Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Testing for Celiac Disease
We were tested by a lab in Texas (see http://www.enterolab.com/) and through a blood test our doctor authorized. Many people are tested by an upper gastrointestinal scope, to find out if the villi are flattened in the small intestine. Initially, we went off of all dairy products, along with gluten. This was extremely difficult, and gratefully after two years we were able to re-introduce dairy products. It took a while to start feeling better, but it is huge blessing in our lives to have better health now.
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To get my diagnosis I had to be tested twice. The first time was a test that commonly has false negative results (I don't remember the type of test it was). The second time I was tested was three years later and we did a "Tissue Transglutaminase Ab, IgA" test. I registered one point higher than the "normal" range. My doctor gave me the option of having an endoscopy to confirm the diagnosis or just going on a gluten free diet. Since I have a family history of Celiac Disease I choose to go on the diet. I figured that even if I had the endoscopy done I would be going on the diet anyway so why spend the extra money on an endoscopy. (Many books I read said that you should not skip the endoscopy because that will give you a base line to see how well you are recovering from the damage wheat has done to your system.) Within three days of starting the GF diet I was feeling better. I have been living Gluten Free for almost a year now and I have good days and I have bad days but the good definitely out number the bad.
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