Gluten Intolerance School Renovated!

About 35% to 40% of all people have one or both of these genes and about 1% of all people have celiac disease, so having these genes does not mean you have celiac disease. In fact, a majority of people with these genes do not have celiac disease.

However, because having them does significantly increase your risk, you should discuss the matter with your doctor, or preferably a gastroenterologist experienced with diagnosing and treating celiac disease.

This is a challenging and sometimes controversial aspect of testing for celiac disease. If you believe gluten is hurting you, you desperately want to stop eating it. But if you stop eating it for too long before you are officially tested for celiac disease, you may not receive an accurate test and diagnosis.

Doctors want an accurate and complete diagnosis because celiac disease is a very serious disease. Knowing for certain that you have it will provide a more complete and accurate medical profile for all doctors and surgeons you see for the rest of your life.

In addition, doctors need to know if they should look for other causes of your ailments if they determine with confidence that gluten is not the cause of your problems. While I've read some compelling arguments against this stance, please appreciate that this is currently the technically accurate stance according to most medical professionals.

One last point: If you know for certain you have a life-threatening disease, you may be more motivated to be strict and vigilant in living a gluten-free life. Too often, people who self-diagnose aren't vigilant enough about removing gluten from their diet.