Importance Of Tests

[foxdog]

My naturopathic doctor discovered my gluten allergy through a four week allergy elimination diet. I didn't eat corn, soy, wheat, dairy, eggs, for four weeks. When I added these back in to my diet, I had a very bad reaction to wheat.

I've been strictly gluten-free for one year, and somewhat gluten-free for the two years prior to that.

In that time my vision problems, fatigue, endometriosis like problems, ovarian cysts, migranes, joint pain, has gone away, and I've lost a lot of weight. In short, I feel great, better than I ever have.

Should I even bother with the expensive diagnostic tests?

What are the benefits to having a test?

[lob6796]

My naturopathic doctor discovered my gluten allergy through a four week allergy elimination diet. I didn't eat corn, soy, wheat, dairy, eggs, for four weeks. When I added these back in to my diet, I had a very bad reaction to wheat.

I've been strictly gluten-free for one year, and somewhat gluten-free for the two years prior to that.

In that time my vision problems, fatigue, endometriosis like problems, ovarian cysts, migranes, joint pain, has gone away, and I've lost a lot of weight. In short, I feel great, better than I ever have.

Should I even bother with the expensive diagnostic tests?

What are the benefits to having a test?

Unless you need the test to give yourself piece of mind, I wouldn't even bother. You have the evidence you need to keep being gluten free, so just stick with it. In the future you can tell doctors that you have either celiac or a gluten intolerance proven by an elimination diet. That should be good enough for their purposes. To be tested for celiac you would have to go back on gluten for quite some time, given that you have been gluten free for so long. They could order you to be on gluten for up to 6 months before they would feel the tests to be accurate. I personally wouldn't want to go back to feeling so crummy and lose all that I had worked towards.

[mftnchn]

There is no benefit for you at this point, because you will have to go back to eating gluten, perhaps for months, for the tests to be positive.

Enterolab, which does not diagnose celiac, only gluten sensitivity may work for up to a year after you stop eating gluten. But at this point it is really hard to say if anything will show up for you.

I think you do what you know is right for yourself.

My suggestion: if you have first degree relatives with symptoms, encourage them to do testing before going gluten free. With a confirmed celiac in the family, if others have symptoms, doctors may take this more seriously. I.E. other may benefit.