Tests Said Two Different Things

[dobee13]

my blood test came back positive for gluten sensitivity. however, my biopsy from my colonoscopy and endoscopy were negative for gluten. how is this possible? could i have a mild form of celiac? i've been suffering from severe canker sores for over a few years now. my oral pathologist wants me to go on a gluten-free diet anyways and see what happens. any feedback?

[Guest jhmom]

I have heard of this happening and also vice versa. Basically in my opinion the reason your endoscopy / biopsy was negative could be because of 2 reasons:

1. the gluten has not had time to damage the villi in your small intestines (which is good)

2. the part of the small intestines in which was biopsied was not damaged. I've heard that docs should get 5-10 biopsies to check, all in different areas. Also it could have shown "patchy inflammation" and your doc was not concerned with it (that is what happened to me).

If your blood work was positive then you should be on a strict gluten free diet for the rest of your life.

Good luck to you

[lisabarella]

Who interpreted your biopsy? The doctor or the lab? I found out recently that sometimes the lab doctors aren't as good at interpreting Celiacs as the actual GI doctor. Basically, your GI could interpret the pictures and tissue samples differently. This just happened to me. Did you GI actually look all all of the slides himself or did he just go by the pathology report?

[lovegrov]

Others have already explained how this can happen. Believe me, it's not unusual to have positive blood test and negative biopsy. The positive blood test alone makes it almost certain you have it because false positives are rare.

Canker sores was one of my main symptoms but I never knew what was causing them. They completely disappeared on the gluten-free diet. I NEVER have them any more. It was very astute of your doctor to pick up on celiac disease as a possible cause. Personally, I would go gluten-free.

richard

[flagbabyds]

Defenitly go gluten-free!!!!!!!!!! The blood is telling you that you have this disease and if you have problems that going gluten-free would clear up, you don't need a biopsy to prove that.

[bonnieo]

What blood tests were positive?

[Guest mares83]

I also have had positive IGA and IGG results and a negative biopsy. At the time of my biopsy I was on budesoniod ( a steriod used to treate crohns disease) and according to my doctor it can also be used to treate celiacs. My doctor had forgotten that I was still on budesoniod at the time of the biopsy and thought the budesoniod had masked any damage. After being off of the budesonoid for a month I was retested for the IGA and IGG antibodies and they are still above normal and had increased (IGA- 44, IGG-110) since my last test. Has anyone heard anything about different medicines used to treate Celiacs or if they have had any effect on biopsy results? I am also on 6mp (Purinthol) and Pentasa for Crohns disease. Right now, my doctor wants me to go on a three month gluten free trial and see if my numbers go down.