Just Diagnosed With Celiac

[Lisa Ann]

I was just diagnosed Wed. with Celiac. I was diagnosed as a baby back in the late 60's also but since they didn't know a whole lot about Celiac I've been eating normal food up until now (age 36). After reading about Celiac in a digestion book I decided to get checked for sure. The blood results definetely pointed to Celiac and I had an Endoscopy with biopsies on Wed. I'm wondering if it's normal to have biopsies and what the results usually tell you. I'm hoping to hear in a few days. My next Dr.'s appt is May 9th.

This is a fantastic sight and I've actually started the gluten-free diet but eating out has me very confused.

Since I'm very new at this any help would be greatly appreciated.

[celiac3270]

Biopsies are a pretty regular occurence after positive bloodwork. The biopsy will usually show either complete damage to the villi (where all the samples come back as positive), patchy damage (some samples showing villous atrophy, some not), or no damage, which could be the result of taking samples from all the areas that were not damaged. With positive bloodwork, though, a negative biopsy should not be taken too seriously. It could be due to a number of factors.

Don't start the gluten-free diet until after all testing is complete--you don't want a false negative.

[KaitiUSA]

Yes I agree with celiac3270 100%.