Gluten 'challenge' for gastroscopy

[DianeWh]

So I'm having a gastroscopy on 4 Dec to test for, inter alia, coeliac disease. The problem is that to get a reliable biopsy/diagnosis, I have to be eating gluten at the time (the equivalent of four-six slices of bread per day for six weeks).

Obviously this is annoying on many levels, the first being I'll feel like crap and another being bread is going to have to displace some amount of vegetables/fruit.

My question is, acknowledging that this by its very nature cannot be W30 compliant, what's the least damaging way to include enough gluten in my diet for the next six weeks (while otherwise doing the best I can W30-wise)?

[praxisproject]

Before you do your gastroscopy, make sure you know the risks. I didn't and my gastro refused to monitor my health during such a drastic diet change (she was convinced I wasn't coeliac because I am obese).

 

I got to day 8 of my gluten challenge before turning blue from gluten-induced ataxia and being dragged to a doctor. I really thought I was going to die, I couldn't breathe, my heart wasn't working right, it was very very scary.

 

I was so angry when I found out I really didn't need to do the test. Even a negative test result is meaningless, as many coeliacs do not test positive every time (it's a random sample from a very large surface area - medically known to be an unreliable test!). I already knew gluten made me sick, so I knew I wasn't going to be eating gluten anymore. Make sure your gastro isn't dodgy, mine only wanted the money from the procedure, provided no monitoring or after care and no information at all on what has gluten in it. I did much better with a naturopath who specialises in food intolerance.

 

That much gluten was far more than my body can handle, I never ate anywhere near that much gluten even when I did eat it.

It took me months to recover my health back to pre-W30 levels.

 

The amount they want you to consume is damage inducing, that's what they're measuring. There's no way around it and it's internal organ damage.

If you do go ahead with it, try to avoid all the other gut disrupters (like dairy) and go as organic as possible, as the gluten will likely cause leaky gut and all the leaky stuff goes into your blood and makes you feel like crap. It will take time to heal afterwards, it may take a long time.

 

There's two possible outcomes following the result: keep eating gluten or avoid gluten. You can still do either of these without the gluten challenge.

 

You also might want to get a blood test for the MTHFR gene, it appears to be common in people who can't tolerate gluten. I was surprised to find I have two copies (causes massive B12 deficiency which will not show in a blood test).

[DianeWh]

Thank you! My gastro is a lovely man and very reliable - I'd prefer not to do the gluten challenge, but he think it's worthwhile so I won't argue! Fingers x'd it's not a waste of time... Happy to hear all other opinions, too xxxx

[praxisproject]

After, I'd go with lots of bone broth, kombucha, a Whole30 or Whole60  

 

One nice side effect is now my body doesn't want to eat gluten anymore, before I could smell things and wish I could eat it, now I can enjoy the smell but my body's instinct is "don't eat that! that makes us sick!" - which makes temptation non-existent

[bluther]

DianeWh, I am curious how long it has been since you cut gluten out of your diet?  Had you just finished a Whole 30?  Or have you been gluten-free for many months/years?  I am in a similar predicament leading up to a celiac blood test screen.  I had only cut out gluten for 45 days (whole 30 + reintroductions) before my doctor told me to start eating gluten again for 30 days before the test. 

 

I have heard people suggest incorporating gluten by stirring flour in your soups, using breadcrumbs in dishes.  I started eating gluten regularly by adding a few slices of healthy grainy bread from Whole Foods to my Whole 30 diet. But I figured out pretty quickly that the benefits of Whole 30 seemed to be eradicated by eating any amount of gluten.  It didn't matter if the rest of my diet was Whole 30, I felt rotten.