This is the million dollar question! Many members of this Board have found that they have gluten sensitivity in addition to MC. At the present time, there are only three ways to find out if you are sensitive to gluten (a condition where your body makes antibodies to the gluten that you eat):
1. Your doctor orders a blood test for celiac disease and it comes back positive.
This means that you have antibodies to gluten in your blood, which is the most serious stage of gluten sensitivity. However, if this blood test is negative, you can still have significant gluten sensitivity. This is because the gluten sensitivity that goes along with MC is usually in a "milder" or "earlier" stage and therefore is not severe enough to be picked up by the celiac blood test.
2. You order a stool gluten antibody test from Dr. Fine's lab, and it comes back positive. This test can be ordered from www.enterolab.com .
Dr. Kenneth Fine, an MC researcher, has developed a test that finds gluten sensitivity at an earlier stage. He looks for the gluten (antigliadin) antibodies while they are still in the STOOL.......before they have caused enough damage to the intestine to seep into the bloodstream. A number of us here have sent stool specimens to his lab to find out if we have gluten sensitivity. Dr. Fine's research on MC and gluten sensitivity has not yet been published, so your doctor will most likely not know about this stool test for finding "milder" gluten sensitivity.
3. You decide to eliminate gluten from your diet on a trial basis and find that you feel better. When you add gluten back into your diet, you feel sick again.
Eliminating gluten from your diet for a trial period is the cheapest way to find out if you are gluten-sensitive. Don't expect much support from your doctor for the gluten-free (GF) diet. Again, the research has not yet been published, so practicing doctors have not yet been educated about the MC-gluten sensitivity connection. Fortunately, terrific knowledge and support are available here from the many members currently on the GF diet. Keep in mind that the gluten elimination trial may not be the quickest way to find out if you are gluten sensitive. The diarrhea may take weeks to months to resolve on the GF diet. Fortunately, however, other symptoms usually begin to improve within days to weeks: joint and muscle aches/pains, "mental fog", and frequency/ urgency of BMs.
Recommended Reading: "Early Diagnosis of Gluten Sensitivity: Before the Villi are Gone" by Kenneth Fine, M.D. This article can be found at http://www.finerhealth.com/Essay/
How can I find out if I am sensitive to gluten?
Moderators: Rosie, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh, mbeezie
How can I find out if I am sensitive to gluten?
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
The antigliadin antibody stool test by itself costs $99. If that's more than you can justify, you can always do an exclusion diet for several months, but you have to avoid every food sensitivity, or the diet won't work.
Tex
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
That result will be very valuable if you're serious about getting this disease under control.