Colonoscopy Question

[jjc]

My daughter was diagnosed by some stool testing, but she is finally going to have her first colonoscopy to see what's up officially down there.....however, she hasn't had gluten in a whole year. She's HAS been accidentally glutened several times in the past couple of months, but she is currently on a gluten free diet.

In a year she's probably healed up pretty well, but I wondered if her colonoscopy would show any damage from those few times she's been glutened?

We want to make sure she doesn't have IBS or Crohn's or any other problem.

[psawyer]

A colonoscopy will not show celiac disease damage caused by gluten. Damage from celiac disease occurs in the small intestine, not in the colon.

The procedure to detect celiac disease is an enteroscopy, commonly also called an endoscopy. It is common for both procedures to be done at the same time.

[Dr-LaTino]

I wouldn't recommend doing a colonoscopy. Take it from me, I've done it, and I remembered it put my body under even more stress than it was in the first place and usually results in nothing (especially in the younger). Plus, they're sticking a tube through your... you get the point.

It's not pleasant and usually results in worser symptoms. Same thing goes for fiber. It's a horror on the body.

It's all up to you though. If you want proof of fiber damage just ask me. I've got plenty of resources.

[psawyer]

I wouldn't recommend doing a colonoscopy. Take it from me, I've done it, and I remembered it put my body under even more stress than it was in the first place and usually results in nothing (especially in the younger). Plus, they're sticking a tube through your... you get the point.

It's not pleasant and usually results in worser symptoms. Same thing goes for fiber. It's a horror on the body.

It's all up to you though. If you want proof of fiber damage just ask me. I've got plenty of resources.

Okay I'll take the bait. Please provide your proof of how fiber does damage, and while you are at it, I'd be interested in your evidence that a colonoscopy is harmful (not just unpleasant--harmful).

[toni m]

My daughter was diagnosed by some stool testing, but she is finally going to have her first colonoscopy to see what's up officially down there.....however, she hasn't had gluten in a whole year. She's HAS been accidentally glutened several times in the past couple of months, but she is currently on a gluten free diet.

In a year she's probably healed up pretty well, but I wondered if her colonoscopy would show any damage from those few times she's been glutened?

We want to make sure she doesn't have IBS or Crohn's or any other problem.

definately have the colonoscopy. my daughter was also diagnosed with celliac disease, was gluten free for months with no improvement. she was diagnosed celiac by positive blood and endoscopy. after months of still being in severe pain she went for a colonoscopy only to find out she had crohns as well as celiac. by time of the diagnosis she had a case of severe crohns. definately have it done

[ravenwoodglass]

I wouldn't recommend doing a colonoscopy. Take it from me, I've done it, and I remembered it put my body under even more stress than it was in the first place and usually results in nothing (especially in the younger). Plus, they're sticking a tube through your... you get the point.

It's not pleasant and usually results in worser symptoms. Same thing goes for fiber. It's a horror on the body.

It's all up to you though. If you want proof of fiber damage just ask me. I've got plenty of resources.

While a colonscopy prep is unpleasent the test itself is not bad. For one thing most are under some form of sedation when it is done. I did have a bad reaction once to a prep that I turned out to be allergic to and was reluctant to do one again. However with celiac the chances of a cancer of the intestines is higher than for the regular population. I had another one done a few months ago with a different prep and suffered no ill effects and they found a polyp that was fairly good sized. In the long run I am glad I had it done as polyps can turn cancerous.

As for it worsening symptoms the first one I had done prediagnosis left me feeling great for about three days, until the gluten built up again. My GI looked at me like I was nuts when I asked if I could do the prep once a month or so. That should have clued him in but it would still be another 5 years before I was finally diagnosed.

IF your experience made you worse you may have had a bad reaction to the prep and when it is time to do it again let the GI know so they can give you something different.

As for fiber being bad for you- when most think of fiber they think 'wheat'. For those of us with celiac yes that type of fiber is not good of course. However the fiber found in fruits, veggies and nongluten foods is not bad for us and is an important part of our diets.

To the original poster- do ask that they do an endo at the same time. It requires no additional prep and only adds a few minutes to the test time. The endo will show if she is healing well, the colonoscopy will not.

[Gemini]

While a colonscopy prep is unpleasent the test itself is not bad. For one thing most are under some form of sedation when it is done. I did have a bad reaction once to a prep that I turned out to be allergic to and was reluctant to do one again. However with celiac the chances of a cancer of the intestines is higher than for the regular population.

I have read numerous publications and books on Celiac and most agree that if someone follows a strict gluten-free diet and doesn't cheat, the risk of any intestinal cancer

is no more than for the general population. I also believe that it's just intestinal lymphoma and adenoma of the small intestine that can occur in undiagnosed or non-complaint Celiacs. Both are rare cancers and occur in a very small percentage of the population so I don't think people need to walk around fearing intestinal cancer if they do a good job with the diet.

You also need to look at family history. There are many undiagnosed Celiacs in my family and just about no cancer at all. We all have autoimmune diseases yet pretty much have a non-cancer family tree, going back many generations. It's not much of a worry for me. I think if people choose to have one done if they are having additional problems that cannot be explained easily, it might be a good thing to do but all this screening because you turn a certain age is part of the reason health care costs have soared.

[ang1e0251]

The other posters are correct, your daughter needs an endoscopy to reveal celiac disease but it will not show any damage if she has been gluten-free for a year. She will need at least 8 weeks of a gluten challenge before she can have an accurate endoscopy.

Not that you shouldn't do the colonoscopy, that's up to you but if it were me, I'd like them to do both at one time after the challenge. That way she only has to undergo the anesthesia once.