Endoscopy First?

[sickntired]

I am new to this forum and have been reading lots of posts. It seems that most people have the blood tests and then an endoscopy in order to be diagnosed with Celiac. I have had blood taken 2 times in the last 2 years to try to figure out why I am always fatigued, foggy headed, muscles hurt, and have frequent headaches. All tests were normal accept for a vitamin D deficiency. another blood test was done in the ER last month when I had extreme abdominal cramps for 5 hours and finally vomited up everything I had eaten all day. They did a blood test, an ultrasound and a CT scan and eventually told me I had indigestion and sent me home. After a google search of my gastro symptoms, I thought I had gastroparesis.

My Dr. finally sent me to a gastroenterologist who has ordered an endoscopy- but not a blood test. She told me they would do a biopsy for Celiac, but did not tell me what Celiac was, and was more concerned that I was constipated than anything else. So I went home with my Miralax prescription and googled Celiac. WOW - I am now convinced this is my problem since it explains pretty much every ailment I've ever had! My endoscopy is Monday and I have never been so excited to have a medical procedure before - except when I had my son!

So I guess my question is- Is it normal for a Dr to go directly to an Endoscopy rather than do blood tests first? Would the other blood tests have shown results that would suggest Celiac, or do they have to do a special test for that? If my biopsy is negative for Celiac, do I ask for blood tests?

Thanks,

Patti

[glutenfreeinminnesota]

I am new to this forum and have been reading lots of posts. It seems that most people have the blood tests and then an endoscopy in order to be diagnosed with Celiac. I have had blood taken 2 times in the last 2 years to try to figure out why I am always fatigued, foggy headed, muscles hurt, and have frequent headaches. All tests were normal accept for a vitamin D deficiency. another blood test was done in the ER last month when I had extreme abdominal cramps for 5 hours and finally vomited up everything I had eaten all day. They did a blood test, an ultrasound and a CT scan and eventually told me I had indigestion and sent me home. After a google search of my gastro symptoms, I thought I had gastroparesis.

My Dr. finally sent me to a gastroenterologist who has ordered an endoscopy- but not a blood test. She told me they would do a biopsy for Celiac, but did not tell me what Celiac was, and was more concerned that I was constipated than anything else. So I went home with my Miralax prescription and googled Celiac. WOW - I am now convinced this is my problem since it explains pretty much every ailment I've ever had! My endoscopy is Monday and I have never been so excited to have a medical procedure before - except when I had my son!

So I guess my question is- Is it normal for a Dr to go directly to an Endoscopy rather than do blood tests first? Would the other blood tests have shown results that would suggest Celiac, or do they have to do a special test for that? If my biopsy is negative for Celiac, do I ask for blood tests?

Thanks,

Patti

I never had a blood test. I was having such bad problems my doctor sent me right to a gastroenterologist, and they told me to go on a high fiber diet for two months > When that obviously didn't help, they thought I had Crohn's and ordered a colonoscopy....as I was about to go in for it, they asked if I wanted an endoscopy also, so I said sure, why not? Glad I did. Diagnosed the next day with Celiac Disease..I had no clue what Celiac Disease was or what gluten was for that matter lol..good luck!! It's an adjustment, but well worth it if that's what you have!

[QuinnT]

Gastric conditions can be very hard to gauge, since severity of symptoms does not really correlate with severity of disease. a lot of GIs like to do EGDs right off the bat because they can diagnose the disease and view the damage directly, instead of trying to guess using blood work.

Blood tests aren't generally as reliable (or don't exist) for a lot of gastric conditions (ulcers/h. pylori, acid reflux, etc) but an EGD (upper endoscopy) would allow them to test for everything at once with relative certainty.