[octostone]

If you’ve already cut out gluten, you’ll have to start eating it again for the test, which is...not pleasant. And for a long time too. (I’ve been given different durations for the challenge period, but they were all at least 3 weeks long when I last investigated this.) This is why I’ve never done the test.

Random tip: if you accidentally expose yourself to gluten, taking Benadryl right away can help with the flu-y sort of inflammatory symptoms. You’ll still get the gastric distress, but you might not feel like you have the flu for the next week, which for me is the worst part.

[elhudy]

If eating gluten is that unpleasant for you why wouldn't you get the biopsy? I would want to know 100%.

EDIT: in the absence of antibodies the biopsy would still show:

-Crypt hyperplasia with a decreased villi/crypt ration. Crypts are grooves between the villi, which are the small fingerlike projections that line the small intestine and promote nutrient absorption. Crypt hyperplasia is when the grooves are elongated compared to a normal intestinal lining which has short crypts.

-Blunted or atrophic villi. This is a shrinking and flattening of the villi due to repeated gluten exposure.

https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/screening-and-diagno...

[jamesgeck0]

> If eating gluten is that unpleasant for you why wouldn't you get the biopsy?

Because getting the test would require about a month of agonizing pain with constant diarrhea, perhaps? Just to get a formal confirmation of something they're already pretty sure of.

[elhudy]

Did you read my post? If you get a biopsy you don't necessarily need to eat gluten because the damage is visible.

[flybrand]

The genetic test could be helpful. It took me 15 years to figure out that CD was the source of some chronic issues.

The genetic test can rule in / rule out - and when combined with your history would be called a diagnosis by many physicians. I was in your same situation and couldn’t contemplate eating gluten again after understanding life without it.

[eloisius]

I don’t know if there are “degrees” to celiac severity but I only get diarrhea, gas, tummy ache as far as I know. Definitely nowhere near as severe as the flu.

[usefulcat]

I know one person who has been diagnosed with CD, and several others (myself included) who have lesser, significantly varying levels of reactions to gluten.