Blood Tests For Celiac

[blissfully-unaware]

Hi

How many of you have gotten the celiac blood tests done again after being gluten free for 6 months (or a year)? My doctor hasn't said anything on this, but I've noticed that some of the forum members have done the tests again. So I'm wondering if it's necessary?

Thanks!

[WinterSong]

My doctor says that it's necessary, and I agree, because it shows your progress. If your levels don't go down enough or don't change it's a good indication that gluten is somehow sneaking it's way into your diet. For me it's important, because I want to make sure I'm doing it right and that all of my efforts are making a difference.

[Kim69]

I agree. It's good to get your blood retested to show a trend towards normal levels. I was retested after about four months because I insisted (I am an engineer and like to see trends). It helped me feel I was doing the right thing because the levels were changing in the right direction.

[JonnyD]

I've been gluten-free for about 2.5 months and plan to have my celiac levels tested again around the six month level. I also had high cholesterol so I'll get that rechecked then too. Since they're drawing blood, I'm going to have my vitamin levels checked, CBC and whatever else the doc will order. I haven't gone to a nutritionist so I'm waiting to see if it's even necessary. Mostly, I want to see how I'm doing on my own after a reasonable amount of time and then seek help in the areas I need to after that.

[blissfully-unaware]

Thanks JessicaNYC, Kim69 and jdrexler for your replies. I'll speak to my doctor about doing the tests again in my next appointment. I also want to know how I've been doing - I'm 99.9% gluten free and I keep wondering if that 0.1% (possible cross contamination) is going to show in the tests or not. I'm lucky that I don't get any symptoms if I've accidently consumed a crumb of gluten, but the downside is that I don't know when there's cross contamination and how much more careful I have to be!