13 replies to this topic

[langone7]

I had already been off gluten for a month and a half when this test was taken. What does this mean?

IGA= 40 H
IGG= 4


Nobody has explained what that actually means?

[langone7]

Is it possible for these tests to be done without a celiac panel, thereby making them void because they are measuring a different IGG IGA antibody? Or is there only one type?

[mushroom]

Those results in and of themselves are meaningless, because they do not state which kind of IgA and IgG antibody they are measuring. There are three possibilities that come to mind: could be AGA, tTG, or DGP. So the results would need to state AGA IgA, etc., and they would need the reference ranges that the lab uses when doing their assays to elucidate the numbers.

[langone7]

Those results in and of themselves are meaningless, because they do not state which kind of IgA and IgG antibody they are measuring. There are three possibilities that come to mind: could be AGA, tTG, or DGP. So the results would need to state AGA IgA, etc., and they would need the reference ranges that the lab uses when doing their assays to elucidate the numbers.

It says AB (IGA, IGA)

[langone7]

It says AB (IGA, IGA)

I apologize Gliadin AB (IGG, IGA)

[mushroom]

If you had been off gluten for six weeks and AGA IgA came back that far over positive, it definitely warrants further investigation. How long altogether have you been off gluten now? Depending, it probably would not be worth running the full celiac panel at this point

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgA
Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgG
Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA
Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA
Deamidated Gliadin Peptide (DGP) IgA and IgG
Total Serum IgA

which is what should have been done. But it might be worth doing the endoscopy with biopsy. Can you self refer to a GI or do you have an HMO?

[Takala]

Can you contact the place or the doctor's office which issued the results, and get the rest of the missing numbers that should go along with what you have ? Each lab uses a different range to compare scores. For example, it should say something like "your score = 40, where 1 to 10 is negative, 11 to 20 is mild (maybe, or equivocal) , and over 40 (greater than, >, ) is positive."

I just totally made up those ranges for the purpose of illustration, by the way. What you have so far, is like saying you're driving 40mph in the gluten gliadin antibody zone.... what was the speed limit in Celiacville ?

[langone7]

I have been off gluten now for 4 months, and I am too afraid now to go back on it. The ranges for the IGA were less than 20 units. The ranges for the IGG was also less than 20 units.

He did not do the whole panel, he was a very weird alternative doctor that went farther than alternative to the point of scamming me for money. However, I do have copy from Quest of the blood test.

I can self refer, which I am considering since my regular doctor does not give me any direction. However, since my husband and I had been trying to get pregnant I am not sure if I could do a biopsy? Considering, I am not yet sure if I am pregnant. However, I suppose it might be useful to do other tests that do not require me to be put under.

[mushroom]

An endoscopy does not require general anesthesia. They give you a sedative, and a medication called Versed so that you do not remember the procedure. You wake right up after it - there is minimal recovery time. I think it is something you could do even if you were pregant but you would want to check.

[cavernio]

Sorry to ask about this in your thread iangone, but I've been very confused about all this myself.

I never got my blood tests back myself (of course I didn't, I'm canadian, they keep you in the dark as much as they possibly can), however what they tested was positive. When I prodded the GI who did the biopsy about my IgA and if IgA specifically meant gluten antibodies, he said no it didn't and that he had no way of knowing for certain if my antibodies were towards gluten or something else. But that seems in contradiction to what you've posted, here and elsewhere.

I don't even have the results of my blood test, but I have the GI and my conversation with him regarding IgA and in my medical records I have someone saying my IgG is high which I thought I didn't even have tested as no one else has referred or talked about my IgG being high.

I know I have celiac disease because the biopsy came back positive too, but in terms of understanding literature and what tests are relevevant and how they work and what they mean, I'm very, very confused.

[mushroom]

cavernio, surely if you ask the doctor's office they will give you a copy of your blood test results? What possible reason could they have for denying them? I don't know if under Canadian law they are required to do so, but it is a pretty harmless request, especially since they are positive.

[cavernio]

I got a copy of all the files my doctor had on him, but the blood tests weren't in them. It was probably because when I got tested he wasn't my doctor and it was just one I saw in a walk-in clinic. And it was a pain in the ass to get the copies too. They aren't allowed to just give you your files though, they have to give you copies.

You wouldn't believe the lack of healthcare I receive. I've been trying to get my vitamin levels checked since before I even asked for the celiac diagnosis. I still can't manage to do it, not beyond b12 and iron. And I STILL haven't managed to get my t4 and t3 checked along with tsh. One of my blood tests the LAB wrote down that it was unnecessary to test for t4 since there was no family history of thyroid issues.,Which is actually wrong, but it's beyond ridiculous that they have any sort of power over what I get tested for and that they can ignore what the doctor ordered. The other one I thought I just got a few months ago was ordered by my previous doctor and he said my thyroid was fine. But when I got my hands on my files since he's no longer my doctor, the results don't show any thyroid tests at all!

Back on track, regardless of my personal results, am I right in saying that it is very possible to test for gluten/gliadin specific antibodies in the blood, and that my GI was wrong? (Well he could be right in that the labs HERE don't use that test, but that's not what he said, he said that it was impossible.)

[mushroom]

One of the tests is called AntiGliadin Antibodies (AGA IgA and IgG), but it is an older test and is not considered to be as sensitive as the newer DGP (deamidated gliadin peptide) test. But all the celiac tests are checking for those little antibodies - they just do it i different ways. Some ways work for some, others work for others. Why it is considered necessary to run the entire panel by most of us, but not by the docs, unfortunately.

Go back to that walk-in clinic you went to and get your copies from them As you have learned, if you don't have the results in your hand there is no evidence that they were actually done or what the results were

[cavernio]

Last time I went to the walk-in clinic to get the results they acted like I was an idiot for going there for the results.
I have biopsy results. One of the 2 GI's I saw should have them.

thanks, didn't know what all the abbrev. stood for.