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If I Was Only Off Gluten For A Month, How Long Back On B/f Blood Test?

JoyMC

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JoyMC Newbie
JoyMC
Posted

hi,

this is my first post, but i've been reading for a bit. looks like a great community.

i have only been off gluten for about a month, and i wasn't super careful about cross-contamination; i continued to eat oats and bake bread for my family, etc. now i want to do the blood panel (i understand it's not totally conclusive and i also understand why many people don't bother testing), and i'm wondering how long i need to be back on gluten before the blood test. i looked through the other thread on this question, but that person had been off gluten for like a year.

i'm thinking since i wasn't super seriously off gluten for very long, it shouldn't matter too much? i've been very sick for about ten years prior. i feel awful back on the gluten and could stick it out, but after one day back on gluten, my breastfed baby had an insane diaper rash, and i don't want to put him through more than a week of gluten, if it's affecting him too.

thanks!

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Nugget Newbie
Nugget
Posted

hi,

this is my first post, but i've been reading for a bit. looks like a great community.

i have only been off gluten for about a month, and i wasn't super careful about cross-contamination; i continued to eat oats and bake bread for my family, etc. now i want to do the blood panel (i understand it's not totally conclusive and i also understand why many people don't bother testing), and i'm wondering how long i need to be back on gluten before the blood test. i looked through the other thread on this question, but that person had been off gluten for like a year.

i'm thinking since i wasn't super seriously off gluten for very long, it shouldn't matter too much? i've been very sick for about ten years prior. i feel awful back on the gluten and could stick it out, but after one day back on gluten, my breastfed baby had an insane diaper rash, and i don't want to put him through more than a week of gluten, if it's affecting him too.

thanks!

Hello,

I had a similar experience as you. I had gone low-gluten (not totally gluten-free.... didn't worry about cc) for about three months on my own because I knew I had an issue with wheat and so I thought I'd try out gluten-free to see how I feel. When I had my check-up with my doctor I told him how great i was feeling and he sent me for an antibody blood test that day. It came back a raging positive. That was after three full months. So, as far as blood tests are concerned, just get it done ASAP. It takes a long time to heal. My doctor had me get a endoscopy to confirm the diagnosis and that is where I had to eat gluten again...four servings a day for a whole month. It was horrible.

My advice: Get all your testing done before healing any further. After blood tests, if your doctor decides to do an endoscopy and wants you to eat gluten in preparation, the less healed you are, the less awful you'll feel consuming gluten to prepare for the test.

Good luck!

heather Goble Rookie
heather Goble
Posted

hi,

this is my first post, but i've been reading for a bit. looks like a great community.

i have only been off gluten for about a month, and i wasn't super careful about cross-contamination; i continued to eat oats and bake bread for my family, etc. now i want to do the blood panel (i understand it's not totally conclusive and i also understand why many people don't bother testing), and i'm wondering how long i need to be back on gluten before the blood test. i looked through the other thread on this question, but that person had been off gluten for like a year.

i'm thinking since i wasn't super seriously off gluten for very long, it shouldn't matter too much? i've been very sick for about ten years prior. i feel awful back on the gluten and could stick it out, but after one day back on gluten, my breastfed baby had an insane diaper rash, and i don't want to put him through more than a week of gluten, if it's affecting him too.

thanks!

So glad to see this post as I have the exact same question! I went gluten free for just about a month as well. I wasn't super careful at first of cross contamination, but ended up having bad reactions with even the smallest amount after a week, so was very careful the last three weeks. I went to see a GI who wants to run the blood tests (looks like not the full panel though) and then do the endoscopy as well. I've been reading everyone's posts for a bit and have heard mostly the rule of thumb is 3 months back on gluten. The GI told me I only needed to be on gluten for 3 days! I scheduled the endoscopy and blood tests so that it was a month back on gluten. Anyway, I was hoping that with only doing a month off, a month back on would be enough.

The first few days to a week I had pretty bad reactions to being back on gluten, but they have become less severe and are pretty much back to what they were before going gluten free- mostly extreme fatigue, headaches and constipation. The only thing that is worse is joint pain, my knees are really bothering me and I have nausea after eating.

Cara in Boston Enthusiast
Cara in Boston
Posted

I was only gluten free for 10 days. I guess I was pretty good at it because my blood test went from "absolutely positive" to perfectly fine. My Dr. said eat gluten (4 slices whole wheat bread/day) for three months then come back to be re-tested.

Since it is different for everyone, I have convinced him to at least check (blood test) after 6 weeks to see if the full three months is necessary. He agreed but seems skeptical.

He is a celiac specialist, so I have to assume he knows what he is talking about.

I am hoping my blood shows something going on . . . I'm ready to be done with this.

I read ("Dangerous Grains") that the damage can heal in as little as a week but could take up to 6 months to show again.

Cara

JoyMC Newbie
JoyMC
Posted
  • Author

wow, such different responses. i'm not putting my baby through three months of this, though. (or my five year old, b/c i feel about a million times worse now than i did BEFORE i even went off gluten and i'm not exactly a fun, awesome parent in my current state.)

i'd rather just go off gluten w/o answers than do this for three months.

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