Negative test 6 years ago, now symptomatic...
Posted , 4 users are following.
I've been told I've got IBS for over 20 years, getting progressively worse. Its so bad recently I asked if I had been tested, apparently I was 6 years ago. I know people can be postive despite negative test result... but...
Can you test negative and then a few years later test positive?
I am willing to pay privately for the test but not if it a waste of time. I cant find an answer anywhere. My GP just said to cut out gluten if it helps then I am intolerant! I don't want to cut it out if its worth a retest or even perhaps a biopsy.
thanks for any advice.
0 likes, 6 replies
Pinkythefairie Stormysands
Posted
Hi, i was recently diagnosed after positive blood tests and biopsy. My GP told me he had tested me previously but that had come back negative so I would say yes definitely you can have a test that is negative and then have a positive at a later date. Just make sure that you have been eating gluten for a while before you have test.
hope you get some answers
Stormysands Pinkythefairie
Posted
Thankyou Pinkie. Do you know how long there was between your neg/pos tests? There was a possibility I was eating only small amounts of gluten at the time of testing as I had just got married and was eating a fairly paleo diet around that time. I am definitely going to get retested. Ive been eating gluten a few weeks now. I'll give it a couple more weeks before sorting a test.
I would love to know anyone elses experience of testing negative initially with a later positive test.
Pinkythefairie Stormysands
Posted
Hi Stormy, unfortunately I don’t know the time between tests as I didn’t even know the doctor was testing me for it. When he rang me to tell me that I had coeliac, he said that he had tested me for it before but the test had come back negative. This time it was highly positive and also I had a biopsy done. Like you I think I was eating a gluten free diet when I was tested previously.
barney34567 Stormysands
Posted
Another option is to have a wide ranging allergy test by an immunologist at say a teaching hospital. This will reveal not only what you are allergic to but the levels of the chemicals that trigger your response. For instance, I feel ill if I have what most folk consider a small serving of smoked salmon. But if I have only a couple of bites, I will not fall ill. I am allergic to the chemicals that are used to "smoke" foods. Until I had the allergy test every GP said that I have IBS and need to live with it.
I no longer see those GPs (LOL).
Stormysands barney34567
Posted
I will look in to that, thank you. I do have an allergy to nickel so I wouldn't be surprised if I am allergic to other things. I only found out about the nickel after having surgery that involved leaving nickel inside my body, 1 week later I was having emergency surgery. A simple question about cheap jewellery and rashes would have saved all of that! I am wary to say the least about the medical route so I may well stray away myself.
sam18386 Stormysands
Posted
hi stormysan, i am not the only one to be duped then. try this: my doctor told me you have to have EVERYTHING else ruled out BEFORE they say IBS, she said it's a cop out and way of them getting you out and not doing any more tests. tests cost money and it's easier not to offer any. you CAN NOT swap from having IBS (the common cold equivalent in the bowel world) to being COELIAC. iBS doesn't lead to having COELIAC disease and that's official from a doctors. Don't take your doctor's word for it, you're either coeliac or not.