Test Results

[Solandra]

Hey guys, so even my doctor is confused by this. I did a gluten challenge because 3 years ago I came back with an elevated Gliadin AB IGA (just two points over normal) which could be caused by my Hashimoto's disease (history: I had a tumor, which was removed three years ago). Back then, my thyroid TPO antibodies were over 3500.

 

So I just had my new test:

 

Gliadin AB IGA - 11 (0-19) That went down! So did my TPO which is now at 132.5!

 

TTG AB - 6 (0-19)

Gliadin AB IGG - 2 (0-19)

 

TTG AB, IGG - 3 (0-19)

 

So, apparently, if you have another autoimmune disease, it can give you a false positive on the Gliadin AB IGA. I suspected this may be the case, which is why I rechecked. Also, he was confused about my IgA serum, which was 393 (70-310). I told him it was higher than normal last time, too. Can that also be caused by autoimmune diseases? I know a lot of you know a lot about this sort of thing.

[nvsmom]

I have not heard much about other autoimmune diseases causing raised anti-gliadin antibodies.  I'm sure it must happen because the AGA tests are 80-95% specific to celiac disease, so 5-15% of positives are caused by something else, but why would it react to gliadin/gluten?  Hmm.

 

I know the tTG  tests can show other AI diseases, but it is even more rare.  Hashi's can raise this one a bit. and going gluten-free can lower TPO Ab sometimes in celiacs... they're weirdly linked.

 

Take a look at this report on page 12: Open Original Shared Link As you can see, the sensitivity of the AGA tests is not very good (whcih is why they aren't used often anymore).  It's possible hat it just missed you for some reason.

 

Do you feel better gluten-free?  If so, I would go with your first tests just to be safe.

 

This stuff can be frustratingly confusing sometimes.

[Solandra]

I can't tell if I feel better gluten free because of gluten, or because stuff that contains gluten often causes blood sugar ups and downs. I know I feel better when I eat more Paleo in general, though (not strict on it). I have gone gluten free for months at a time and didn't notice that much of a difference. My doctor says that Levothyroxine treatment in general helps to lower antibodies, and since it's been three years and now my TPO antibodies are low, and my Thyroglobulin AB are normal, I think it's due to the Levo and not gluten, since I haven't been consistently gluten free.