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Well, here it is....a couple of weeks late, however the response was
overwhelming.

Generally the response was..... absolutely not!!! There is no reason to
do the gluten challenge and place yourself or your children at risk of
pain, suffering and/or long/short-term health concerns, only to get an
official diagnosis. What would we change upon given an official
diagnosis??? Nothing! Our children will still be gluten-free and we will
not have to work towards re-healing the gut.

There was a number of different concerns ppl had with regards to doing
a gluten challenge.

Controversey regarding how long you would actually have to ingest
gluten in order for the tests to work. The time given by my GI
specialist was approx. 2 weeks. Many ppl here say it could be up to 3
months and since often times ppl receive false negative test results
while ingesting gluten on a day-to-day, there is no guarantee that this
test will prove anything that you don't already know.

Others suggested gene testing, but the gene test alone, can not prove
celiac disease. Upon the results of the gene test, make a decision
regarding the gluten challenge.

Several ppl had psychological concerns and experiences, after doing a
gluten challenge.

Also all of the resonses that I recieved from ppl that did the
challenge, spoke of the experience horribly. It is a painful ordeal for
anyone, at any age.

One response that I recieved,  that really hit home, was the very fact
that a six year old was not willing to give up the diet to have cookies,
donuts & McDonalds again:-) And they are right!!! What child in their
right mind would refuse something like that, unless she suffered
severely enough with it in her diet??!!!

Based on many of the responses, it seems that the only real reason ppl.
do a gluten challenge was to prove the fact that there is a disease, to
Dr's, to family, to school, to friends, that perhaps previously thought
it was unnecessary to have such a strict diet for a child.

The following are a couple of the suggestions...

Have you considered testing through www.enterolab.com ? This is a stool
test
that does not require a challenge. There is also genetic testing. This

cannot tell you if you have CD but it can tell you if you have a gene
that
predisposes you to it. Enterolab is the only place that I know of that
tests
for all the known genes .DQ2 and DQ8 do not account for all the cases
of CD
and most labs test only for those.

Another place to go for answers to testing is
http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/  Scroll down until you see Gluten

Sensitivity/Celiac Disease forum. The first post in the forum is
"Useful
Websites" and contains information on testing. If you can't find the
information you want, you can ask the group your question. One person
saw
Dr. Fasano who siad that a gluten challenge would not be good to do
during a
time of growth because the child reacted so much to gluten.
http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=36366&highlight=fasano



Prometheus Labs info:  http://www.prometheus-labs.com/


Dangerous Grains & Eat right for your Blood Type...are 2 other
resources, that were suggested.

Thank you everyone for your support, we have made a decision...not to
do the gluten challenge. In my opinion, it is far too risky. We have had
far too many psychological, physical and behavioural  symtoms, while
ingesting gluten and have weighed our options carefully. It just does
not seem worth it.

Thanks again,

Melissa (mother of Jeneah, age 6, GFCF 8 mos.)
Toronto, ON Canada

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