Last year I wrote about O’s tummy troubles and him being put on a dairy, soy and wheat/gluten free diet. At that time he didn’t have a specific diagnosis as we were waiting for blood test results. Eventually, over five months after having bloods taken we were finally given the results (how ridiculous is it to have to wait that long!?!) and a diagnosis…
Sort of…
Two of the blood tests were for coeliac disease. One, a genetic test, the second an antibody test. The genetic test came back as positive, meaning simply, that he has a genetic predisposition to develop Coeliac disease at some point in his life.
HOWEVER
Many people are genetically predisposed but may never actually develop coeliac disease in their entire life.
His antibodies test came back negative. Meaning that his body isn’t creating antibodies to fight the gluten in his system. Meaning they can’t diagnose Coeliac disease.
We were told that he probably has a non-coeliac gluten intolerance alongside the dairy and soya and to keep him off all three for at least a year, when they would then look at slowly introducing each back into his diet one at a time. Obviously by that point he was already not eating gluten so they couldn’t retest but she made it clear that they wouldn’t have anyway.
I left that appointment a bit flumoxed and unsure of what to do next, or what to say when asked why he can’t eat certain foods.
That old saying ‘if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck….’ kept popping into my head.READ MORE »
