Hi Alli,
Yes, you absolutely can still have celiac disease and have negative bloodwork! Have you been avoiding gluten? I'm sorry I don't remember if you were already trying the gluten free diet or not....
The reason I ask is that negative blood work will usually be the result if you've been gluten free for several weeks (or even gluten light). Of course, even if you've been eating gluten, false negatives are frequent too! Which is very frustrating.
The low ferritin and low vitamin D are a couple of classic celiac indicators, but they can be caused by other things as well. For example, people with Lyme disease (which I have too) are frequently low in vitamin D.
The best test of all for gluten sensitivity is to simply stop eating gluten for about
2 weeks then go back on a "regular" gluten-laden diet. If you have gluten issues, you will feel better off gluten and then will feel terrible after you start eating gluten again. It might take a day or two for the bad symptoms to develop when you start eating gluten again, but they will occur. The only caveat is that it is possible to be an asymptomatic or "silent" celiac, but this is fairly rare I believe.
Lynnwood, the celiac forum here on HW is not very active.....I think that may be why Alli posted here, because she was trying to reach me. Alli, please feel free to email me too, if you wish....just click on my name and my email address is listed on my profile. Also, you might want to visit the forums at celiac.com.....they are very active!
Good luck! Don't be afraid to keep pushing to find the answers! You have to advocate for yourself with the medical profession; yes, they are the experts but they are not infallible. Find a doctor who will listen to you and who will keep an
open mind, if you can.
Take care,
JoAnn