't have been much healing taking place to void the results of the biopsy. But, if your only significant exposure to gluten happened over the holidays, there is a question.

By the way, you did not mention having antibody testing done. Normally, that is the first step in celiac disease diagnosis which is then followed up with a biopsy for confirmation.

And it's not the stomach that is affected by celiac disease, it's the small bowel, particularly the villous lining.

Hi! Thank you for responding. Yes, my antibody test came back positive and my doctor is pretty sure I have celiac's given my symptoms and their proximity to eating gluten. 

As far as pre-holiday, I want to say yes? I think I've definitely had gluten throughout december. Looking through my diet log, it seems I was having days of chicken nuggets and at one point apple pie (my diet has been a mess lately). 

Also thank you for clarifying @ small bowel. I knew "villi" but spaced on the area. 

So what do you think? 

[trents]

18 minutes ago, suisuisui said:

So what do you think? 

I can't say but since you are already scheduled for the endoscopy/biopsy you might as well go forward with it. It's a little late to cancel I would think. And maybe the countrified old saying is true: "You gotta dance with whom you brung." Whatever the condition of your villous lining is, you're bringing it to the dance today.

[Scott Adams]

As others mentioned, if you went gluten-free for 11 days before your endoscopy you could get a false negative result, but if you are unable to eat gluten due to the severe symptoms then you likely already have your answer anyway, right?