Welcome to the Celiac (Sprue) Disease Community

[Med Help]

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MedHelp

[mrsturbo]

My son has all the symptoms of celiac.  He is two, but his blood test came back normal for celiac, but now his liver enzymes are high.  Doc said this is common with celiac, but could he still have celiac if blood test was negative?

[Soonerman]

Yes it is very possible, the antibody blood test has a pretty high rate of false negatives.  There are several testing options if you want to explore further; genetic testing, fecal testing, or biopsy.  Or you could just eliminate gluten from his diet and see if there is improvement.  After damage to the villi in the gut has occurred for awhile, celiacs also usually have problems with dairy (the casein in the dairy is very similar to the gluten) and can almost appear to be lactose intollerance.  So if you do try the gluten free diet, if there is problem with dairy it may have to be removed for a while till the intestines heal and then should be able to be consumed normally after this.  Unfortunately if Celiacs is his problem, gluten will have to be a lifelong elimination.

[kate1975]

My Indo. is trying to figure out why I have a Very high Sed rate level 80-120 today she tested me for Celiac. Is the blood test pretty effective? I really do not want to do the stool test....My main symptoms are stomach pain and diarrhea, muscle pains... any advise you may have would be very helpful...
Thanks
Katie

[Soonerman]

The blood tests aren't very effective and can result in false negatives.  The only blood test that is either pass/fail is the genetic test for Celiacs.  However, just because you don't have the genes, doesn't mean that you aren't allergic/intollerant of gluten.  Also, just because you have the gene(s) doesn't mean that you have Celiacs, but it is very likely.  I think the fecal tests can give much more accurate results, but if you don't want to do the stool test or get scoped (which can be very inaccurate also), you can always just go gluten free and see if your symptoms are relieved or eliminated.  Give it a chance, at least 3-4 weeks, and don't cheat at all, absolutely no gluten (if you are in doubt about a food/drink, then don't risk it).  3 weeks is not very long and although it may alter your lifestyle/eating, it will be well worth it to feel better and very effective at determining the cause; and if you don't feel better, well no harm caused.