Help! Need Positive Blood Work For Doctors Note

[tiffjake]

I have a Dr.'s appt on Thursday, and it just occured to me that if I want my panel to be positive, then I need to be eating gluten! Hello! Duh! So will eating gluteny food between now and then be enough for a positive panel? I think so, but I am getting conflicting reports from others, please advise!!!

(Doing the mini-gluten-challenge for things like work and sea world that want a "doctors note" to allow you to bring your own food....and since my regular doc botched the tests and had to retest me after one month gluten free, my tests were "inconclusive" but he labeled me "gluten intolerant" based on the lack of meds that I needed and the food journal/health changes he witnessed. That office messes up lots of stuff.....going to a different doc this time.....)

[Ursa Major]

Um, Tiffany, I hate to tell you this, but you need to eat gluten for several MONTHS in order to maybe get a positive test result. So, don't bother eating gluten now, you'll just get sick for no reason. There is no point in getting tested this week, cancel if you still can.

Find a doctor who will give the the note based on your positive enterolab tests, and your positive response to the diet.

[tiffjake]

Um, Tiffany, I hate to tell you this, but you need to eat gluten for several MONTHS in order to maybe get a positive test result. So, don't bother eating gluten now, you'll just get sick for no reason. There is no point in getting tested this week, cancel if you still can.

Find a doctor who will give the the note based on your positive enterolab tests, and your positive response to the diet.

So why were the levels lower after only a month gluten-free? I thought the blood would be faster-acting since my levels went down between the EnteroLab and the doctors-botched-blood test 4 weeks later......

[tarnalberry]

Results on a blood test may go down after a month gluten free, but you can't be sure that they'll be high enough to register as a positive after only three days back on gluten. The general advice is three slices of bread a day for three months.

[tiffjake]

Results on a blood test may go down after a month gluten free, but you can't be sure that they'll be high enough to register as a positive after only three days back on gluten. The general advice is three slices of bread a day for three months.

Well screw this! I have been sick all day and I am not going to do it anymore! Ug! No note for me I guess! Because I am not going to spend another hour in the bathroom! I am ONE DAY into my mini-challenge and I am tired of looking at the bathroom wall! I have spent three hours in the bathroom today!!!!! Not to mention the nausea, bloating (I have gained 5 pounds in 10 hours!), the stomach pains, gas, brain fog, tiredness, and severe thirst (I could drink a pool right now!). I am SO not going to do this!!!!!!!!!

[Guest nini]

yeah, you don't need to do that to yourself... and 3 days is def. not enough time... get a Dr. to write you a note calling it gluten intolerance or whatever but don't put yourself through torture for a test that probably will be skewed anyway.

my daughter has a Dr.s note on file at her school that calls it Gluten Intolerance and that is good enough. Treatment for G.I. is the same as Celiac so don't torture yourself further.

[celiacgirls]

I haven't needed a note yet for any reason but I am thinking I would just show a copy of the results from Enterolab. It says " it is recommended that you follow a strict and permanent gluten free diet." Is there any reason that wouldn't work? Dr. Fine might be willing to send you a signed letter instead of that e-mail.

I am new to this so maybe I am just naive to think that they would accept that letter.

[penguin]

Well, I know Tiffany is going to a good doctor, because she's going to my doctor

Now, knowing her, she'll probably look at the results and your dietary response and dx you celiac. At least gluten intolerance. I'm not sure she even sees them as different. I didn't even have enterolab done and she dx'ed me on dietary response and a high IgG alone. I wouldn't be surprised if she gives you a note. Make sure you talk to her a lot first, though

I would be surprised if she told you to eat wheat again to be retested if it's making you sick.

She has a duh approach along the lines of, "if it hurts when you poke it, don't poke!"

[Nancym]

I wonder if Dr. Fine would write a note for you?

[Rachel--24]

So why were the levels lower after only a month gluten-free? I thought the blood would be faster-acting since my levels went down between the EnteroLab and the doctors-botched-blood test 4 weeks later......

Actually, its slower to show up in the blood. It would take months to show up in the blood. The reason your bloodtest showed numbers lower than Enterolab is because they are 2 different tests. Enterolab is more sensitive and picks up antibodies in stool long after you've been gluten-free. The antibodies will remain present in stool up to a year after you've been on the diet. If you retested with Enterolab today you're numbers would most likely still be positive and they would be higher than the bloodtest you took.

