How to differentiate between celiac disease and irritable bowel syndrome?

Question by Notallowedtobeurdownasbch: How to differentiate between celiac disease and irritable bowel syndrome?

Best answer:

Answer by john_mcd_77

Unfortunately, its not so easy since a lot of doctors in America mix the two up.

1) Blood test for IgG-gliadin, IgA, called a ‘Celiac Panel’. A normal allergy test and most blood tests are NOT Celiac tests. It must be ordered specially, and its often hard to convince a doctor to even do the test. Borderline results, low IgA, and other indicators may show a problem with gluten that is technically ‘sub-clinical’ and often discarded by doctors in a hurry to sell a prescription/surgery.

2) Endoscopy – a surgeon will take several biopsies (cut flesh samples) from the small intestine and microscopically analyze the height/depth of the villae to determine what damage has been done. This does not catch early cases, but it is considered the ‘gold standard.’ You can easily find a GI doctor who will do this, it typically costs ~$ 5,000. The doctor SHOULD take 12-15 samples because damage is not uniform.

3) Elimination diet – NO wheat/rye/barley for 30 days. This has problems too, when you first start the diet its hard to know all the additive ingredients that really mean gluten. (Took me about a year to really feal comfortable picking out a meal even when I’m cooking for myself, any new brand is still on a trial/error basis) Personal error may be mistaken for a failure to receive benefit. There is also a chance that one can become addicted to the opiate-peptides and hormones present in gluten. In some cases, people on an elimination diet get worse before they get better and cravings, cramps, and pains can take months to one year to fully resolve.

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