Testing for coeliac

[jlo211]

Hi all. I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and have been gluten free for a year. Due to symptoms the GP wants to test for coeliac disease and says I only need to eat 3 slices of bread a day for 3 weeks and the rest will be accurate. According to coeliac UK I need to eat gluten for 6 weeks. Please can someone advise which is correct? I am really suffering and I've only been back on gluten for 2 weeks. Thanks

[Regalbirdy]

Hi jlo211

Your doctor is incorrect - it's six weeks. NICE guidelines CG86 will give you more information on this if you're interested.

However given that you already have Hashimoto's, I'm surprised that your doctor has recommended doing a gluten challenge. As I'm sure you already know, there is a known autoimmune link between Hashimoto's and eating gluten. My understanding is that doing a gluten challenge will not only be messing up your intestines, but will potentially also further damage your thyroid! I guess it comes down to how badly you want to prove if you are a Coeliac.

In my opinion, the fact that you're struggling so badly now already proves that you are a Gluten Sensitive. I hope your doctor is aware that you can be gluten sensitive without being a Coeliac.

Good luck.

[Badgerspanner23]

Definitely wrong, unless you're only having an endoscopy which can have results in 4 weeks. Blood tests take from 6 to 8 weeks to show.

Go back to your doctor and ask if it's worth the risk with your Hashimotos.

[Poshpenny]

I've just been to a gastro enterologist today, and I've been told I will have to do 4 weeks gluten challenge prior to an endoscopy. I have already had negative coeliac blood test and have been GF for 18 months. He did mention the three slices of bread a day too, that was a minimum amount.

[Jacks]

There has been a recent re-evaluation of the time needed to undertake a successful gluten challenge following new research. It highlights a lower ppm gluten content/time frame being sufficient. The study was published in Gut:

gut.bmj.com/content/early/2...