How Long Back On Gluten For Blood Test Accuracy?

[Aleshia]

hi, finally getting the doctors to agree to test my kids for celiac disease, the problem is 2 of them have been gluten-free for about 2 mo. and one has been Gluten-light for about 1 1/2 mo. and gluten-free for about 1 1/2 weeks. Ped said that the tests should still be accurate even after that time but I'm not buying it. how long would I need to have them on gluten for accurate testing? is it less time for a positive result on a blood test than for biopsy since it is in the blood rather than showing actual damage in the intestines??

I was hoping only a week or 2 on gluten because of the behavioral issues but now I'm not so sure and wouldn't want to deal with the irritability if its not gonna show anything

any suggestions?

[Ursa Major]

The ped is wrong. Children heal quickly, and it is highly unlikely that the tests would be accurate now. They are notoriously unreliable in young children to begin with, in fact.

Actually, the blood tests won't be positive until the villi are in very bad shape. The antibodies are produced in the intestine, and will get into the blood only after extensive damage and finally having leaky gut. So, the blood tests will definitely be negative if the gut has healed.

It could take several months back on eating LOTS of gluten every day before the blood tests would maybe be positive. With children, it could take years.

You have seen great improvement on the gluten-free diet. Do you really want to make the kids sick again just for a test? They should have been tested before trying the gluten-free diet, in my opinion, it is too late for that now.

Can you afford to have them tested with Open Original Shared Link? Their tests are still accurate up to a year after going gluten-free. But they can only diagnose gluten intolerance, not celiac disease, because at the moment the medical establishment still thinks that you only have celiac disease if a biopsy has shown villi damage.

Really, you can feed your kids whatever you want, it is nobody's business (unless you starve them, of course). If you are satisfied that you have proven they are gluten intolerant, then why not be happy with that?