Celiac Blood Test

[les123]

After being ill for months on end and getting no help what so ever from my doctors, I decided to try gluten free. I've been on a gluten-free diet for about 6-8 weeks now and have been feeling much better. When I went to my doctor yesterday she said that she wanted to test for Celiac via blood tests. I know that I could get a false negative from having done this, so I asked her how much gluten I would have to consume and for how long I would have to do it for. She basically just said that I shouldn't have "taken it upon myself to do that" and that there are so many things with gluten in them that I probably wasn't doing it right anyway. So.... I never did get my answer. I had seen some posts on here talking about going back to gluten for MONTHS before having the internal tests, but what about the blood tests? How much gluten would it take to trigger the immune response that can be seen via the bloodwork? I heard somewhere else to eat it for about 3 days, but I want to be sure. Thanks!

[happygirl]

Yes, you do need to be eating a full/regular gluten diet for a few months for the tests to be accurate.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/5/1/How-is-...osed/Page1.html

"All of the laboratory tests that can be performed are strongly affected by a gluten-free diet. Tests will return negatives if the individual has been on a gluten-free diet for some time, and there is much debate about the length of time a patient must return to a gluten-laden diet before being tested. It probably depends on many factors: the level of damage that was done before starting a gluten-free diet, the length of time the person has been gluten-free, the amount of healing that has occurred, and the sensitivity of the individual to gluten."

"Because a gluten-free diet precludes accurate testing, if you suspect celiac disease, it is advisable to have diagnostic tests performed before starting a gluten-free diet."

And this has good info:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/12/1/How-lo...gful/Page1.html