Best Test For Gluten Issues?

[jane314159]

I eat a mostly gluten-free diet, but have been plagued by occasional upset stomachs and very bad abdominal pain for as long as I can remember. At the suggestion of my aunt, who's gluten-free, I had completely eliminated gluten for about 2 weeks from my diet until yesterday, when my Mom brought home cookies that she said were gluten-free. It turns out that some (but not all) of the cookies were gluten-free.

Almost immediately after eating them I felt pressure in my upper abdomen followed by sharp pains near my stomach and later, excruciating pain in my lower abdomen. I couldn't even walk or stand. I've had this a few times before, but now I'm feeling very certain that it is a gluten issue.

I had a blood test done a few days ago and it came back negative, but my doctor hadn't told me that I should be eating a lot of gluten before taking the test. Should I eat more gluten (I don't want to!) and retake the blood test, or should I try another type of test (genetics, biopsy, or something else)?

Thanks for the help.

[ravenwoodglass]

Unless your willing to go back on gluten for about 3 months there isn't any test that can tell you for sure and even if you do you could still have a false negative. The best test IMHO is your response to the diet. Your body is alreay giving you the answer.

[nmthommy]

I eat a mostly gluten-free diet, but have been plagued by occasional upset stomachs and very bad abdominal pain for as long as I can remember. At the suggestion of my aunt, who's gluten-free, I had completely eliminated gluten for about 2 weeks from my diet until yesterday, when my Mom brought home cookies that she said were gluten-free. It turns out that some (but not all) of the cookies were gluten-free.

Almost immediately after eating them I felt pressure in my upper abdomen followed by sharp pains near my stomach and later, excruciating pain in my lower abdomen. I couldn't even walk or stand. I've had this a few times before, but now I'm feeling very certain that it is a gluten issue.

I had a blood test done a few days ago and it came back negative, but my doctor hadn't told me that I should be eating a lot of gluten before taking the test. Should I eat more gluten (I don't want to!) and retake the blood test, or should I try another type of test (genetics, biopsy, or something else)?

Thanks for the help.

Blood tests are unreliable. EnteroLab does a lot of GI testing www.enterolab.com

They can even run DNA testing

[SaraKat]

I agree that your body seems to be reacting well to the gluten-free diet, but I am sure you want a concrete diagnosis. I don't know if just being off gluten for 2 weeks can make that much of a difference in a negative vs positive blood test (I guess everyone is different). I had my first blood test 8/15 that was positive and they told me to stay on gluten for the biopsy 8/31, but I was feeling so crappy I went gluten-free and my biopsy was positive and they did another blood test then too and the levels were even higher than they were 8/15.

I do know that I was not totally gluten-free in those 2 weeks since I was new to it and had some mistakes, but my point is that I don't think 2 weeks would make a huge difference.

You could always have a biopsy, but if you feel better I would probably just stay gluten-free.