Celiac? With My Test Results?

[Pastor-chan]

Hi everyone! So I was hoping to get your opinon on my scenario- for the past couple years I have been dealing with stomach issues such as loud gurling noises, a bout of terrible stomach pain that almoast landed me in the hospital if we hadn't got to the walk in in time and left me vomiting. Within the past 6 months I have started experiencing depression and anxiety for the first time my life, vomiting (especially while I was drinking coffee), constipation, heart palpitations, and rapid tooth decay- I am a very healthy eater (no soda and rarely candy besides ice cream lol) and brush and floss every night, and shortly after just under 2 years of seeing the dentist I had 10 cavities!! He said it was very abnormal and his conclusion was that it was because I hadn't seen him in a while. 

 

I can't eat any acidic food right now or drink coffee because they irritate my stomach and make me nauseous.  

I have had stress in the past couple months, but as I say, nothing to the extent of how my body has reacted. 

 

I have also been having fatigue, confusion, cold feet and hands, and bad brain fog nearly every day, and easy brusing. I have got a plethora of tests including thyroid, iron anemia, and B12 which came back normal, my doctor has labeled me with anxiety/depression. Unexepectedly, my doctor threw on Tissue Tranglutaminase IGA the other day and I came back POSITIVE- my reference range is supposed to be under 12.0 and I was at 48.2 U/ml. My HDL was low also if that means anything. Celiac? From prefessionals I've talked to, they see how everything fits. My doctor still isn't convinced because I don't have the common symptoms such as anemia and diarrhea, but he is sending me for a biopsy. I know other autoimmune disorders can cause a positive result, but it seems everything fits with Celiac. Thank you greatly for reading this and your help!  If you have any idea how all these symptoms and the test result are jumbled together i would love to hear your input

[mamaw]

hello & welcome.... sorry  for all your  health issues... at t his  point  it could  be anything.. here are a few  things  to look into:

 

Sibo, ulcers,Gerd, thyroid  full panel ( not  just  TSH), Biospy for  celiac  please  make sure  they  take  at  least 4-6 samples....liver  function  testing...

I would  also  suggest  you keep a  food  journal  to  know for  sure  which  foods  cause  you  ill effects... have  you tried  taking  probiotics  & before  meals a digestive  enzyme? Eating  a plain  naked  food  diet  for at  least  three  - six   months.Limiting  highly processed  foods.....

[cyclinglady]

Maybe include a full celiac panel since you "passed" the initial screening? Whatever you do, keep eating gluten until ALL testing is complete (until that endoscopy/biopsy).

Take care!

[nvsmom]

Welcome to the board.  

 

I disagree with Mamaw somewhat. I don't think it could be anything with a tTG IgA that is 4 times above the upper limit of normal.  Generally, a false positive tTG IgA (which does occur in about 5% of positive tTG IgA results) is caused by thyroiditis, type 1 diabetes, crohn's, colitis, chronic liver disease, or a serious infection (like lyme).  The other 95% of all positives, including strong positives like yours, are caused by celiac disease.  

 

See pages 7-12 for more info on testing:  Open Original Shared Link

 

You do have many celiac disease symptoms.  Discounting celiac disease because you don't have D or anemia would be folly.  There are 300 symptoms of celiac disease, and no celiac will have all symptoms!  I actually shared many of your symptoms, have never had anemia (except once in my life from a separate health issue), and had chronic constipation.  Stomach, and teeth problems point to celiac disease, as does fatigue, easy bruising (from low vitamin K or platelets) and low cholesterol (my doctor always gave me the credit for that LOL).

Open Original Shared Link

 

There are more blood tests that you could get done if you doubt the celiac disease diagnosis.  This is all of them:

• tTG IgA and tTG IgG
• DGP IgA and DGP IgG (deaminated gliadin peptides) - good at detecting early celiac disease
• EMA IgA (endomysial antibodies) - similar to the tTG IgA but can show more advanced dusease
• AGA IgA and AGA IgG (anti-gliadin antibodies) - older and less reliable tests largely replaced by the DGP tests

All tests require a gluten filled diet in the 8-12 weeks prior to testing.

 

When you get the ednoscopy done, make sure they take at LEAST 6 samples from various locations.  The surface area of the intestines is that of a tennis court! I find it amazing that the false negative rate stays below 20% considering that the intestinal damage is often patchy.  The more samples taken, the more likely the damage will be detected.

 

You also have many symptoms of thyroid problems like constipation, cold extremities, and heart palpitations.  TSH tests won't catch all people with a problem.  Check TSH (should be near a 1 regardless of normal range), free T4 and free T3 (should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal reference range, and TPO Ab.

 

Best wishes.