What do you make of my results?

[Rocky73]

Hi All,

Was wondering whether you can help me interpret my results please. 

I do generally feel very good but have been plagued by some gastro issues on and off since beginning of July which I put down to stress but currently feeling great. Have also in parallel found out I was iron, vitamin d, magnesium and zinc deficient and currently taking supplements for all. 

My gastro did some blood tests and results came back as follows and I was wondering what you would make of it. Have an appointment scheduled for discussion and biopsy on Nov 4.

Deamidated Gliadin IgA <2 RU/ml  (Ref. <25 Negative)

Anti Tissue Transglutaminase  IGA 38.41 RU/ml (Ref. more than 20 RU/ml: Positive)

Immunoglobulin A 2.23 g/l (Ref. 0.7 to 4 g/l)

My question is if positive TTG is indicative of celiac shouldn't gliadin have been positive too??

Thanks for your answers!

Rocky 73

[nvsmom]

Hi All,

Was wondering whether you can help me interpret my results please. 

I do generally feel very good but have been plagued by some gastro issues on and off since beginning of July which I put down to stress but currently feeling great. Have also in parallel found out I was iron, vitamin d, magnesium and zinc deficient and currently taking supplements for all. 

My gastro did some blood tests and results came back as follows and I was wondering what you would make of it. Have an appointment scheduled for discussion and biopsy on Nov 4.

Deamidated Gliadin IgA <2 RU/ml  (Ref. <25 Negative)

 

Anti Tissue Transglutaminase  IGA 38.41 RU/ml (Ref. more than 20 RU/ml: Positive)

 

Immunoglobulin A 2.23 g/l (Ref. 0.7 to 4 g/l)

 

 

My question is if positive TTG is indicative of celiac shouldn't gliadin have been positive too??

Thanks for your answers!

Rocky 73

No, I'm afraid not.  Celiacs who are positive in all tests appear to be a (large) minority. It is very common to be positive in one test, negative in a nother test, or even have a negative biopsy with positive tests (or vice versa).  That's part of the reason this pre-testing forum is so well used. 

It is suggested that people get as many tests run as possible for that very reason.  Celiac tests are not perfect.  They miss up to a quarter (or more in the old AGA tests) of all celiacs.

The ttG IgA misses up to 25% of all celiacs but it's specificity (% of positives caused by celiac) is at about 95%. This means if you had a negative ttG IgA you still have a 25% chance of being a celiac.  A positive tTG IgA means you have a 5% chance of that (weak) positive being caused by another autoimmune issue or a sickness (it is almost always a weak positive though - a 21 for your labs).

The DGP IgA is a good test, but it can miss 4-18% of celiacs.  You could be one of those.

My guess is that you have celiac disease.  A positive is generally a positive. 

If you want to be sure then request more testing get the DGP IgG, tTG IgG, EMA IgA, and the endoscopic biopsy (6+ samples taken). You could also get genetic testing done for the DQ2 and DQ8 genes, but that will just tell you if you are in the higher risk group of developing celiac disease. About 97% of all celiacs have at least one of those genes.

How is your doctor handling it?

[Rocky73]

Thank you - makes a lot of sense when you put it like this. Will be really gutted if this is going to be final diagnosis though. I am quite shocked about it actually. It doesn't run in the  family and like I said I don't really have any symptoms at all at the moment so did not see this coming at all 

I am seeing the doctor on November 4 for the biopsy.. Have not spoken to her since lab test; only the nurse who called to schedule biopsy as soon as blood work came back.  Not sure whether she plans on running more blood tests when I go in but will definitely  mention it. 

Thanks again for answering - it's great to have forums like these!

 

[cyclinglady]

Thank you - makes a lot of sense when you put it like this. Will be really gutted if this is going to be final diagnosis though. I am quite shocked about it actually. It doesn't run in the  family and like I said I don't really have any symptoms at all at the moment so did not see this coming at all 

I am seeing the doctor on November 4 for the biopsy.. Have not spoken to her since lab test; only the nurse who called to schedule biopsy as soon as blood work came back.  Not sure whether she plans on running more blood tests when I go in but will definitely  mention it. 

Thanks again for answering - it's great to have forums like these!

 

Keep eating gluten until all testing is complete!  

[squirmingitch]

I'm going to repeat what cyclinglady said because it bears repeating. CONTINUE EATING GLUTEN UNTIL YOU ARE SURE ALL TESTING IS COMPLETED. Otherwise you can get a false negative & you don't want that. 

BTW, you DO have symptoms.....

"iron, vitamin d, magnesium and zinc deficient"

Do you know what prolonged deficiency in these will do to you over time? We do. We've been there and further. You don't want to go there. It's like slowly dying. Also, you may think you don't have any symptoms but once you go gluten free you might just be surprised by the things you thought were normal but have disappeared.

[nvsmom]

.... Also, you may think you don't have any symptoms but once you go gluten free you might just be surprised by the things you thought were normal but have disappeared.

That is so true! It's astonishing the wide variety of damage an innocent PB&J sandwich can cause.

[Rocky73]

yeah no worries about me not eating any gluten  I am eating loads at the moment. Making the most of it until I know for sure that I am one of you. Should I continue with the supplements too?

Will keep you posted on my biopsy results and final diagnosis and thanks again for all your replies. Really appreciate it! 

[squirmingitch]

The supplements certainly won't hurt you at this point so go ahed & keep taking them. Down the line you'll want to make sure they're gluten free though.

Yes, please update us when you get results.