HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

What is the most accurate gluten sensitivity/allergy test?

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 1/26/2017 8:20 PM (GMT 0)
I have been gluten-free for a little over a year but still have a yearly flare around Thanksgiving. I am curious to see if gluten is actually contributing to flares. Last Thanksgiving I unknowingly ate gluten 4 days in a row and two days later I had blood in my stool. But it seems I always flare in November... Does anybody know what the most accurate test is? I know that there are so many false negatives out there! Genetic testing maybe? Or just eating it and song how I feel, risking a flare? sad Thanks!!

Post Edited (Mvgirl) : 1/26/2017 3:08:30 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/26/2017 10:06 PM (GMT 0)
the best/cheapest/easiest way to find out if gluten is a problem would be to completely eliminate it from your diet for one month - read labels on manufactured food well -
Posted 1/27/2017 3:53 AM (GMT 0)
The gold standard celiac test is for GI to do it during colonoscopy, not sure if it is an actual biopsy but something in that line. In order to be accurate you will have to start eating gluten for a while so that the vilii will be damaged. If you haven't eaten gluten there won't be any damage.

I had the blood test, not the most accurate, and it said I am not celiac. That is likely true but removing gluten has been very beneficial to getting me to remission. Bleeding stopped when I quit gluten. "Gluten-intolerant" is the term for people like me and recent studies have led to the idea that it's not the gluten causing the problems, it's something else in wheat (can't remember the name right now).

Good luck figuring out what is causing your flares.
Posted 1/27/2017 3:58 AM (GMT 0)
^Actually for diagnosing celiac, the gold standard is an upper endoscopy with biopsy of the duodenum.

The blood tests for celiac are pretty darn accurate themselves, with specificity and sensitivity over 90%, maybe even higher.

But yes, as you point out, there *may* be gluten sensitivities/intolerance that are different from actual celiac disease. And, as you also pointed out, it may be that some people have a sensitivity to a different protein in wheat products.

http://time.com/4536958/wheat-sensitivity-gluten-ati/
Posted 1/27/2017 3:32 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you all for your replies. Looks like I will have to eat gluten to figure it all out one way or another. I didn't feel a difference after I eliminated it so I'm really curious to see what happens. Thinking I will wait until summer to test when I'm less likely to flare.
Posted 1/27/2017 4:50 PM (GMT 0)
That's the thing, not everyone is a celiac or has a non-celiac gluten sensativity. We're a little more prone to gluten issues as IBD patients but the numbers are still long. Try reintroducing gluten and see if your symptoms worsen at all. If they do not, then you're likely fine with having gluten as a part of your diet. I noticed no improvement in my UC symptoms by eliminating gluten, tried and reintroduced.

Let's throw some odds at it, 3 million Americans have celiac disease or 1 percent of the population, must avoid gluten. Those with gluten sensitivities are 18 million individuals or 6 percent of the population. Source: health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2015/06/11/think-youre-sensitive-to-gluten-think-again
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply