EGD with flatten mucosa

[HeloIP]

For years, I’ve had intermittent gut symptoms that included abdominal pain, fatigue, bloating, and gas. I did not have significant diarrhea. A few days ago, I had a EGD that revealed gastritis and mucosal flattening in the duodenum. I’m waiting on the results of the biopsy now. I feel that celiac disease is what has been my problem for years. I’m almost afraid they’ll tell me the test is negative and then I’ll be right back where I started. Any insights on these findings would be helpful. Thank you.

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @HeloIP!

There are some other diseases, some medications (NSAIDs, olmesartan) and even some other food protein intolerances (the dairy protein casein) that can cause flattened villi in the duodenum but the most likely cause is celiac disease.

Your GI doc may want to run some blood work to check for antibodies that are specific to celiac disease as a follow-up so, in case he/she does, don't start a gluten-free diet until that blood draw is done.

[Scott Adams]

This article might be helpful. It breaks down each type of test, and what a positive results means in terms of the probability that you might have celiac disease. One test that always needs to be done is the IgA Levels/Deficiency Test (often called "Total IGA") because some people are naturally IGA deficient, and if this is the case, then certain blood tests for celiac disease might be false-negative, and other types of tests need to be done to make an accurate diagnosis. The article includes the "Mayo Clinic Protocol," which is the best overall protocol for results to be ~98% accurate.