Dh, Blood Test, Stomach Biopsy - Help!

[chatycady]

I need expert advise, so I've come to the experts. I think my father has DH. I am on a gluten free diet, as I have had many of the symptoms ie iron anemia, Pernicious anemia, digestive, balance issues and much more and am cured on the gluten free diet.

Is it true that a blood test for celiac and stomach biopsy can be negative for celiac, but the skin biopsy positive for DH?

Is it true that a skin biopsy is the "gold standard" for DH.

Is it true DH is another gluten intolerance that is different than celiac?

So why does the Dr. want to do a blood test and stomach biopsy for my father who has an obvious skin issue? I'm afraid if they both come back negative, they will tell him he doesn't have a gluten issue and that his skin problem is "what old men get". (He was told this my a nmber of Dr's. already).

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Chaty

[dhd2000]

Is he going to a dermatologist? My celiac bloodwork came back inconclusive, but my skin biopsy came back positive for DH. I think the skin biopsy would be much easier to pursue than the intestinal biopsy. I do think you can have DH and negative bloodwork and int. biopsy. I've learned a lot from this site: Open Original Shared Link From what I've read there, DH is the skin manifestation of celiac, not a gluten intolerance.

Good luck with your Dad. Even though my sister and I are both positive, my Dad has no interest in testing.

[RoseTapper]

Yes, from my reading (I believe from Dr. Peter Green's book "Celiac: The Hidden Epidemic"), people with DH have a tendency to test negative when an intestinal biopsy is done, even though their symptoms oftentimes are worse (especially iron anemia). This might be because the damage is in patches. Dr. Green states in his book that if you test positive for DH, you absolutely have celiac disease....so, yes, I would go for the skin biopsy first. However, very few dermatologists seem to know how to do a correct biopsy for DH. It must be done NEAR a lesion and not of the lesion itself; otherwise, the biopsy will be negative. Also, many gastroenterologists are unaware that 100% of patients with DH have celiac.

[chatycady]

Thanks for the responses, they were both very helpful. My dad's blood test was negative and so was the stomach biopsy. He now says his skin condition is getting better. I've decided he doesn't really want to know if he has DH as he doesn't want to give up the pizza buffets and chinese buffets. If he gets sick enough I suppose he wil ask quesions.

Diets are very personal and very hard to change. It takes a crisis and even then many go back to their eating habits.

But not me! And I feel great after many years of misery!

Thanks

[ravenwoodglass]

I've decided he doesn't really want to know if he has DH as he doesn't want to give up the pizza buffets and chinese buffets. If he gets sick enough I suppose he wil ask quesions.

Diets are very personal and very hard to change. It takes a crisis and even then many go back to their eating habits.

But not me! And I feel great after many years of misery!

Thanks

Perhaps if you live close enough you could get together with him and fix up some pizza with a good gluten-free crust, I like gluten-free pantries french bread mix and even gluten eaters have had no complaints with it. Get some Thai Kitchen rice noodles and make some chinese dishes with those and gluten-free soysauce. Cook him a stew with potatoe starch as a thickener. I think you get the idea.

If you can get him to come on here and at least just read some of the posts and some of the signatures, mine, for example, is quite telling about what happens when we are 'lucky' and don't show up in blood work.

It is hard to convince someone, and sometimes our own return to health is enough to give a family member a shove in the right direction.

Another thing you may want to do is to do a image search for DH photos. DH leaves a very distinctive purplish scar that usually doesn't fade real quick, well until gluten-free anyway. Perhaps if he sees pictures that look like his rash that will encourage him to either get a skin biopsy or just go gluten-free. While the skin will hold the deposits for a long time most folks see a decrease in outbreaks within a couple of weeks gluten-free.