Question About Getting Tested!

[BAFARR]

Hello I'm actually writing this for my boyfriend who is gluten-free. His doctor will FINALLY test him through blood work for the antibodies. He has been gluten-free (except rare cheating or mishaps) for over 1 year. His dietitian said he has to eat gluten for 2 weeks before the test or it will come out neg. His dr. said no he has to stay gluten-free for the test to work. I thought he had to eat it or he would get a false neg. Who is right because he needs to either get the blood work done soon or faster results or were going to go crazy on some foods these next 2 weeks. (Order delivery pizza, Mac & cheese, etc.) He cant go too crazy because most of the time he will probably feel sick. But at least for 2 weeks my grocery bill wont be outrageous! Thanks for your help, Bridget

[KaitiUSA]

He needs to be on gluten for a good 3 months before getting tested...2 weeks is not long enough...what the other doctor said is just bogus and he needs a celiac lesson. Since he is gluten free it would show up negative if he had a blood test for antibodies now.

[plantime]

Kaiti is right. Since he was glutenfree for almost a year, he will need around three months on gluten for a proper test diagnosis. None of the bloodtests or biopsies work on someone that is glutenfree! That's like looking for poison in the blood of someone that has never taken any!

[2sick2golf]

I have been off of wheat for 10 weeks and gluten free for 19 days. My doctor took a blood sample today to look for the antibodies. Is this test going to be reliable since I have not been consuming?

[KaitiUSA]

Yes that could very well throw the results off so you may not get an accurate reading.

Did you get a gene test as well? That will not affect the gene test so you could still find out if you have that predisposition to it. 98% have the HLA-DQ2 or HLA- DQ8 gene.

In order to get accurate testing for blood tests or biopsies it is recommended that you need to be on gluten heavily for a good 3 months.

Do you know what blood tests you just had done? Did they do a full celiac panel or just a few tests?

[2sick2golf]

All I know is I finally convinced my rheumatologist that my problems seemed to be linked to gluten. He ordered a celiac blood test looking for antigens(?). Things improved when I quit eating wheat but then things seemed to level off. I quit gluten and things started getting better again. I had dramatic wieght loss, from 187 to 148, 5'10" used to be fit male. I don't believe the wieght loss is from rheumatoid. Thanks for the help.