Eating gluten before blood test

[Dema]

Hi everyone :). I think I have a high likelihood of having celiac and will please Gd have a blood test in 2 days time confirming this.

over the past two weeks I’ve been on and off (to max 5 days) gluten to cope with my symptoms however now I can see online that I’m supposed to be having 2 servings of gluten every day for 6 weeks, which isn’t even my normal diet. 
should I reschedule my blood test. I would really love for it to be diagnosed soon. Would appreciate any advice!

thanks!

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @Dema!

The current recommendations for the "gluten challenge" leading up to the day of testing are the daily consumption of at least 10g of gluten (about the amount found in 4-6 slices of wheat bread) daily for at least two weeks. I hope this helps you in your decision. This information represents more recently updated guidelines but you will find older info giving more relaxed guidelines that were found to be not reliable.

[Scott Adams]

Here is more info about how to do a gluten challenge for a celiac disease blood panel, or for an endoscopy:

Quote

"...in order to properly diagnose celiac disease based on serology and duodenal histology, doctors need patients to be on gluten-containing diets, even if they are causing symptoms, and this is called a "gluten challenge."

• Eat gluten prior to celiac disease blood tests: The amount and length of time can vary, but is somewhere between 2 slices of wheat bread daily for 6-8 weeks and 1/2 slice of wheat bread or 1 wheat cracker for 12 weeks 12 weeks;
• Eat gluten prior to the endoscopic biopsy procedure: 2 slices of wheat bread daily for at least 2 weeks;

and this recent study recommends 4-6 slices of wheat bread per day:

 

 

[Dema]

21 hours ago, trents said:

Welcome to the forum, @Dema!

The current recommendations for the "gluten challenge" leading up to the day of testing are the daily consumption of at least 10g of gluten (about the amount found in 4-6 slices of wheat bread) daily for at least two weeks. I hope this helps you in your decision. This information represents more recently updated guidelines but you will find older info giving more relaxed guidelines that were found to be not reliable.

alright thank your help! 🤍

[Dema]

1 hour ago, Scott Adams said:

Here is more info about how to do a gluten challenge for a celiac disease blood panel, or for an endoscopy:

and this recent study recommends 4-6 slices of wheat bread per day:

 

 

Ooh thanks for all the info I'll check them out, though I may not be functional after 6 slices for 6 weeks 😅

[trents]

30 minutes ago, Dema said:

Ooh thanks for all the info I'll check them out, though I may not be functional after 6 slices for 6 weeks 😅

Understood. And don't beat yourself up about this. Many are in the same boat as you, having experimented with the gluten-free diet before getting formerly tested. It is a logical, common sense approach when you don't have the knowledge about how testing works or you don't have the healthcare resources to afford testing. And some experience such severe reactions to gluten that it is impossible to get through the gluten challenge in order to get tested. So, they must live with the ambiguity of not knowing for sure if they suffer from celiac disease or NCGS. But at the end of the day, the antidote is the same for both. Namely, life-ling abstinence from gluten. Recently there was an article on posted on this forum about the develop of a new testing method for diagnosing celiac disease that do not require a gluten challenge. It is still in the developmental stage and probably years away from becoming main streams even if it pans out. But there is hope at least.