Great news! XY Clinics have decided to offer a fixed price of 500dhs for all Gluten Free UAE users. Just mention 'Gluten Free UAE' when booking your appointment. This offer will run until further notice. A great price for anyone without insurance to get the tests done at an affordable rate. 
A few points to remember:

• You can not have the test if you are already on a gluten free diet, your result WILL be negative.
• A positive result is not a complete diagnosis, you would still need further tests to confirm 100%. If your test does come back positive, I can recommend you go to one of the Dr's listed under the Doctors tab of our website. They are all doctors of many Celiac patients.
• The blood tests are not 100% accurate, and if you have a negative and a strong suspicion that you DO have celiac, then further investigation will still be needed. Someone with for example IgA deficiency will also show negative on the blood test. 
• A first degree relative who tests negative would still need to be tested again through his/her life as Celiac disease can develop at any time in life. 

Should relatives of someone with Celiac be tested? There is a 1 in 22 chance that someone with a first degree relative who has Celiac will develop the disease too (1 in 39 for a second degree relative). My personal opinion (remember, I am not a doctor) is to test anyone in your family who may be at risk, but most certainly all 1st degree relatives. Given that over 95% of Celiacs world wide are undiagnosed, really, there can be no harm in doing the test right? There are tons of websites out there discussing this. Google 'who should be tested for Celiac' and you will get many answers. 

-Linda

As many of you may already know, not all insurances will cover testing for Celiac / Gluten intolerance. Whilst insurance may cover the test for someone with a whole string of symptoms, the same may not be the case for a relative of someone with Celiac who is symptom free. 
Should relatives of someone with Celiac be tested? There is a 1 in 22 chance that someone with a first degree relative who has Celiac will develop the disease too (1 in 39 for a second degree relative). My personal opinion (remember, I am not a doctor) is to test anyone in your family who may be at risk, but most certainly all 1st degree relatives. Given that over 95% of Celiacs world wide are undiagnosed, really, there can be no harm in doing the test right? There are tons of websites out there discussing this. Google 'who should be tested for Celiac' and you will get many answers.

Tests can vary in cost from a few hundred, to well over a thousand dirhams. So if you have a big family it may not even be possible to test everyone in one go unless insurance is covering. 

Help is at hand. XY Clinics in Dubai have offered to do super affordable testing for all Gluten Free UAE members the 11th April to 11th May. All you need to do is quote 'Gluten Free UAE' when you book. You will get the test for 175dhs during this time (usual price 750dhs). This is very generous of them and I can not thank them enough, I hope you all help spread the word and get people to get tested! The tests they do for us this month are not even covering their costs!

A few points to remember:

• You can not have the test if you are already on a gluten free diet, your result WILL be negative.
• A positive result is not a complete diagnosis, you would still need further tests to confirm 100%. If your test does come back positive, I can recommend you go to one of the Dr's listed under the Doctors tab of our website. They are all doctors of many Celiac patients.
• The blood tests are not 100% accurate, and if you have a negative and a strong suspicion that you DO have celiac, then further investigation will still be needed. Someone with for example IgA deficiency will also show negative on the blood test. 
• A first degree relative who tests negative would still need to be tested again through his/her life as Celiac disease can develop at any time in life. 

As a side note I also want to say that Gluten Free UAE is 100% non profit, I am not making any money from the work that I do, I do not advertise for anyone for a fee or any type of payment. I have met with the owners of this clinic and they are as passionate as I am about spreading awareness and encouraging people to have the test. Offcourse, they also make money from it, but I guess someone has to pay the lab ;) 

-Linda