Dna Testing... What's This?

[lilgreen]

I've been wheat-free for about a year and off and on before for years and now completely gluten-free for two months and feeling MUCH better.

Several years ago I had a negative biopsy (I'd been avoiding wheat, though) and more recently I had a negative blood test after not consuming wheat for at least six months. Ds was just diagnosed and his gastroentologist recommended that I get DNA testing.

Anyone know what this is about? I'm having a blood sample taken for this next week.

Thanks!

[Jestgar]

You'll get a variety of responses to this, but I suspect it's because the ge is curious.

It doesn't really tell you that much.

[happygirl]

The vast majority of confirmed Celiacs (95%+) have one or both genes: HLA DQ2 or HLA DQ8.

Just having the gene doesn't mean you have Celiac. 1 in 133 Americans have Celiac, but about 30% of the population has the gene. Gene doesn't equal Celiac, but if you don't have the gene, you have a much, much, much lower risk (statistically) of having Celiac.

Since your son has Celiac, your doctor is doing the gene test on you to see if Celiac is a possibility.

[hathor]

Sounds like doctor curiosity. Your negative tests didn't mean anything because you were off gluten. It was silly for them to even test you under those circumstances.

I think you already know you have to avoid gluten. You feel better without it. What genes you have doesn't make any difference. If you don't have either celiac gene, it just means (probably) that you have nonceliac gluten sensitivity. I say probably because there are some diagnosed celiacs without a celiac gene.

But the "treatment" for celiac and NCGS are the same, don't eat gluten. Whatever your genes are you aren't going to eat gluten.