How Long Before Testing Do I Have To Eat Gluten?

[Sandi*]

I am going to see a new doctor and see if I can push for a diagnosis . So there is a very good chance she might do the endoscopy/biopsy again.

I've been gluten-free on and off over the last couple months. Usually I avoid it for two weeks, then decide it's not helping, so I eat it for two weeks again, then go back to not eating it because I feel worse. Well, I THINK I feel worse but I never know if it's IBS or celiac disease. Anyway, I think since I haven't been strictly gluten-free for a long long time I think it may take me less time to have to consume all that gluten needed for a biopsy?

Also, what are the best, gluten-concentrated foods besides bread and pasta? How about seitan, doesn't that have even more gluten? If I do have to eat it, I would make it count and eat a lot of it to get the most accurate diagnosis.

[The Fluffy Assassin]

I am going to see a new doctor and see if I can push for a diagnosis . So there is a very good chance she might do the endoscopy/biopsy again.

I've been gluten-free on and off over the last couple months. Usually I avoid it for two weeks, then decide it's not helping, so I eat it for two weeks again, then go back to not eating it because I feel worse. Well, I THINK I feel worse but I never know if it's IBS or celiac disease. Anyway, I think since I haven't been strictly gluten-free for a long long time I think it may take me less time to have to consume all that gluten needed for a biopsy?

Also, what are the best, gluten-concentrated foods besides bread and pasta? How about seitan, doesn't that have even more gluten? If I do have to eat it, I would make it count and eat a lot of it to get the most accurate diagnosis.

I think the consensus is "at least six weeks." I'm pretty sure that a slice or two of whole-wheat bread per day would be sufficient, but if you're this motivated to eat gluten, they sell it in stores, labeled "Vital Wheat Gluten." (Hoping they're wrong about the "vital" part.)

[Lisa]

I am going to see a new doctor and see if I can push for a diagnosis .

Also, what are the best, gluten-concentrated foods besides bread and pasta? How about seitan, doesn't that have even more gluten? If I do have to eat it, I would make it count and eat a lot of it to get the most accurate diagnosis.

I would suggest, if you are determined for a diagnosis that you consume 3-4 slices of bread (or equivelent) for a six to eight week period.

Should you have Celiac, it's the autoimmune response to the gluten, not the densitiy of the gluten consumed, which creates a degree of damage where it can be diagnosed.

After six to eight weeks, I would have the Celiac Panel:

Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) both IgA and IgG

Anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) - IgA

Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) - IgA

Total IgA level.

OR, you can choose a dedicated gluten free diet, with hopes of a positive dietary response.

[Sandi*]

Thank you both. I had gluten yesterday, I had seitan for lunch and then two slices of bread for dinner, and I got this very uncomfortable, full, bloated feeling afterward. So that may be my answer...I would just feel much better and determined if I had an official diagnosis.