<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hello Listmates, I want to thank all of you who took the time to respond to my question. It was a big help to me in making up my mind on whether to continue the gluten challenge just to have a blood test. I received 22 responses to my question. The majority(20) were not in favor of eating wheat to have a gluten blood test. I will summarize those responses. 1.Why make yourself sick if you already know what makes you sick. 2.One could go into shock from eating wheat if allergic to it and doctors should not recommend this. 3.Putting a Celiac on gluten to see if they get sick is cruel and inhuman. 4.We've been sick long enough. We don't need to challenge. 5.I would eat gluten only if testing would cure me. 6.If you feel better GF, then no testing is needed to confirm the diagnosis. 7.Listen to your body. 8.My 16 year old stopped gluten and refused to go on it again. 9.I did a challenge to get scientific proof for my family. Unless there is a good reason for a diagnosis, then don't do it. If it hurts, it hurts. 10.Testing can be wrong. Go with what your body says. 11.I did the challenge, but no biopsy. Not accurate 12.If the rash is DH, little blisters, then no test is needed, if not, then it could be an allergy. 13. I agree. no test. 14.2-3 weeks is not enough time, 3 months more like it. Not worth it. 15.No sense to ask a celiac to do further damage to villi. 16.If you feel better, don't test.I tested negative and still get sick with gluten. 17.I was GF, then ate some and tested negative. 18.There is such a thing as gluten intolerance, similar to CD, but not CD. We lose enzymes as we age and doctors should not do this challenge just to prove a diagnosis. 19. There is no common sense to a challenge. The two responders that thought that a challenge should be done gave the following reasons. 1.There are tax benefits from CD diagnosis and a new doctor many need it. 2.Worth a try to get an accurate diagnosis. I appreciate all of the interest and support that I was given. I am one week into the challenge and not feeling too well, now strange itching all over my body with headaches along with everything else. What I have decided is that this challenge may not work for me. I will never be able to get back to the level of ingestion that I was at last year, what with going for fast food sandwiches everyday, McDonald's breakfast buns twice a week, pizza every weekend and a smattering of tortillas and burritos a few times a week.That will never happen as those have been eliminated forever (unless those fast food places come up with wheat free/gluten free buns and tortillas). I am not at all sure what my condition is, whether, CD, gluten intolerance, wheat allergy, gluten allergy, etc, and I'm not too sure it matters as long as I stop eating the offending agent. If I feel better, then I have been successful. Given that, and with all of those responses, I have decided to cut this challenge short and do the blood test Monday. It may show negative, but I will not return to old wheat eating habits, I will go back to the old way that was working for me where I was starting to feel good again for the first time in years. Thanks again for your support and I will celebrate the end of this tomorrow but trying some Ener-g brown english muffins that I just found at Whole Foods with organic butter, sugar free jam, free range turkey sausages, organic apple cider and then finish it off with some goat milk ice cream. No, I don't mind this new diet at all! Howie, AZ