Can Anyone Tell Me What They Know About Enterolab Testing?

[TammyK]

Does this lab actually dx Celiac Disease? Or does it merely tell you if you are gluten sensative? I read discussion after discussion about biopsys. Can you find out you have Celiac Disease before your intestines are damaged? Is gluten sensativity merely a precursor Celiac?

Ok, I know that is a string of questions but I really am confused about this. My daughter has had a long time issue with wheat. I switched her to spelt and that lasted a few years until seizures and migraines appeared. Taking her off gluten proved to be the trick. She has no gut issues like bloating, gas, cramps, etc... We did have blood work done for Celiac but that was after she was on the gluten-free diet for a couple of weeks or so. It was negative. I am trying to decide how important further testing at EnteroLab is. If all it will tell me is that she is sensative, then we can just save the money.

What do you think?

[mftnchn]

Enterolab does not claim to diagnose celiac; it does pick up gluten sensitivty and says that they can do so for up to a year after going gluten-free. Whether gluten sensitivity is a precursor to celiac is a matter of discussion. However, gluten sensitivity seems to occur for more reasons that just celiac. It is particularly hard to digest so if your gut is compromised it can be a problem. Resolving the underlying issue can resolve the gluten sensitivity for some people, but not for celiacs.

Celiac can be asymptomatic, and can have negative blood and biopsies.

Since you are convinced she is better on the gluten-free diet, I wonder what you hope to gain from Enterolab?

[TammyK]

Since you are convinced she is better on the gluten-free diet, I wonder what you hope to gain from Enterolab?

Ok - that makes so much more sense!

As for what can be gained from Enterolab, there is a full panel that includes more than the gluten-sensativity test but a malabsorption test, antibody test, gene test (for Celiac? Anyone know?), milk sensativity and more. Guess I still don't if any well be helpful, except that I feel the gluten-sensative one is unnecessary for me and I know diary purposed problems as well. But malabsorption and gene testing???

I am trying to decide if Celiac should be further considered or if I think it is a gut problem. She did have abdominal cramps and diarrhea her first 1-2 years of life but those did go away with eliminating diary. We have randomly reintroduced diary and she has never went back to any of those symptoms. She had been treated long term for chronic ear infections (antibiotics), having her first set of tubes put in at 6 months old (and several sets since). Then at 6, she was dx with Asthma. It is sounding to me to be the leaky gut thing but then there is the fact that I cannot eat gluten, eggs or oats without itching and rash and in the past few years was dx with 2 autoimmune diseases. That makes me think more Celiac due to the hereditary factor. Ugh... Wish this was easier to figure out.

I don't want to learn in 10 years it was really Celiac after all. Knowing seems important because Celiacs have to be so careful. I have a family of six and do have gluten in the kitchen and all around her. Knowing it was Celiac would mean changing everyone's diet, cleaning up the kithcen, being resolved for the long haul and teaching and preparing her for her adult life - how she will approach her health.

Unfornately it has taken this mama too long to read the writing in the sky. I am just now up to full speed on understanding that it really was gluten all along (not just wheat) and that she never should have been reintroduced to diary. It took seizures and migraines to wake me up. Thank God, our bodies take dramatic means to communicate with us.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[fedora]

they do a gene test. It is a reliable test that can tell you if she has the main genes for celiac. About 94% of celiacs have on of those two genes. Doctors can order gene testing too that her insurance might cover.