Coeliac test/going gluten free

[joeliza1]

Hi, I am being tested for coeliac due to my consistently low vitamin levels and my digestive symptoms when eating gluten. I would like to know, how long do I need to eat gluten for in order to be tested? Also how easy is it to avoid gluten if I need to avoid it regardless of the result for coeliac since I have Hashimotos? My diet is not great because I have a very low appetite and I have a few food intolerances! Any advice appreciated!

[Cooper27]

My OH is coeliac, it's not that bad. Eating out is hard, but more and more places are getting clued up on how to limit cross contamination.

To be tested, you need to eat gluten every day for at least 6 weeks before being tested. It doesn't have to be a lot, about a slice of bread a day. I hear you can do an intense 2 week reintroduction though, where you eat very large quantities (like 2 slices of bread for breakfast and lunch and pasta for dinner + gluten snacks) but that's not the way coeliac UK recommend.

How long have you been GF for?

[joeliza1 in reply to Cooper27]

Hi, I haven't been completely gluten free. I don't eat a lot of anything anyway because my appetite is very poor and I crave sugar a lot of the time, I eat the odd cake or biscuit. I think I need to eat more than this for a gluten challenge.

Thanks

[Cooper27 in reply to joeliza1]

If you haven't completely cut gluten from your diet, then you won't have to do the gluten test for quite so long as you'll still have some antibodies in your system. Make sure to eat gluten daily for at least a couple of weeks before you get tested though.