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Do I Need To Eat Certain Before The Blood Test?

DaisyMadison

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DaisyMadison Newbie
DaisyMadison
Posted

I have an apt to see my doctor tomorrow at 10:30AM. After dealing with extreme nausea with no vomitting every day and headaches daily and sometimes very painful stomache cramps (after having a hysterctomy so don't get periods) - for months and months. Nobody has been able to figure out what is wrong with me. I finally did a search for nausea I came up with several websites about Celiac and after reading all the symptoms I actually have 4-5 of them. So I made an apt to see the doctor and get the blood test done. Some websites said that I should NOT be eating a gluten free diet before the test or it would screw it up. But my best friend whose 2 kids have Celiac disease said that it is just in your blood no matter what you eat, it will show up if you have it or not eating gluten free or not before the test. So what do I do? As soon as I read all about the disease and was quite sure this must be what I have, I started eating gluten free. I was planning on eating something wheaty tomorrow for breakfast before the test but don't want to make myself nauseaus for no reason if I don't have to.

So do I continue to eat gluten free or not before the test?

Heather~

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Ursa Major Collaborator
Ursa Major
Posted

How long have you been eating gluten-free? Because it certainly is important to eat LOTS of gluten before a blood test. And just eating it the day of the test won't be enough.

If you have been gluten-free for more than two weeks, you are pretty much guaranteed a false negative result, even if you have celiac disease. In that case you would need to eat at least four slices of regular bread (or an equivalent of pasta and such) for three to six months minimum before a blood test to get a positive result.

If you have been gluten-free for less than a week you might still get an accurate reading (but no guarantee of that). It depends on how fast you heal.

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DaisyMadison Newbie
DaisyMadison
  • Author
Posted

I've only been eating gluten free yesterday and today, since it was only 2 nights ago I ran across all about Celiac on the web and realized this might very well be what I have. So I guess I will eat a lot of no no foods tonight and tomorrow for breakfast to give the test an accurate reading. Before I realized it might be gluten sensitive problem, I ate LOTS AND LOTS of gluten and wheat, whole wheat, and oats. So it should still be in my blood system and I'll start helping it now I guess.

Thanks,

Heather~

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hathor Contributor
hathor
Posted

Be sure your doctor runs the entire battery of tests you need for diagnosis. You can read up on this subject on this site. https://www.celiac.com/st_main.html?p_catid=2 Sometimes I've heard of doctors who really don't know much about celiac and they do NOT run all the necessary tests. Do you know what you are getting?

Even if you test negative, with a response to a gluten-free diet, it would be a good idea to continue. It can take a time for the antibodies to get into one's blood. Stool testing, such as done by www.enterolab.com is believed by some to be more sensitive. Also, there is such a thing as non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Oh well, no need to get complicated on you. You can see what the tests say and take it from there.

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