If You Are Gluten Intolerant As Opposed To Celiac...

[elaine33]

to your intestines or does it cause a different reaction? I have been trying to distinguish the difference. Is celiac only diagnosed when there is a positive blood test and/or biopsy?

[Guest nini]

technically Celiac is defined as the atrophy or blunting of the villi of the small intestine. Celiac is only one manifestation of gluten intolerance however and true, not all people who are gluten intolerant have Celiac, but, the outcome and treatment are exactly the same so to me it's pretty clear. Most Dr.s are still clinging to outdated methodology of only diagnosing Celiac if they find damage to the villi, including people with positive blood tests. However, the fact is that too often when they do a scope and biopsies they are missing damage (proven by later biopsies that show SEVERE damage) so don't put too much stock in negative biopsies. Also the blood work issue: The minimum needs to be the complete celiac panel (shown below)

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgA

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA

Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA

Total Serum IgA

even still too many Dr.s or labs are not sure about interpreting the results and there is still varying opinions on at what point is the bloodwork positive? (anything slightly outside the normal range is positive) Plus, some peoplle are IgA deficient and therefore these blood tests are useless in determining the presence of antibodies.

All that aside, positive dietary response indicating a problem with gluten is way more valid and way more important than any blood test or biopsy. Unfortunately as a society we are conditioned to trust medical dr.s and testing as infallible and to not trust our own bodies. If our bodies are telling us a certain food is a problem then why continue to eat it regardless of what any medical tests show? The testing is far from perfect. If it's positive then it is positive, there are no false positives ever... those Dr.s that say there are false positives are sadly misinformed. And if the tests are negative, there ARE false negatives all the time so a negative test result simply means "not positive".

[mommida]

The way I understand it... For a Celiac diagnoses you would have positive results on a blood test, then have an endoscopy with biopsy showing flattened or damaged villi, and positive on the biopsy. That is the "gold" standard for diagnoses.

If a person is having constant "D", having an adverse reaction to a medication, or other things I just can't think of right now; it can cause flattening of the villi.

Gluten intolerance causes damage to the body. There are many articles showing calcification deposits in the brain, and so on. If your symptoms of gluten intolerance cause you to have chronic "D", I think you would eventually cause enough damage to the villi to be diagnosed by the gold standard.

The treatment for DH, Celiac disease, and gluten intolerance is to follow a gluten free diet for life.

L.