Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Help With A Gluten Challenge


suziq0805

Recommended Posts

suziq0805 Enthusiast

In reading the forums it seems that people say you should eat gluten for 3 months before a biopsy if you have been gluten-free for awhile. Does anyone know of any research that supports that if you have only been gluten-free for 7 weeks? For a few reasons I decided it would be beneficial to look into an official diagnosis so I got a recommendation for a good doctor from some people my local celiac support group. I met with him today and he says gluten could be behind my issues so he'd like to do a complete celiac bloodwork (apparently the bloodwork I had done wasn't complete) and a endoscopy (he takes at least 12 biopsies). He said to go back on gluten for a couple of weeks. That conflicts with a lot of the info I see on this forum. I've looked online for research that supports being back on gluten for 3 months but haven't found much. Can anyone help me out? I was really impressed with this doctor so I'm not trying to prove him wrong, but I am just wanting to look into why others recommend 3 months so I can decide when to schedule this.


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



shadowicewolf Proficient

Yes, for a biopsy to have a chance to be positive for celiacs you need to consume gluten over time, so that, if you have it, the damage will be shown:(

Unfortenently, i was gluten free for 4 weeks before mine (which is the reason why i think i got a negative).

cassP Contributor

i dont have evidence on how long you should do it, but i can share with u- that i went on a 2 week gluten challenge- and it apparently was not enough, as my celiac panel looked almost identical to the 1st panel i did before the challenge

love2travel Mentor

About seven weeks ago I attended a major lecture by one of Canada's leading celiac specialists who said you MUST go on gluten for at least three months, eating the equivalent of four pieces of bread a day. That is what my surgeon and dietitian told me as well. Sorry that I do not have any sources for you to read, though. I have handouts from the lecture so will check to see if there was an explanation for that timeframe.

I ate lots of gluten for nearly four months and definitely had positive biopsy results. :(

love2travel Mentor

Oops! Never mind this post...

suziq0805 Enthusiast

I scheduled it for 2 months from now. I can always push it back if I want to. They didn't seem to mind. The doctor said he's had success with a 2 week challenge but if I did that and it came back negative then I would always question it. Since the results of this could possibly affect some future career choices (whether I can work around gluten) I want to make sure I get an accurate result.

Skylark Collaborator

Here is part of where the three months came from on the board. I did some digging in the medical literature a while back when we were all confused by conflicting advice from doctors. Scroll down to the fourth post for the studies I found.

What I don't know is whether seven weeks is enough to switch to a normal biopsy. It's certainly enough to make an "iffy" antibody test negative.


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



suziq0805 Enthusiast

Here is part of where the three months came from on the board. I did some digging in the medical literature a while back when we were all confused by conflicting advice from doctors. Scroll down to the fourth post for the studies I found.

What I don't know is whether seven weeks is enough to switch to a normal biopsy. It's certainly enough to make an "iffy" antibody test negative.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll just continue with the gluten challenge until September and do the biopsy. School will be starting in a couple weeks and it's hard to get away those first few weeks anyway. I've also wondered if it was possible that my body could heal in just 7 weeks if I do have celiac. Seems like a lot of healing in just a fairly short period of time.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - Jay Heying replied to Jay Heying's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      6

      Celiac friendly probiotics

    2. - Florence Lillian replied to Jay Heying's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      6

      Celiac friendly probiotics

    3. - slkrav posted a topic in Introduce Yourself / Share Stuff
      0

      Gluten free beer ?

    4. - cristiana replied to Colleen H's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      16

      Ibuprofen

    5. - Mari replied to KathyR37's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
      5

      New here


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,882
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    ammocat
    Newest Member
    ammocat
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.4k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Jay Heying
      Thank you so much for the advice!! I will try to make a batch this weekend. Have a great weekend,
    • Florence Lillian
      In response to your questions regarding probiotics.  I have had Celiac for 40 years.  Stomach issues: digestion, IBS to chronic constipation, bloat after eating anything.  I was unable to eat a healthy variety of foods, tried probiotics supplements - some made me worse, others made no difference.  After reading about people with Crones, IBS, etc, who made their own probiotics I started making Milk Kefir: not water Kefir. There are 10 probiotics in milk KEFIR. After 3 weeks I was able to eat more, no gas, no IBS.  If you have a computer just ask for videos on making milk Kefir. I branched out and make my own Kombucha for even more probiotics. I do not make my yogurt because there are only about four probiotics in that. I started this when I was 82 and I still make my own Kefir and Kombucha. My stomach issues were fixed with the Milk Kefir alone. If you decide to try making it, make certain you order MILK GRAINS. The finished product tastes a bit like Buttermilk. I hope this helps in your journey to good health.
    • slkrav
      Help me out here. Lauren Dam gluten-free beer from Spain is listed as gluten free. Yet its made from Barley Malt. I thought barley and any form had gluten. Anybody have any more information about it?
    • cristiana
      Ferritin levels.  And see what your hemoglobin looks like too, that will tell you if you are anemic?  You can have 'low normal' levels that will not be flagged by blood tests.  I had 'low normal' levels, my lab reading was. c12, just over what was considered normal, but I had small benign lesion on my tongue, and sometimes a sore mouth, and a consultant maxillofacial ordered an iron infusion for me as he felt my levels were too low and if he  raised them to 40, it would help.   Because you are not feeling 100% it might be worth looking at your levels, then discussing with your doctor if they are low normal.  But I stress, don't supplement iron without your levels being monitored, too much is dangerous.
    • Mari
      Hi Katht -  I sympathize with your struggles in following a gluten-free diet and lifestyle. I found out that I had Celiac Disease a few months before I turned 70. I just turned 89 and it has taken me almost 20 years to attain a fairly normal intestinal  function. I also lost a lot of weight, down to 100 lb. down from about 140 lb. What Trents wrote you was very true for me. I am still elimination foods from my diet. One person suggested you keep a food diary and that is a good idea but it is probably best just to do an elimination diet. There are several ne and maybe one for celiacs. I used one for a while and started with plain rice and zucchini and then added back other foods to see if I reacted or not. That helped a great deal but what I did not realise that it would only very small amounts of some foods to cause inflammation in my intestine. Within the last few years I have stopped eating any trace amounts of hot peppers, corn and soy(mostly in supplements) and nuts, (the corn in Tylenol was giving me stomach aches and the nuts were causing foot pains). Starting an elimination diet with white rice is better than brown rice that has some natural toxins. In addition it is very important to drink sufficient plain water. You can find out how much to drink for your height and weight online. I do have difficulty drinking 48 ounces of water but just recently have found an electrolyte supplement that helps me stay well hydrated, Adding the water and electrolytes may reduce muscle cramps and gag spams you wrote about. . Also buy some anti-gluten enzyme capsules to take with meals. I use GliadinX advertised here. These are a lot of things to do at one time as they reflect my 20 years of experience. I hope you do what you can manage to do over time. Good luck and take care.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.