Coeliac test

[Iszabella]

Hi All,

Just looking for some advise. i have been having issues with my eating and stomach for years. I went to the doctors for years and and an investigative surgery done to see if i had Endo and that was causing the problem but that came back negative. The advise from my doctor was to change my diet as the issue my be caused by an intolerance like Dairy or Gluten.

I have cut a lot of Gluten out of my diet and noticed a difference, my belly doesn't bloat as often as it did and the sickness and pain is reduced.

How easy was it to get tested for Coeliac disease?? and what did you need to do before you got tested??

Thanks xXx

[Regalbirdy]

Hi Iszabella,

It sounds like you’ve been having a difficult time.

Despite what you have been told already, please seek additional medical advice BEFORE removing gluten from your diet.

For most people it is usually a blood test that screens for Coeliac Disease. However it will only work if you are eating gluten because it measures antibodies to gluten.

I’m sure many people in this forum will tell you that trying to re-introduce gluten for the coeliac testing process can lead to a far more difficult and painful time than if they had’ve held out for another few weeks.

Coeliac UK can be a useful starting point for an overview (although I haven’t always agreed with all of their dietary advice).

If you are UK based, the NICE guidelines NG20 is the one that relates to Coeliac Disease - which are helpful to know about if you have a less knowledgeable GP. This extract from it might be of interest to you:

“You should eat some gluten in more than one meal every day for 6 weeks before you have the blood tests. You should carry on eating foods containing gluten until you have had coeliac disease confirmed by a specialist.“

I hope you find the answers you need. x

[Littleeric]

Hi there,Im from UK too.

I had similar issues to you and after a bit of to and fro started to get progress.

Firstly i had blood tests, then poo samples tested.

This suggested i was gluten intolerant.

To confirm this i had to have the camera testing which did indeed confirm it.

To be honest it wasnt nice but not that bad really.

So i am on a gluten free diet now and though im still not quite right, i am slightly better.i think.

Good luck.

[Littleeric in reply to Littleeric]

Forgot to say that as the other poster said, i did have to eat gluten for 6 weeks before the camera tests to confirm this.

[cranberryt]

I had a blood test done and a genetic test. The blood test was off the charts, one of the higest my doctor had seen. The genetic test showed I carried the celiac gene so it was possible to have celiac. I didn’t have the endoscopy because my doctor agrred that there was no need based on the blood and genetic tests. As others have said, to confirm via endoscopy, you would need to eat gluten again and then, even then, the endoscopy is a random sample and it may or may not show up. If you feel better without it, I would just continue gluten free.

[AML80]

There is a blood test for Coeliac disease but you need to eat wheat for 6 weeks before the test is done.

[CATRYNA49]

My diagnoses for Celiac was through blood work. I immediately went off gluten and my health began to improve. I diagnosed myself for Dermatitis Herpetiformis or DH, which is the skin manifestation of Celiac, 7 years later. At that time I decided to go completely grain free, soy free, no foods with yeasts or molds, no foods high in iodine and dairy free. My health took a huge turn for the better. Not only that my lifelong migraines were reduced by 95%. I never underwent any other testing and have never looked back after making this decision.