Coeliac Disease Testing in Australia: How to Get Checked
Coeliac disease (sometimes spelled celiac) affects around 1 in 70 Australians according to Coeliac Australia, and most of them do not know they have it. The gut symptoms are the familiar ones: bloating, cramping, diarrhoea or constipation, nausea. But the non-gut signs are just as important and more often missed: persistent fatigue, unexplained iron deficiency, mouth ulcers, skin rashes, and in children, poor growth.
Because the symptoms overlap with so many other conditions, testing is the only way to know. If gut trouble or unexplained tiredness keeps recurring, a coeliac screen is a reasonable and inexpensive place to start.
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This is the single most important thing to know, and the mistake people make most often. Coeliac tests detect your immune system's response to gluten. If you cut gluten out before testing, that response fades and the test can come back falsely negative, even if you have the disease.
So however tempting it is to start a gluten-free diet the moment you suspect a problem, keep eating gluten normally until all testing, including any biopsy, is complete. If you have already gone gluten-free, tell your clinician: a supervised gluten reintroduction over several weeks may be needed before the test can give a trustworthy answer.
Testing starts with a blood test measuring coeliac antibodies, usually transglutaminase antibodies alongside a total IgA level to make sure the result can be trusted. A negative result with normal gluten intake makes coeliac disease unlikely. A positive result is a strong signal, but it is not the diagnosis.
Confirmation comes from a small bowel biopsy, arranged through a gastroenterologist, which shows the characteristic damage to the gut lining. Genetic testing can also help in specific situations, mainly to rule the disease out. Your clinician will map the right sequence for your case.
The whole first stage can be organised from home. In a telehealth consultation, an Abby Health clinician takes your history, and where testing is appropriate, issues a pathology referral you take to your local collection centre. Results come back to your clinician, who reviews them with you.
If the blood test is positive, the same clinician can arrange a specialist referral to a gastroenterologist for the confirmatory biopsy, and your Medicare rebate on the specialist visit depends on having that referral. Consultations are bulk billed for eligible patients with a valid Medicare card.
A confirmed diagnosis changes things, but in a manageable way: a strict, lifelong gluten-free diet is the treatment, and most people feel dramatically better on it. Do not start the diet before the biopsy confirms the diagnosis, and once it does, a dietitian experienced in coeliac disease is worth their weight in gold. Coeliac Australia is the best starting point for practical support.
First-degree relatives have a higher chance of coeliac disease and should consider testing too. And because monitoring matters, follow-up bloods and check-ins are easiest with a clinician who already knows your story, which is precisely how Abby Health is built to work.
Get tested near home.
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