Decoding Celiac Results

[Angiekins]

Hello All!

So I am semi new to this community, and I was just looking for help in trying to figure out my blood test results. I've had digestive symptoms for years, and always just thought it was a "part of life" and delt with it. After a stressful move across country, July of 2010, my symptoms worsened. It was to the point where I wanted to boycott food altogether lol

Anyway it was about a year ago that someone suggested my symptoms could be Celiac, and It took me almost a year to get around to getting tested. I went gluten free for a month or so to see how I felt, but I had already scheduled a doctors appointment at the GI office....i started eating everything bread related for a couple weeks prior to the testing, including buying a loaf of disgusting wheat bread..and eating most of the loaf...gag. I literally felt like i was dying...brain fog...fatiuge ( i cant spell...haha), severe bloating and pain, sometimes "D"...i missed work...blah blah blah...anywhoooo

Got testing done through TriCore...and this is what was all in the "celiac panel"

IgA: Sufficient

Gliadin IgA Ab: 8 (ref range 0-19 Units)

Tis. Transglut Ab IgA: 15 (ref range 0-19 Units)

it seems like its negative...and after all the research i have done, i thought there would be more included in the testing...it was really really dirt cheap so I dont know....I hope someone can help me on this...should I get retested? I cant afford to get scoped (which I hear is the Gold Standard)...Cause I have no health insurance.

Thank you for the help....sorry for the long rant haha

~Angie

[GottaSki]

Welcome Angie!

The tests you listed are negative. The tests could be negative because the length of your challenge was too short. It takes time to accumulate antibodies in your blood in reaction to gluten consumption. Most celiac centers recommend between 6 and 12 weeks for the tests to be most accurate. If you choose to have more testing, continue to eat gluten, there is no need to overdo - a slice of gluten containing bread per day is sufficient.

Should you wish to ask for more blood tests:

Tissue Transglutaminase IgG

Endomisial IgA

Gliadin IgG

Deamidated Gliadin Peptide IgA and IgG

Additionally, testing for vitamin/mineral deficiencies are useful for determining if you are not absorbing nutrients properly. Vitamin/Mineral supplementation is often needed while healing.

Whether you want to pursue more testing is up to you. With negative testing you have two choices. Endoscopy or removing ALL sources of gluten to monitor for symptom improvement. Elimination of gluten is often the best test for Celiac Disease and is the only test available for Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance. NCGI has many symptoms similar to Celiac Disease - they both have the same treatment - live gluten-free.

Good luck to you

[nvsmom]

Lisa gave you great advice. As long as you don't need that piece of paper saying you are celiac (which from what I heard can make it harder to get health insurance) you should probably just go back to eating gluten-free. It sounds like you didn't do well reintroducing it back into your life anyways... and I hope you recover quickly from your gluten challenge.

I think I would call yourself a celiac (or NCGI depending on what a situation demands) and get back to the diet. If you did it for a month, you can do it again. Best wishes to you!

[KikiB]

Lisa gave you great advice. As long as you don't need that piece of paper saying you are celiac (which from what I heard can make it harder to get health insurance)

Why would it make it harder? There's no medicine to be given out. Is it because if people don't comply with the diet they get sicker?

[nvsmom]

Why would it make it harder? There's no medicine to be given out. Is it because if people don't comply with the diet they get sicker?

I'm Canadian, so I'm just repeating what I've seen said on the forum before....

I assume that part of it is that you could get sicker and have complications if you don't comply with the diet. Many health care professionals seem to think its a difficult and expensive diet to follow.

Also, Celiac is an autoimmune disease and AI diseases seem to run in clusters. It seems that a good number of middle aged celiac sufferers have a second, third or fourth AI disease as well. I imagine it would act like a red flag alerting them that we are at higher risk to more develop more illnesses.

Then again, I'm just restating what I've seen posted elsewhere without any proof to back it up... I probably should have "kept my mouth shut" and not typed without evidence. Sorry about that.

[KikiB]

I'm Canadian, so I'm just repeating what I've seen said on the forum before....

I assume that part of it is that you could get sicker and have complications if you don't comply with the diet. Many health care professionals seem to think its a difficult and expensive diet to follow.

Also, Celiac is an autoimmune disease and AI diseases seem to run in clusters. It seems that a good number of middle aged celiac sufferers have a second, third or fourth AI disease as well. I imagine it would act like a red flag alerting them that we are at higher risk to more develop more illnesses.

Then again, I'm just restating what I've seen posted elsewhere without any proof to back it up... I probably should have "kept my mouth shut" and not typed without evidence. Sorry about that.

No worries. I was just curious. I already have asthma and cannot get insurance on my own. I can only get it through a job where they have to take you.

[GottaSki]

Why would it make it harder? There's no medicine to be given out. Is it because if people don't comply with the diet they get sicker?

Hey Nicole and Kiki-

I've seen these claims as well. I think it stems from the history of health insurance refusing people with pre-existing conditions. This was only a problem when applying for private insurance - not from your or your spouse's employer. The recent changes to health care laws in the US now prevent health insurance companies from refusing clients due to pre-existing conditions.

As far as I know there are no repercussions from obtaining a diagnosis.

[GottaSki]

No worries. I was just curious. I already have asthma and cannot get insurance on my own. I can only get it through a job where they have to take you.

Wow...I thought this was no longer legal. Good to know.

[KikiB]

Wow...I thought this was no longer legal. Good to know.

I don't know if that part of Obamacare has kicked in yet -- if it has, then it is illegal. It was true several years ago when I was in between jobs.

[KikiB]

P.S. I would definitely prefer to know one way or the other. I already know I can't tolerate gluten, but I'd still like to know for sure.

[Angiekins]

Hey all, thank you for the advice! I've been eating like crap agian and thus feeling just as bad. I'm trying to get back into eating gluten free agian, but its so hard sometimes when I stop over at a friends and what not, and they are eating pizza or cookies....and i love pizza and cookies...and everything in between. I didnt know that about the health care....thats interesting...

Anywho, take care, Ill update occasionally