Enterolabs Questions

[carecare]

My dh is possible gluten intolerance and also my two girls. We've all recently just this week come to this realization after doing lots of reading on celiac and gluten intolerance. Once he read about celiac he went gluten free that day (this time...I've mentioned it years ago LOL..something clicked this time). Anyway, he's feeling so much better already and it's only been a few days.

I've seen people use Enterolabs for testing. Do GI dr's ever run these tests as part of their testing for intolerances? It seems there might be some controversy with the testing? Is that true? Do dr's not believe the testing is an accurate detail of what's actually going on in the intestines? I see a lot of people posting their postive results from Enterolabs. Has anyone had negatives from them? just curious.

I'm really leaning toward wanting my dh to go through the complete panel given by Enterolabs. To cover all the bases. I just want to know if they are a reputable company and why wouldn't insurance cover this?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[CarlaB]

Enterolab cannot diagnose celiac disease, only gluten intolerance, which you have already determined by dietary response.

[carecare]

Yeah that is true. I guess sometimes you just want to have some "evidence" that there really is something going on.

So they can't tell you if you have celiac but would the panel give you an idea of the likelyhood it's celiac vs just an intolerance? Is a biopsy the only way to absolutely say it's celiac or not. If it's just an intolerance....can people tolerate little amounts of gluten without a problem? If it's just an intolerance would they have to pay attention to labels as much as a celiac patient would? Such as making sure there's no cross contamination.

[Lisa]

Yeah that is true. I guess sometimes you just want to have some "evidence" that there really is something going on.

So they can't tell you if you have celiac but would the panel give you an idea of the likelyhood it's celiac vs just an intolerance? Is a biopsy the only way to absolutely say it's celiac or not. If it's just an intolerance....can people tolerate little amounts of gluten without a problem? If it's just an intolerance would they have to pay attention to labels as much as a celiac patient would? Such as making sure there's no cross contamination.

Enterolabs can test for sensitivities, such as wheat, soy, dairy...etc. They cannot diagnose Celiac Disease. They do gene testing, but I understand that there is a lot of research going on about that.

Gluten sensitivity/intolerance and Celiac Disease are very similar in symptoms, although Celiac Disease will generate the autoimmune response which will destroy the small intestines with an encounter of gluten. Gluten sensitivity/intolerance does not create damage, and it is often said that it may be a precurser to Celiac.

A total gluten free diet required for both.

Have you considered having your husband return to the gluten diet for several months, and then have a blood test for Celiac through your primary doctor. It can be easily handles in his/her office.

[carecare]

Thanks for the info.

He's only been gluten free since Monday... and because he feels so good he does not want to go back to gluten. I mentioned that to him the other day...to continue his old food choices and his response was "no way am I going back to feeling awful". He's been antacid free since going gluten free...he has no indigestion, no cramping and no big D. If he makes it through the weekend with no D it'll be a miracle. Every weekend for the last few months he's been miserable with D. He does not want to go back to that. I thought going gluten free would be so hard...but the internet is a wonderful resource and I've been able to prepare meals that the whole family can enjoy. Tonight was lasanga....and the kids didn't even notice it was made with rice noodles

What he'll do I think is continue gluten free for a time and then see what happens when he ingests gluten products again. That'll be the biggest test really.

We may end up just being a gluten free household...because I have my suspisions that my two daughters are the same as their father.

Thanks again

Enterolabs can test for sensitivities, such as wheat, soy, dairy...etc. They cannot diagnose Celiac Disease. They do gene testing, but I understand that there is a lot of research going on about that.

Gluten sensitivity/intolerance and Celiac Disease are very similar in symptoms, although Celiac Disease will generate the autoimmune response which will destroy the small intestines with an encounter of gluten. Gluten sensitivity/intolerance does not create damage, and it is often said that it may be a precurser to Celiac.

A total gluten free diet required for both.

Have you considered having your husband return to the gluten diet for several months, and then have a blood test for Celiac through your primary doctor. It can be easily handles in his/her office.

[Lisa]

carecare,

Sounds like you have done your homework.

You will find no better source for Celiac than this site. Check out the recipe section.

[hathor]

It makes sense to me to try to avoid doing the damage to your body. So avoiding gluten if you react adversely to it is logical, even if you haven't experienced the villi destruction yet. Perhaps that will come if you continue to eat gluten. Or perhaps the gluten will injure you in another way; for example, there is at least one researcher that has found a link to neurological disorders.

I think of celiac as just a subset of gluten intolerance. Anyone with intolerance has to avoid gluten to the same amount.

I was diagnosed as gluten intolerant by Enterolab testing. I don't know if I have celiac or not. To me, it doesn't make any difference. I had the antibodies; I had the malabsorption. More importantly, perhaps, I had symptoms that improved with going gluten-free, and which reappear when I get the slightest amount of gluten accidentally. I wasn't going to make myself sick by eating a lot of gluten for several months, just so I can get testing that at best would tell me not to eat gluten (which I already knew) or at worst would give me a false negative. No way I would eat gluten even if I put myself through eating the gluten and getting those tests.

I think insurance companies don't want to cover testing that gets done on the initiative of the patient, rather than a doctor ordering it. Also, Dr. Fine hasn't published his research yet so the companies might say it is an unproven test.