Negative Blood Test

[Sarah P]

So last week I had endoscopy and my doctor called me and told me the results where consistant with Celiac. GI told me to have blood work done to confirm. I called today as I hadn't heard the results back. The RN I spoke to said the blood test was negative but celiac is confirmed with the biopsy. Then my GI doc called and said the RN was not correct and mis-spoke. She said I do not have celiac as the blood test is the definitive test. I see on here though several people had negative blood tests and I have found several articles where Doctors are saying the biopsy is the final answer. Is my doctor crazy?

My Doctor told me she thinks I may have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. None of my symptoms match up with this, but I seem to have almost text book symptoms of celiac. I really badly want to see a different doctor but I am stuck with this doctor because of my insurance. My GI doctor told me I had no need to be Gluten Free. I don't know I believe her

[psawyer]

If you have damage to the villi confirmed by biopsy, you have celiac disease. False negatives are common, both on the blood tests and the biopsy, but false positives are extremely rare.

[ravenwoodglass]

If you have a positive on either test and a negative on the other the positive test outweighs the negative one as the false negative rate is high on both. The biopsy is the 'gold standard' for diagnosis and yours was positive. You need to get on the diet and follow it strictly. Your in the right place to learn what you have to do. Read as much as you can and ask any questions you need to.

[T.H.]

Yeah...what everyone else said.

Also, it might help you feel more settled about your doctor's diagnosis if you ask why she think you might have SIBO. What symptoms did she see that made her suspect this?

I mention that because it's entirely possible to have both, so even if she seems ignorant about celiac disease, she might know about SIBO. Enough of a chance that it's probably worth checking with her to see if she makes sense or not, in your view.