Celiac Disease Comprehensive Panel

[Pete111]

I had been off of gluten for 3 months due to food testing came back that shows gluten intolerance. I had asked my health care provider that I wanted to be tested for celiac before stopping gluten. Once they actually listed it shows my immunoglobulin A was really elevated and on the AB, IGA part showed <1.0. Would this be a false negative given I had not gluten in months? I’m very frustrated that the the test was not done while eating gluten.

[trents]

Yes, being off gluten for 3 months would likely yield negative results. To get accurate testing redone you would need to restart gluten consumption for several weeks (the "gluten challenge") to the tune of at least 10g of gluten daily (about the amount found in 4-6 slices of wheat bread).

[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.