Follow Up Blood Work

[Beth in NC]

I have read about people getting follow up blood work to check to see how they are doing overall with their gluten-free diet. Is this just another Celiac panel? Sooooooo, my question is...if the panel is so inaccurate so much of the time, with false negatives and such, how much stock can someone really put in a second panel?

[happygirl]

When people talk about it being inaccurate - it can mean a few things:

1. the right blood tests weren't run

2. the person wasn't eating gluten at the time of testing

3. the celiac blood tests test for celiac - and dont necessarily help determine if you have a non-celiac gluten problem (i.e., you can test negative for Celiac, but still have a non- Celiac gluten reaction - that improves if you go off gluten)

4. The tests aren't perfect - but have come a long ways.

If you are a confirmed Celiac (bloodwork/biopsy), then it is used as a good indicator of progress.

[ravenwoodglass]

If you had positive blood work when you were diagnosed it can be helpful to see how much the levels have gone down. It is hard to ferret out all gluten sources and at times this can let folks know if it is sneaking in somewhere. If you did not have postive blood work, 30% of us don't, then the retesting would be of no value. It is a good idea even then though to have a panel run to check your vitamin and mineral levels at 6 months to see if you are absorbing a bit better if you suffered from malabsorption at diagnosis.