Positve Yet Inconclusive?

[peetred]

My doc ran the first bit of celiac testing for antibodies on my 2 year old son...

one of the antibodies came back elevated but the lab tells my doc that it is inconclusive (because the other three were normal). So, my doc admits he is confused about he results. He ran another full celiac panel and the nurse called this morning and told my husband that it was negative. I have heard a lot on here that the tests are not really reliable for children his age.

So, I am very confused. My son has gastrointeritus right now, but the doc told us to keep a food diary especially when he's feeling better. We have been doing lactose free for 2 weeks with no improvement (i think it's worse) in his bowel movements. I am just ready to try gluten-free to see what happens. What do you all think? At least then, I could take in the food diary and show the doc whether he was improving or not.

[Ursa Major]

Celiac testing is notoriously unreliable in children under six (and not a whole lot more reliable after that). There is no way that a doctor should say that it can't be celiac disease because the blood test was negative.

At your son's age trying the gluten-free diet is the ONLY reliable test for celiac disease. So, my advice is to start the gluten-free diet immediately. The food diary is an excellent idea, as it will help you determine if the diet is working or not, plus it will be good evidence to show your doctor if your son shows improvement on the diet.

[mom2lucas]

My doc ran the first bit of celiac testing for antibodies on my 2 year old son...

one of the antibodies came back elevated but the lab tells my doc that it is inconclusive (because the other three were normal). So, my doc admits he is confused about he results. He ran another full celiac panel and the nurse called this morning and told my husband that it was negative. I have heard a lot on here that the tests are not really reliable for children his age.

So, I am very confused. My son has gastrointeritus right now, but the doc told us to keep a food diary especially when he's feeling better. We have been doing lactose free for 2 weeks with no improvement (i think it's worse) in his bowel movements. I am just ready to try gluten-free to see what happens. What do you all think? At least then, I could take in the food diary and show the doc whether he was improving or not.

Hi! My son is 2 years old as well. When he first started having his sintoms (huge belly, throwing up all the time) it took awhile before we convinced his doctor to ran the celiac panel on him, but when he did, with the exception of the Igg, everything else came back negative, so she dismissed him as not being celiac. But I took him to a Gastro Pedi and it only took her a second to look at him, and say he was very probably a celiac, and did the biopsy which came back positive. So, yes, blood tests are highly unreliable.