[2Boys4Me]

(Doing the mini-gluten-challenge for things like work and sea world that want a "doctors note" to allow you to bring your own food

What the??? We're planning a trip to Disneyland, and then south to Sea World and all that stuff. Did they say you couldn't bring your own food? We'll be taking food...try to stop me! Of course, I have the advantage of the gluten-free boy being able to turn on the little pouty teary face to encourage them to allow the food in . If they don't have allergen-free, diabetic, gluten-free, whatever food, then too damn bad for them. They lose the $15 profit on a burger or whatever .

Off my soapbox now.

[tiffjake]

What the??? We're planning a trip to Disneyland, and then south to Sea World and all that stuff. Did they say you couldn't bring your own food? We'll be taking food...try to stop me! Of course, I have the advantage of the gluten-free boy being able to turn on the little pouty teary face to encourage them to allow the food in . If they don't have allergen-free, diabetic, gluten-free, whatever food, then too damn bad for them. They lose the $15 profit on a burger or whatever .

Off my soapbox now.

When I called Six Flags (meant six flags, not sea world, sorry!) they said I could bring my own salad dressing or bread if I had a doctors note.....and I am going to a 4 day Seminar in Dallas, and they are "perfectly willing to accomidate me" if I have a doctors note!

Actually, its slower to show up in the blood. It would take months to show up in the blood. The reason your bloodtest showed numbers lower than Enterolab is because they are 2 different tests. Enterolab is more sensitive and picks up antibodies in stool long after you've been gluten-free. The antibodies will remain present in stool up to a year after you've been on the diet. If you retested with Enterolab today you're numbers would most likely still be positive and they would be higher than the bloodtest you took.

(NOT trying to argue with you....just wanted to ask that if this were the case, why did Enterolab say in their packtet to make sure I had eaten gluten within the last 29 days??)

Well, I know Tiffany is going to a good doctor, because she's going to my doctor

Now, knowing her, she'll probably look at the results and your dietary response and dx you celiac. At least gluten intolerance. I'm not sure she even sees them as different. I didn't even have enterolab done and she dx'ed me on dietary response and a high IgG alone. I wouldn't be surprised if she gives you a note. Make sure you talk to her a lot first, though

I would be surprised if she told you to eat wheat again to be retested if it's making you sick.

She has a duh approach along the lines of, "if it hurts when you poke it, don't poke!"

I hope so! I appointment is on Thursday, I will let you all know how it goes!

[plantime]

Seems to me a note from your original doc stating gluten intolerance should suffice. A note from a doc stating lactose intolerance would be accepted!

[tiffjake]

I wonder if Dr. Fine would write a note for you?

You know, I hadn't thought about it, because they said "A note from your Doctor" and I don't consider him my doctor. But if I don't get one on thursday, then I will ask email him about it.

It is such a pain because I feel like I need to prove this to people! I know that I get sick. The people who spend the night with me or go home with me after eating gluten know that I get sick. But servers, companies, heck-family! want some kind of proof! I can't count how many time people have asked "So will you die?" and I say "No, I won't pass out right here at the table" and they let out their breath and sigh like 'well, it isn't that serious' and I want to show them pictures of my poop!!!!!!!! Ok, I am done! Love you guys! ~Tiffany

[penguin]

I can't count how many time people have asked "So will you die?" and I say "No, I won't pass out right here at the table" and they let out their breath and sigh like 'well, it isn't that serious' and I want to show them pictures of my poop!!!!!!!!

Yeah, it's that whole thing like, "well you don't look sick" or "if you've had this for a long time, how come you weren't sick all the time?"

Well, you're not with me in the bathroom, now are you? I had a friend say that to me who had seen me in bed, writhing in pain, going to the emergency room, all the time.

[tarnalberry]

That's why I don't talk about the condition in terms of allergies or the like, and talk about it in terms of personal responsibility and personal decision. Your friends and family can disagree with the car you decide to buy, but you still buy it because it's the car you want. Just as they can disagree with you deciding not to eat something, but you still don't eat it because you don't want to risk getting sick. That's really the end of the story.

Heck, I'd use the "What part of 'no' don't you understand? The 'n' or the 'o'?" line, if it came to that. :-)