Eating gluten for testing for coeliac disease - how long for?

[appledumpling]

I have been tested for coeliac disease before but the test came back negative. I wasn't eating gluten at the time and I later found out that you have to be eating it to get the reaction and the diagnosis.

We've moved house and have a new GP who wants to test again. She says I only need to eat gluten for 2 weeks but the Coeliac Society website seems quite clear that it should be for 6 weeks before testing.

Who is right? I am not looking forward to re-introducing gluten at all and want to do it for the shortest time possible but I also want the test result to be correct i.e. if it is negative it's because I'm not coeliac, not because I haven't eaten the silly stuff for long enough.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

If you've been off gluten for a while, it needs to be 6 weeks I'm afraid

Why though? I'm going to be crippled after 3 days of it...6 weeks just doesn't bear thinking about. Sorry, not doubting you, just want to know the logic behind it.

I know - I refused further testing (positive blood test done by rheumatology, went gf, months later gastros wanted to do a biopsy too confirm) as it just wasn't worth the pain.

Apparently it takes 6 weeks to get consistent levels of antibodies in your bloodstream - before that they may only be there just after meals, or in lower levels.

If you know that gluten is def causing a reaction for you, then what does the gp hope to achieve with retesting ?

GP just wants to get to the bottom of it. I've been bouncing between nutritionists & neurologists for a long time. They don't think I have MS or any of the other neurological nasties but it is definitely auto-immune and coeliac is the one we keep coming back to.

I would also like a final, definitive answer as the MS thing keeps hovering in the background and it's bugging me.

Thanks for the explanation by the way...understanding why does help.

A good neuro should be able to do a gene test for celiac/gluten gene rather then put u through the pain again (I had the same problem with my ds who is gluten sensitive and in his case, the celiac test would not pick it up anyway). There is a lot of research on the subject of gluten sensitivity & neurology.
If you really want to test positive for celiac then u should eat as much gluten as poss (if you can face it) rather then a minimal amount - if you don't mind wrecking your guts. I so disagree with the method on this, which is not in a patient's interest.