How Much Gluten To Eat Before Blood Test?

[Mary07]

I went to the doctor a few weeks ago because I was getting very sick. She asked me questions and said to try a gluten free diet for 2 weeks. I did and felt amazing. I never knew how normal felt until I stopped eating gluten. I must have been having stomach aches my whole life. Anyways I called her after the 2 weeks and asked her what to do now. She said to get a test called gluten sensitivity evaluation blood test and to get an accurate test I need to eat the equivalence of 4-6 pieces of bread a day for 4 weeks. Is this true? I was only off of it for 2 weeks! and what does that even mean? Just eat 4 pieces of bread a day? Any suggestions?

[domesticactivist]

Yes you must be eating lots of gluten. The number I get from 4 slices of average bread is nearly 20 grams of gluten a day. Usually the advice is for three months. Only two weeks off it, though, the one month may be ok. I hate how many drs have people go gluten free before deciding to test. It's standard but puts people through so much pain and a longer wait to less accurate test results. Grrrr.

[domesticactivist]

Find out how much gluten is in your bread, pasta, cream of wheat, etc by looking at the protein content per serving on te label.

[ravenwoodglass]

Just eat a regular diet. Most folks on a normal diet eat at least the 4 slice of bread worth of gluten in a day and then some. Have a gluten cereal for breakfast, a sandwich or sub or a soup with noodles or barley for lunch and something with gluten for dinner and snacks. I wouldn't worry about 'adding up the protein count' since many foods have more than one protein source in them and that would be a real pain IMHO.

If you start to feel very ill from the challenge do contact your doctor. Reacting badly to a challenge after we have been gluten-free for even a short time is a valid part of the diagnostic process and some of us will react very violently to the challenge even if we have only been off gluten a short time.

Keep in mind that false negatives on testing is not uncommon even on a full gluten diet. After your testing is done, including endo if you are having one go back to the diet if it helps even if the tests should be negative.