Endoscopy

[1desperateladysaved]

A GI doctor told me that an endoscopy (with 6-10 samples) takes them 10 minutes when done in addition to a colonoscopy.  It seems to make sense to me that one would combine the two.  I hope it will be very SOON for your sake.  Make sure the doctor knows what they are doing.  I was told the endoscopy looks at the upper digestive track:  throat, stomach and small intestine and the colonoscopy looks at the lower digestive track.  I guess it isn't a GI doctor that is doing the colonoscopy?

 

Best wishes:

 

Dee

[mommy-6]

I've been on my mom every day since my lab came back. Part of her hold up is she wants to keep donating plasma and she's afraid if she is diagnosed with Celiac, no more plasma. However, if her protein is low because of Celiac, she will probably keep getting deferred anyway. 

 

Anyone know if there is any reason those with controlled Celiac can't donate plasma? 

 

I'm actually pretty excited to start my gluten free diet and see if some of my issues like migraines and anxiety are related.  It's also a relief to hear someone else say they were constipated and still going daily, makes me hopeful that it could be my problem too.

[mommy-6]

A GI doctor told me that an endoscopy (with 6-10 samples) takes them 10 minutes when done in addition to a colonoscopy.  It seems to make sense to me that one would combine the two.  I hope it will be very SOON for your sake.  Make sure the doctor knows what they are doing.  I was told the endoscopy looks at the upper digestive track:  throat, stomach and small intestine and the colonoscopy looks at the lower digestive track.  I guess it isn't a GI doctor that is doing the colonoscopy?

 

Best wishes:

 

Dee

 

 

Thank you, I hope so too! They told me it could be combined, but both procedures take 30 minutes and depending on their scheduling may have to reschedule to allot for the extra time of both. 

[mommy-6]

I met with the GI today and she asked if anyone had talked to me about my lab results and I told her the nurse said they showed positive for celiac. The GI responded with, "they're not positive, just slightly elevated and we need to do an EGD to rule it out". 

Sooooo.. if she wants to "rule it out". What else would create these lab results if its not Celiac? Just kind of curious what would come next if my biopsy happens to come back negative.

 

 

[nvsmom]

I met with the GI today and she asked if anyone had talked to me about my lab results and I told her the nurse said they showed positive for celiac. The GI responded with, "they're not positive, just slightly elevated and we need to do an EGD to rule it out". 

Sooooo.. if she wants to "rule it out". What else would create these lab results if its not Celiac? Just kind of curious what would come next if my biopsy happens to come back negative.

Nothing.  Your results were sky high, you have celiac disease in the family, and you have symptoms - that's celiac disease.  You appear to have a doctor who wants to cross all of their t's and dot all of their i's before they'll sign off on a diagnosis.

 

About 5% of all positive tTG IgA results are caused by diabetes, crohn's, colitis, thyroiditis, chronic liver disease, or a serious infection BUT it would be a weak false positive - not a positive that is at almost 200.  That's celiac disease.

 

Slightly elevated... hmph!

[ravenwoodglass]

I met with the GI today and she asked if anyone had talked to me about my lab results and I told her the nurse said they showed positive for celiac. The GI responded with, "they're not positive, just slightly elevated and we need to do an EGD to rule it out". 

Sooooo.. if she wants to "rule it out". What else would create these lab results if its not Celiac? Just kind of curious what would come next if my biopsy happens to come back negative.

If your biopsy comes back negative IMHO your doctor failed to biopsy a place that was damaged (damage can be patchy).

With blood results as high as yours there is not doubt you have celiac.  If you are going to have the biopsy done do start the diet the day the test is done. No need to wait for results. With a family history, sky high blood work and symptoms I have to wonder how knowledgeable your doctor is about celiac. Or maybe she just needs a new boat. 

[mommy-6]

She seemed like the type to not assume without all the information on the plate. I do find it a little concerning that she kept saying "rule it out" though, I had several other labs to rule out other things and the celiac was all that came back abnormal. The internal medicine doctor who ran the labs seemed to have no doubt it was celiac. I also worry the biopsy will come back negative, I had reduced gluten for a year to just a few times a month and just started consuming it regularly in September again... I don't know how much gluten it takes to make enough damage to make a positive biopsy. Then I had intended to ask her about the quantity of biopsies being taken, but by the time she stopped talking, I had forgotten what I was going to ask.

Regardless of the biopsy results, I told my husband I will be living as a Celiac. After Eating 2 days of gluten in a row I was sick to my stomach, literally... I can't live like that, unless I just can't eat processed foods. I do find it a little strange my symptoms would have suddenly gotten so severe, and really only to certain gluten containing foods, like almost over night. I can eat toast ( a multi sprouted whole meal bread) without any problems, but give me a slice of pizza or a burger and I feel like I have a severe case of the stomach flu. I have already swore off my 2 favorite fast food places because of how sick I got after eating at them.... and again the weird thing, I just ate there a month ago with not even half the issues after. 

[SMRI]

I met with the GI today and she asked if anyone had talked to me about my lab results and I told her the nurse said they showed positive for celiac. The GI responded with, "they're not positive, just slightly elevated and we need to do an EGD to rule it out". 

Sooooo.. if she wants to "rule it out". What else would create these lab results if its not Celiac? Just kind of curious what would come next if my biopsy happens to come back negative.

 

You need a new GI if she thinks your numbers are "slightly elevated".  Slightly elevated would be 21, not 199.  Personally I'd skip the scope and just move to a gluten-free diet.

[mommy-6]

I have to have a colonoscopy anyway... which I'm hoping all those issues are just constipation but I need to rule out anything serious... so adding the EGD isn't a big deal since I will be there anyway. I was scratching my head too when she said slightly elevated when the control was 0-19.5 in addition to my grandma having confirmed Celiac.... however, I will bring that up if the EGD comes back negative.  They're keeping my appointment for the 31st, so as long as I avoid things like pizza, I can make it that far with a gluten diet... or maybe I should just tough it out and eat lots of pizza... I don't know, lol. She also told me that if I went gluten free now, it wouldn't change my EGD results since it takes 6 months to make a difference in gut healing.

[BlessedMommy]

"Slightly elevated" when it's like 10x the normal range? 

 

You have celiac, cut and dried, plain and simple.

[nvsmom]

Keep in mind that the biopsy can miss up to 20% of all celiacs.  

[mommy-6]

I contacted her today about the biopsy and she assured me they will take adequate number of biopsies along with complimenting me on my knowledge on the subject... so now I wait, again, lol. 

[mommy-6]

Just an update.... had my EGD and colonoscopy yesterday. I don't have any non-celiac health issues, yay  .. and like I suspected I don't have constipation or impaction troubles either. So thankfully they will quit trying to shove laxatives down my throat, hopefully. So far all I know is I have "mild scalloping", but I was half asleep when they were talking to me soooo, I don't remember much (that includes the car wash I don't recall doing afterwards or where I put my hospital discharge papers). They said my other issues must all be related to Celiac, which is weird since they still keep saying they want to "rule it out". Now I wait a week or so for my biopsy results.