My 8-year-old son just got his blood results back and his TTG level is 20.3.  In general, how long does it take to get the gluten out of their system completely?

We made our kids' lunches throughout elementary school, and a good part of high school, but my daughter ended up straying from the diet in high school due to peer pressure. I think you brought up something interesting, and that is that some kids get mistakenly diagnosed with eating disorders, when they actually may have celiac disease or some other food intolerance or allergy. It's not just kids, adults are often dismissed by doctors and suspected of having mental or emotional issues, rather than celiac disease. We've seen it all on this forum--tons of people are prescribed antidepressants or antianxiety meds when they describe their many, seemingly unrelated symptoms to their doctors.

It's understandable to be concerned about the unit change between your child's test results. TTG-IgA can be reported in different units (U/mL or kIU/L), and some labs use a conversion where 1 U/mL equals approximately 1 kIU/L. However, since reference ranges and assay methods vary by lab, it's best to confirm with them directly. Ask the lab or your doctor to clarify whether the new result is truly higher or if it’s just a reporting difference. This will help avoid confusion before the endoscopy. Hope you get clear answers soon! Let us know.

No I was 19 when I was diagnosed. And before then I brought my own lunch (usually a sandwich) which I would throw up an hour later. I wish we figured it out sooner. My folks thought I had an eating disorder and was purposely making myself sick.  With the way things are going wouldn’t be surprised if people think a kid with celiac disease is just attention seeking. Had a nurse try to get me to eat sourdough bread one time to cure my celiac disease but I’m going a bit off topic. If I had a child that inherited my celiac disease I would make all their lunches I worked in restaurants and cafeterias before they aren’t safe too much cross contamination 

If your celiac antibody tests are still positive that may explain the ongoing symptoms.  You might examine your diet and try to get those tests in the normal range before doing something like an MRI or CT scan.  It took me almost six years to get all of my antibody tests in the normal range.  At first I thought I was eating gluten free by avoiding wheat, rye and barley in the ingredient list.  Then I made sure foods were labeled gluten free, one antibody was still positive.  Now if I eat processed foods I buy certified gluten free or foods labeled gluten free from companies with good reputations in the celiac community.