False Negative Rate For Serological Tests?

[jormungand]

Hi,

I've been lurking for a while since I suspect I have gluten intolerance, and this board has been incredibly useful. However, I was wondering if someone could answer some questions for me.

One - Does anyone know what the false negative rate for the celiac antibody panel is? I recently had a complete set of serological tests run and there were no abnormalities.

Two - If I schedule a endoscopy and it is negative as well, what is the combined false negative rate? Could I still have celiac's?

As a bit of background, I have some risk factors in favor of the disease: Hashimoto's, mild GE symptoms like intermittent loose bowel movements and mild abdominal discomfort, and presumed lactose intolerance (being breath tested for it soon). However, I have had many of these symptoms even during periods of gluten-free diet (natural, not intentional, since I am vegetarian and eat lots of naturally gluten free South Asian/Southeast Asian dishes with rice, lentils, vegetables, and pure single-ingredient spices), and I have no family history of any GE disorders as far as I can.

Like I mentioned, before my antibody testing, I was gluten-free or gluten-light naturally for small periods of time, a couple of days or even up to a week. Would this affect my results, if I otherwise eat a normal amount of gluten for an American diet, including pizzas, breads, and pasta? I was not careful about checking ingredients or using clean cooking utensils, and my results showed no deviation from the lab's reference ranges (in contrast, my Hashimoto's test showed 2000 when normal was 20 or less).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[nora-n]

You need to eat a lot of gluten for the blood tests to show up positive.

Like 0,3 grams per kg per day, for at least 6 weeks, better at least 3 months.

Did they do the total IgA too?

If you are IgA deficient, the ordinary tests will be negative.'

And, I read here that scientists sent blood from biopsy proven celiacs out and many labs picked up only half the celiacs in real life (not in lab circumstances).....