Celiac Support

There's a couple things that can be done to test for celiac and gluten sensitivity. Let me first say that the medical profession considers an upper endoscopy with duodenal biopsy the 'gold standard.' But it's not always conclusive, so consider:

Blood tests: Total IgA, IgA/IgG-gliadin levels, and transglutaminase.

If blood test for IgA/IgG-gliadin and transglutaminase are negative, but total IgA is at lower end of 'normal' range (or at the high end), consider doing the fecal antibody test for IgA-gliadin. Many individuals have found that the blood tests aren't that accurate (my husband was one of them). The fecal antibody test can be a lot more accurate.

Your child will have to eat gluten until the blood tests are done, but consider taking her off gluten (wheat, rye and barley - sometimes oats) for several weeks following the blood draw and see what happens. The fecal antibody test doesn't require coming off of gluten.

Cheek swab test or other for genes known to be involved in celiac disease and gluten sensitivity (check enterolab.com for explanation of which genes are involved). If she's carrying the genes it predisposes her, but doesn't mean they're 'expressing.' However, it may be a moot point. If she has the genes, at some point in time they're going to be active so it's better to take gluten out of the diet. For me, it's a no-brainer: if the genes are there, I'd skip the other testing, but.............?

If your doc wants to be medically correct, he'll probably ask that she be scoped. Depending on what you find on the other tests, you'll have another decision to make.

Also consider checking to see if she reacts to dairy. Dariy can cause a lot of problems in numbers of individuals. It's not the lactose, it's the casein (the protein in diary). You can check for reactions to casein via an IgA/IgG-casein test (blood), but again I consider the fecal antibody test to be more accurate.