Newbe

[Loris]

Hi, I had a blood test done to detect if I had celiac and it came back normal. I have been told I have IBS - I have suffered with problems since my 20's - I am 44 now. Four years ago I started having terrible digestive problems and continue to this day. I started a gluten free diet as of yesturday. I am hoping it helps. Could I have celiacs even though my blood test came back normal?

[JoshB]

Very, very unlikely but technically possible.

Still, what have you got to lose by trying the diet to see if it helps you? If you're on it for a month and feel better, well good for you.

If that fails you might go in for allergy testing, or try more extreme elimination diets. Maybe you're just allergic to something. If you could do two or three days on rice and cottage cheese and verify that you felt well, then you could add things back into your diet one-by-one until you find the culprit. This of course assumes that you are reacting to something you're eating.

[Gluten Free Traveller]

Do you feel better when you don't eat gluten?

Sometimes the blood test can come back negative but then when you get a biopsy it shows damage to your gut which would happen if you did have celiac disease. Are you planning to get the biopsy? It's the only for sure way to be diagnosed as celiac. You would however need to still be eating gluten for 3 months leading up to the biopsy to ensure correct results.