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[foilswan]

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I stopped eating gluten for a few weeks from advice from a nutritionist, but the GI specialist wants to test me for celiac disease (via an endoscopy) and he wants me to start eating gluten again to increase the chances of getting an accurate result. (The physicians I have seen so far think that I most likely have IBS but CD hasn't been completely ruled out yet, and do to some logistical issues, I wasn't able to get tested until recently). I won't have the endoscopy for a couple weeks, but in the meantime, I'm wondering what I should eat that contains gluten. I would like to eat enough to help with the results, but at the same time, I'd like to decrease the irritation to my GI tract as much as possible. I've been working hard the last few weeks to have a diet that won't bother my system,so it can heal and from what I've read online, it looks like FODMAPS does not include wheat (and I've been consulting FODMAPS for developing my diet). While I know that adding gluten back will probably put some sort of wrench into this process, I'm wondering what is most gentle way of eating gluten to minimize the damage as much as possible and also so I can continue to work towards having a better quality of life. At this point, I want to continue with the assumption that I have IBS unless the endoscopy says otherwise.

[Kathleen M.]

Unfortunately if you are gluten sensitive or have celiac eating gluten will flare the symptoms up.I do think that eating low-fodmap over all will help as that reduces the number of other things you are putting in there that could be adding to the symptoms.Flour used for bread tends to be higher in gluten than the flour used for pastries, and there are some breads where they add in even more gluten. I think if you can get a higher amount of gluten per gram of starch that would help. The starch in wheat can add to gas, but it is hard to get just the gluten. You can buy high gluten flours if you have anything you make yourself, or for use in recipes.If you have an oriental market near you, you may be able to pick up fried gluten rolls/balls. Here is an example of what to do with those. http://basilkitchen....ity-gluten.html has how to make them.Seitan is another type of high gluten food. http://en.wikipedia....t_gluten_(food)

[faze action]

Generally speaking, for the biopsy to be as accurate as possible (still no guarantee), you should eat the equivalent of 3-4 slices of bread/day for at least a month before your test. If you haven't been gluten-free for all that long (like less than a month or maybe 6 weeks) you may be able to get by with a couple of weeks' worth of glutening.If you are legitimately sensitive to gluten, then it's probably going to bother you no matter what, but I'd rec eating the "purest" forms of wheat that you can (so eat bread, wheat crackers, etc stuff that is minimally processed since processed foods might make the flares even worse). Just my 2 cents.

[foilswan]

Generally speaking, for the biopsy to be as accurate as possible (still no guarantee), you should eat the equivalent of 3-4 slices of bread/day for at least a month before your test. If you haven't been gluten-free for all that long (like less than a month or maybe 6 weeks) you may be able to get by with a couple of weeks' worth of glutening.If you are legitimately sensitive to gluten, then it's probably going to bother you no matter what, but I'd rec eating the "purest" forms of wheat that you can (so eat bread, wheat crackers, etc stuff that is minimally processed since processed foods might make the flares even worse). Just my 2 cents.

Thank you, this is very helpful. I really would prefer not to go through this uncomfortable procedure only to find out later that the results were inaccurate and to have to do it again. I haven't scheduled the endoscopy yet, so I will try to push it back so I have at least a month of gluten eating. I had been on a gluten-free diet for about 4 weeks (which I abruptly stopped yesterday), so I'm hoping that I will have done enough of the "gluten challenge" to get accurate results. I also appreciate the daily serving suggestions and what to eat. I'm well aware that if gluten is the culprit, that I will still flare-up, but I'd like to minimize it as much as possible. Since having this current episode of GI issues (since November) I also have a tendency to get manic whenever I'm told to add a food group back to my very restricted diet to the point that I eat too much that it gets me sick, whether tolerant or not. My nutritionist said that it is probably because I'm missing certain nutrients in my diet (which I do plan to add back once things start getting more normal) and I'm simply not eating enough (my body just can't handle eating a lot of food, even in several small portions, but I am slowly handling more and more food everyday), so keeping a strict plan is definitely helpful and has helped me a lot so far.

[foilswan]

Unfortunately if you are gluten sensitive or have celiac eating gluten will flare the symptoms up.I do think that eating low-fodmap over all will help as that reduces the number of other things you are putting in there that could be adding to the symptoms.Flour used for bread tends to be higher in gluten than the flour used for pastries, and there are some breads where they add in even more gluten. I think if you can get a higher amount of gluten per gram of starch that would help. The starch in wheat can add to gas, but it is hard to get just the gluten. You can buy high gluten flours if you have anything you make yourself, or for use in recipes.If you have an oriental market near you, you may be able to pick up fried gluten rolls/balls. Here is an example of what to do with those. http://basilkitchen....ity-gluten.html has how to make them.Seitan is another type of high gluten food. http://en.wikipedia....t_gluten_(food)

Thank you for the advice. Yes, I definitely agree that I should stick to a low-fodmap overall to minimize the impact on my GI tract as much as possible. I just got so confused yesterday about how to add the gluten back into my diet in a reasonable way (i.e. a healthy dose of gluten daily for someone who doesn't have CD). Since I've had this current round of GI issues, since November, I get manic whenever I add a new food group back in my diet, and I have to admit that happened yesterday. Having a strict plan of eating helps me curb these cravings. I appreciate your suggestions on what to eat. I especially like the idea of the high gluten flour - I feel much more comfortable making food on my own so I know exactly what is going into it.

[faze action]

Thank you, this is very helpful. I really would prefer not to go through this uncomfortable procedure only to find out later that the results were inaccurate and to have to do it again. I haven't scheduled the endoscopy yet, so I will try to push it back so I have at least a month of gluten eating.

Bear in mind that, even with "proper glutening" your test could still be inaccurate. If the doctor happens to biopsy a part of the small intestine that does not have villous atrophy, then even with damage you will test negative. Most docs will take multiple biopsies from different areas, but not all do. Most tests for Celiac are only about 75% accurate (even the blood test, etc) unfortunately.