Re: To test or not?

[Guest guest]

Hi Debbie-

Congratulations on feeling better! Unfortunately, the time to get the

conclusive test is before going off of gluten. This was my crucial

error in getting a celiac diagnosis. I had only been off of gluten 2

weeks before seeing a doctor about testing and had to go back on

gluten before testing - and my antibodies from the blood test were

just below the " positive " mark, and my endoscopy came back w/o villi

damage but a high concentration of bacteria in my small intestines.

If gluten is making you feel this good, I am not sure if you want

to go through the re-glutenating process to undergo the tests a

doctor would need to diagnose you. I believe there is a stool test by

enterolab you can do up to one year after going gluten free which

checks to see if you were presenting the antibodies to gluten but it

will not give you a celiac diagnosis. If you do want the true blood

test and endoscopy I've heard it's not pretty. I had gone back on

gluten for 3 weeks after being off of it for 2 weeks and I was

miserable - the lifetime of distestive distress and brain fog/very

low energy returned with a vengence. It was torture- and still no

diagnosis. While my doctor did not, I've heard most doctors will

require you to eat the equivalent of 10 slices of bread per day for 6-

8 weeks to re-gluteate yourself. Maybe some others on the board had a

different experience - I wish I had better news for you. The good

thing is that you are feeling better regardless of whether you are

gluten sensitive or full blown celiac. I discovered I was gluten

intolerant after several years of miscarriages so I'm very motiviated

to stay off of gluten at least until I hopefully have a child or two -

after that, I may do some trials to see if I am still as sensitive

as I am now- but I am fully ready and fine with being off of gluten

for life. Yes, I miss a warm piece of sourdough and being able to

order out for pizza but other than that I'm far from deprived food-

wise. I'd rather be healthy than eat gluten.

good luck-

Jean