Persuading Family Member To Get Checked?

[revenant]

I'm pretty sure my younger sister has gluten sensitivity... My grandmother was sensitive to milk items (suspecting she was lactose) and my mom is gluten-intolerant, I'm both. Throughout my childhood I had diarrhea every 2nd day, and my younger sister did too. She also had long-term constipation as a child...and feels sick after eating almost every day (she practically lives off of pasta and bread items).. I also hear that being short can be a sign, and she's very short for her age and always has been. She has very bad anger problems and depression, she went to get "tested" (aka, took a survey) for bipolar and apparently is bipolar but i've known her for a long time, and think that this is not true beause she is never manic.. and I read that depression, anxiety or mood problems is one of the main symptoms of celiacs... I'm so sure she has what I have.

The problem is, she's terrified of needles, she'd never get a blood test done, and she'll never go on a gluten free diet because she doesn't believe that she'll ever feel better, she thinks it's her fault she feels so bad and she often says that she wants to die when she feels sick. She has no hope that she'll ever feel "good", and it's so sad to see.

Is there an alternative way to check for gluten sensitivity/celiacs without a needle prick, or anything more extreme? I don't want her to get off of bread if it's that hard for her, for now I just want her to realize how damaging it is and that she might have it. I know there's probably nothing I can do if she doesn't want to change but it's so sad to see her so depressed and sick all the time.

[torimuse]

Some people have had fairly good experience with a place called Enterolab. Some other people don't think they're worth it. It's a stool sample test instead of a needle prick, so it could be a viable option for your sister. You can do a genetic cheek swab with Enterolab, too.

[Skylark]

She does sound like she could be gluten-sensitive. Yes, depression is sign of gluten problems, as is the feeling sick after eating wheat and the constipation. She also sounds like the depression is inadequately treated. For folks with gluten-caused depression antidepressants are a bit of a "band-aid" but they can still be very helpful. Anger problems and irritability actually are signs of bipolar illness. Irritability is particularly strongly associated with manic states. Are you sure you have a solid understanding of what mania really is? (By the way, SSRI antidepressants can make some people bipolar if she's being treated with them. Read my profile.)

Is a stool sample too extreme? Enterolab tests are extremely sensitive and not terribly specific, but because of that you're rather likely to get the positive result you need to convince her to try the diet.

The kit you can order from Open Original Shared Link is a better test for actual celiac, with lower sensitivity and good specificity but it requires a finger prick. It also might not come back positive if she doesn't have villous damage, and it almost sounds like you need a positive test result.