Anyone Have Iron Deficiency Anemia As Only Sign Of Celiac?

[MoMof2Boyz]

I"ve had 2 negative blood tests, negative biopsy over 6 months ago. Now I have iron deficiency anemia. GI said the only other cause is bleeding in the gi tract and there's no way I could be positive after having negative results.  I have another upper endoscopy coming up and wondering if I should push to have another biopsy for celiac?

 

oh, and my cycles are not heavy at all.

[cyclinglady]

I did, but you'd have to throw in Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (that was diagnosed almost 20 years ago.  My blood test came back mildly positive but seven weeks later (after consuming a loaf of bread a day, I kid you not), my biopsy showed Marsh Stage IIIB.  

[Scarletgrrrl]

My blood tests were negative. I had the biopsy and I have stage 1 lesions which would explain why the blood tests were negative. (It wasn't the full panel though). I have had a lot of symptoms though and since the biopsy have been diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia.

[MoMof2Boyz]

hm, I just had a colonoscopy done, and there wasn't any GI bleeding. Wondering if it could be Celiac...but...would a person with celiac respond to iron supplements while  not on a gluten-free diet?

[cyclinglady]

I suppose you could be absorbing some iron depending on the severity of intestinal damage.  I would  absorb the iron and  my levels would improve within a month or so, but once I stopped the iron, my ferritin levels decreased.  

 

Are the doctors sure you have iron deficiency anemia?  It could be anemia due to a Thalassemia trait?  Might be worth researching.  I have it (it's genetic) and that caused my doctors to be extra cautious about prescribing iron in attempting to raise my hemoglobin levels (iron won't cure low hemoglobins levels in this case), but they didn't focus on my ferrtin levels (iron stores).  They'd just look at my hemoglobin levels that were always just under the range and blame the Thalassemia.  So, I had both -- thalassemia and iron deficiency anemia.  The GI doc just caught the low ferritin levels and with my Hashi's guessed that I had celiac disease as I didn't have any abdominal symptoms.  

[MoMof2Boyz]

hm, well labs do show iron deficiency anemia(had the full iron panel done) but per my last blood test there are things that make me go hmmmmm....such as RDW being normal when in IDA it's usually high. Iwill talk to my doc about this at my next appt. thanks!!

[cyclinglady]

In any case, find out the root cause of your anemia.  Don't just let the docs prescribe iron pills!  Good luck!

[mamafish]

I"ve had 2 negative blood tests, negative biopsy over 6 months ago. Now I have iron deficiency anemia. GI said the only other cause is bleeding in the gi tract and there's no way I could be positive after having negative results.  I have another upper endoscopy coming up and wondering if I should push to have another biopsy for celiac?

 

oh, and my cycles are not heavy at all.

 

I'm dealing with something similar.  Very low ferritin, although not quite anemic yet.  Also low vitD and a bone density scan showing osteopenia at 43.  I have some thyroid antibodies as well - not enough to be Hashi's yet, but definitely not zero, either.  And all celiac bloodwork was negative (but it runs in my family).

At this point, I've opted to go gluten-free and to retest my iron in 3 months (without taking iron supps - I have enough iron in my diet that neither iron or calcium should be deficient).  I figure that if I'm not absorbing nutrients, and that improves while gluten-free, that's a good enough diagnosis for me.  I don't need to wait for enough damage to show up positive on the tests - something is clearly affecting my body already, so I'm taking action to try to figure out what.

[1desperateladysaved]

hm, I just had a colonoscopy done, and there wasn't any GI bleeding. Wondering if it could be Celiac...but...would a person with celiac respond to iron supplements while  not on a gluten-free diet?

I did, but I seemed to need a continuous supply of iron and never seemed to have too much!

D