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A friend of ours has a six year old who seems (to me) to have all of the classic
 celiac symptoms... abdominal distress, failure to thrive when an infant, to
 name a few.
 
Recently he was put through some tests to find out what was causing some
 abdominal problems... they did an upper gi, and some blood work, and checked
 for blood in stool (there was none).  Also, I believe when he was younger he
 had a lower endoscopy done to check for colon problems.
 
I believe they performed blood work to test for Celiac, but one of the doctors
 made a comment indicating that if he had celiac, it should show on the upper
 gi.  As I understand it, an upper gi consists of swallowing some substance,
 then doing an x-ray to look at the intestines.  I would think you would need to
 actually see the duodenum to make such a diagnosis.  I thought upper gi's were
 more to look for "leakages" in the intestines, such as from ulcers.
 
I personally think they should try a GF diet, and see how he reacts.
 
Any comments would be appreciated.
 
Kevin Haney