Sensitivity Or Allergy?

[chana]

Hello,

I would like to know if some facts I heard regarding celiac are true:

1. Is it true that 15% of people with celiac symptoms could have celiac even though their blood tests and biopsy are normal?. - the gluten free diet helps a lot and many symptoms are gone!

2. If #1 is true, is the person sensitive to gluten rather than being allergic?

3. A biopsy done after being on steroids for over a year, and being off gluten for about 6-7 months-then going back to eating about a cookie a day for three days before the biopsy is done- would the results be accurate?

4. Does anyone know of a connection between sensitivity or allergy to gluten and blood in the urine?

I would really appreciate help with the above issues.

Thanx, Chana

[KaitiUSA]

Hello,

I would like to know if some facts I heard regarding celiac are true:

1. Is it true that 15% of people with celiac symptoms could have celiac even though their blood tests and biopsy are normal?. - the gluten free diet helps a lot and many symptoms are gone!

2. If #1 is true, is the person sensitive to gluten rather than being allergic?

3. A biopsy done after being on steroids for over a year, and being off gluten for about 6-7 months-then going back to eating about a cookie a day for three days before the biopsy is done- would the results be accurate?

4. Does anyone know of a connection between sensitivity or allergy to gluten and blood in the urine?

I would really appreciate help with the above issues.

Thanx, Chana

#1. I am not sure about percentage on that but it is possible to have negative bloodtests and biopsies but be gluten intolerant and possibly develop it in the future

#2. Celiac is not an allergy so it would not show up on an allergy test. They have separate testing. There is a complete panel of 5 tests that should be done. The tTG is the best bloodtest for celiac and will even take the place of biopsies for diagnosis in the near future.

#3. If you are off of gluten for 7 months and have a cookie a day for 3 days then yes a biopsy would be worthless because the results would not be accurate. You have to be on gluten heavily for about 3 months(eating equal to about 3 pieces of bread a day)

#4. Celiac can cause problems throughout the body with other organs. It is possible that this is connected but you should definitely not ignore that.

Hope this helps

[Carriefaith]

1. Is it true that 15% of people with celiac symptoms could have celiac even though their blood tests and biopsy are normal?. - the gluten free diet helps a lot and many symptoms are gone!

2. If #1 is true, is the person sensitive to gluten rather than being allergic?

Some people have negative blood tests because they are IGA deficient, but they still have intestinal damage. If the person was not IGA deficient and had negative blood tests and if the doctor took at least 4-5 biopsies from the small intestine and got a negative biopsy, then it is very unlikely that the person would have celiac. The exceptions are: that person could be in the very beginning stages of celiac or they could carry the gene for celiac that is not yet "triggered on" (A gene test will tell you for sure if you carry the celiac gene or not). These situations would probably also give negative results. If the person tests negative for celiac and reacts to gluten it is possible that they have a gluten intolerance or a wheat allergy.

[tarnalberry]

It's true that it is possible to test negative on a blood panel and still have gluten intolerance. There is some evidence that there is a variety of gluten intolerance which causes various symptoms but does not cause the same immune response that true celiac disease causes. (Hence, it may be that celiac disease is one specific subset of gluten intolerance.)

Remember that a positive reaction to the dietary challenge is a test in and of itself. If you're uncertain, you can do a few repeat challenges, holding the other variables constant, but it is still valid data.