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"gluten Challenge"

dmbaird1230

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dmbaird1230 Apprentice
dmbaird1230
Posted

Has anyone heard of a "gluten challenge"? Where you have to be eating gluten for a certain amout of time before the biopsy for the biopsy to be correct. I had a blood test about 6 years ago and one of the antibodies was positive so I went on a gluten free diet and I also had a biopsy done 4 years ago and it came back inconclusive, but now I'm finding out that you have to have the gluten in your sytem to determine if you're really celiac or not. Is this correct?

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lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

To have any chance at an accurate test you have to eat gluten every day for up to three months. Why are you considering this? Do you doubt that you have celiac?

richard

dmbaird1230 Apprentice
dmbaird1230
Posted
  • Author

I'm considering getting another endoscopy b/c it's not 100% sure that I have celiac. 6 years ago I went to an allergist and found out that I'm allergic to wheat, then I got a blood test and one of the antibodies was positive, but they said that only way to be 100% sure is to get an endoscopy. I didn't want to do that at the time, so I went on the gluten free diet and then I wound up getting the endoscopy 2 years later and the results came back inconclusive, and I'm wondering if that's b/c I wasn't eating gluten before the test (well, I may have been eating trace amounts in modified food starch, etc) So, I guess I would just like some concrete answers as to if I have celiac disease or not. I just made an appt. w/ a GI, but the earliest appt. isn't until Oct. 4th, so I'm not sure if I should try to get gluten in my system before the dr. appt. or just wait to see what he has to say.

lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

Did you have some sort of health problems that went away after you went gluten-free? If so, in some circles your postive blood test plus improvement on the diet would be considered proof.

Anyway, eating gluten from now until Oct. 4 might or might not be long enough. Everybody is different, but I think the top experts say you need to eat it for three months.

richard

flagbabyds Collaborator
flagbabyds
Posted

If you feel better on the gluten-free diet then you don't need to have the biopsy but if you have had no imporovement then you may want to have the biopsy to make sure this is actually what you have.

dmbaird1230 Apprentice
dmbaird1230
Posted
  • Author

What does anyone else know about how long you have to be eating gluten before a correct biopsy can be done?

Thanks

lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

Most experts seem to agree you need to eat gluten for at least two months, preferably three. And even then damage depends on the individual.

richard

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dmbaird1230 Apprentice
dmbaird1230
Posted
  • Author

I just got the results from my bloodwork that was taken in 1998 while I was still eating gluten and the IGG antibody was 17.1 and the normal range was <7

I sent this to my dr. to see what he has to say. I'm hoping that I might not have to have another endoscopy done.

Guest ~wAvE WeT sAnD~
Guest ~wAvE WeT sAnD~
Posted

Just my two cents: If you've got the antibodies for sure, skip the endoscopy. Let that be proof-I don't believe anyone should suffer the "Gluten Challenge"--that just prolongs your symptoms.

Thanks for listening,

gf4life Enthusiast
gf4life
Posted

After 6 years of being 100% gluten free (or as close to it as possible!) it might take longer than 3 months back on gluten to cause enough damage to be seen with the endoscopy. Chances of your biopsy showing positive damage by October are pretty slim.

I did a gluten challenge this last winter and was back on gluten for two months. (I had only been gluten free off and on for a total of about two months over a two year period) My biopsy still came back negative, since most doctor will only look for complete damage. I am considering having my biopsy slides reevaluated for signs of early stages of damage, but not sure I can afford the expense.

You could try a few days back on gluten and see if it makes you feel sick. I personally wouldn't risk it, but I can understand your need for a concrete answer. That is why I had the Enterolab tests done, since the conventional tests kept coming back inconclusive and I could not commit myself to a lifelong diet if I didn't really have a problem with gluten. Well, I got so sick during that two month gluten challenge that I would never purposefully go back on gluten EVER!

Let us know what you decide to do. We'll all be here to support you no matter what you decide! :)

God bless,

Mariann

dmbaird1230 Apprentice
dmbaird1230
Posted
  • Author

Another thing on top of the fact that I was positive for the IGg antibodies back in 1998, I also went to an allergist then and they told me that I'm allergic to wheat. I'm just confused as what I should do.

dmbaird1230 Apprentice
dmbaird1230
Posted
  • Author

Well, this past weekend I did my own "gluten challenge", I ate some stuff like pizza and wheat bread and I got my answer b/c both Sat. and Sunday I had gas and integestion/acid reflux, basically I felt the way I did before I went on the gluten free diet. So my husband and I just decided that I'll stay on the gluten free diet and forget about doing the endoscopy again. If I felt this bad eating gluten for 2 days I don't want to have to eat it for 3 months before the endoscopy!

So...on with the gluten-free diet!

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    • trents
      is my cleiac disease gone?

      By trents · Posted

      It would be interesting to see if you were tested again for blood antibodies after abandoning the gluten free diet for several weeks to a few months what the results would be. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not necessarily suggesting you do this but it is an option to think about. I guess I'm saying there is a question in my mind as to whether you actually ever had celiac disease. As I said above, the blood antibody testing can yield false positives. And it is also true that celiac-like symptoms can be produced by other medical conditions.
    • numike
      is my cleiac disease gone?

      By numike · Posted

      Thank you for the reply In the early 2000's I did not have the endoscopy nor the biopsy I do not have those initial records I have only consulted a GI drs in the USA 
    • trents
      is my cleiac disease gone?

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome to the forum, @numike! We sometimes get reports like yours from community members who believe their celiac disease has "gone away." We think there can sometimes be cases of remission but not long term healing and that continued consumption of gluten will eventually result in a relapse. This is the state of our knowledge at this point but there is still a lot we don't know and celiac disease continues to surprise us with new findings on a frequent basis. So, we would not advise you to abandon a strict gluten-free diet. Perhaps you can draw consolation from the fact that at the present time you seem to be able to consume gluten without consequences when in situations where you do not have the option to eat gluten-free. But I would advise you to not generalize your recent experience such that you throw caution to the wind. But I want to go back to what you said about being diagnosed by blood test in the early 2000's. Did you not also have that confirmed with an endoscopy and biopsy of the small bowel lining? Normally, a celiac disease diagnosis is not concluded based on a blood test alone because there can be false positives. What kind of doctor did this testing? Was it done in the U.S. or overseas? In the last few years, it has become common in the U.K. to grant a celiac diagnosis from blood testing alone if the antibody test scores are 10x normal or greater. But that practice has not caught on in the U.S. yet and was not in place internationally in the early 2000's. Do you have a record of the tests that were done, the scores and also the reference ranges for negative vs. positive for the tests?
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    • Scott Adams
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      I agree, and generally it means that it isn't working in a high enough percentage of participants to continue pursuing it.
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