Question by Notallowedtobeurdownasbch: How to differentiate between celiac disease and irritable bowel syndrome?
Best answer:
Answer by john_mcd_77
Unfortunately, its not so easy since a lot of doctors in America mix the two up.
1) Blood test for IgG-gliadin, IgA, called a ‘Celiac Panel’. A normal allergy test and most blood tests are NOT Celiac tests. It must be ordered specially, and its often hard to convince a doctor to even do the test. Borderline results, low IgA, and other indicators may show a problem with gluten that is technically ‘sub-clinical’ and often discarded by doctors in a hurry to sell a prescription/surgery.
2) Endoscopy – a surgeon will take several biopsies (cut flesh samples) from the small intestine and microscopically analyze the height/depth of the villae to determine what damage has been done. This does not catch early cases, but it is considered the ‘gold standard.’ You can easily find a GI doctor who will do this, it typically costs ~$ 5,000. The doctor SHOULD take 12-15 samples because damage is not uniform.
3) Elimination diet – NO wheat/rye/barley for 30 days. This has problems too, when you first start the diet its hard to know all the additive ingredients that really mean gluten. (Took me about a year to really feal comfortable picking out a meal even when I’m cooking for myself, any new brand is still on a trial/error basis) Personal error may be mistaken for a failure to receive benefit. There is also a chance that one can become addicted to the opiate-peptides and hormones present in gluten. In some cases, people on an elimination diet get worse before they get better and cravings, cramps, and pains can take months to one year to fully resolve.
Add your own answer in the comments!
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or spastic colon, is a functional bowel disorder characterized by abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits which are not associated with any abnormalities seen on routine clinical testing while celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, found in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods but may also be found in products we use every day, such as stamp and envelope adhesive, medicines, and vitamins.
that’ hard to do since they have all the same symptons. celiac may show skin rash or blisters. if a gluten free diet clears it up then it could be celiac instead of irratable bowel.
The easiest way is BEFORE starting the Gluten Free diet, to see yoru doc and ask for the blood test (www.csaceliacs.org look under ‘diagnosis’ for a list of blood tests (its long).)
Also they may order an endoscopy bc that is the gold standard in testing and a high percentage of ppl are IGA and IGG deficient, meaning they will always test neg on blood tests, even if they are Celiac. Genetic testing can also be done and u do not have to be eating gluten for genetic testing but most docs dont go that route, u have to do it on your own and its costly and only 80% reliable.
U can do the elimination (gluten free) diet first but its not recommended by any national organization bc it does pay to be diagnosed (although in some cases, like with no health insurance, I can see why some cant take the medical route.) But other illnesses can imitate Celiac so its best to get a real, official diagnosis sometimes.
Please feel free to email me for any help.
(IBS basically means No Known Cause for stomach pain–dont settle for that lazy doc’s answer!! HUGE percentages of Celiacs were wrongly misdiagnosed with IBS first.)