Hypothyroidism and Celiac

[Guest]

Hello I m new at this forum. I am 24 years old. My mother and I have hypothyroidism and a day before I found out about celiac, the symptoms of celiac and hypothyroidism are almost similar and i have read that both diseases can go hand in hand. I have felt that every time when i eat macaroni and spicy rice  I have loose stool. I eat whole wheat loaf and that doesnt bother me at all. So I want to order tests for tTG IgA and immunoglobulin IgA . I m not on gluten free diet so do i need to have more gluten before tests???

[Jmg]

11 hours ago, Saghar said:

Hello I m new at this forum. I am 24 years old. My mother and I have hypothyroidism and a day before I found out about celiac, the symptoms of celiac and hypothyroidism are almost similar and i have read that both diseases can go hand in hand. I have felt that every time when i eat macaroni and spicy rice  I have loose stool. I eat whole wheat loaf and that doesnt bother me at all. So I want to order tests for tTG IgA and immunoglobulin IgA . I m not on gluten free diet so do i need to have more gluten before tests???

Hello and welcome

It's true that there's aOpen Original Shared Link.  Loose stools and other digestion issues can be symptoms of celiac and you should definitely explore this issue with your doctor. This is the full celiac panel, try and get as many of these as available to you:

Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA
Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA
Deamidated Gliadin Peptide (DGP) IgA and IgG
Total Serum IgA

11 hours ago, Saghar said:

I m not on gluten free diet so do i need to have more gluten before tests???

You must be eating some gluten each day up to the test date for an accurate response. 

Here's some more info. Also check out the forum FAQ  

Best of luck

 

 

[cyclinglady]

Hi!  

It is true that there is a strong link of autoimmune thyroiditis (Grave's Disease or Hashimoto's Thyroiditis) with celiac disease because both are autoimmune disorders.  You can get screened for celiac disease by taking a simple blood test (JMG supplied excellent advice).   You do need to be on a gluten-containing diet (daily, 8 to 12 weeks prior to the blood draw) as eliminating gluten from will yield negative results.  

I wish you well.  

[Guest]

21 hours ago, Jmg said:

Hello and welcome

It's true that there's aOpen Original Shared Link.  Loose stools and other digestion issues can be symptoms of celiac and you should definitely explore this issue with your doctor. This is the full celiac panel, try and get as many of these as available to you:

Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA
Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA
Deamidated Gliadin Peptide (DGP) IgA and IgG
Total Serum IgA

You must be eating some gluten each day up to the test date for an accurate response. 

Here's some more info. Also check out the forum FAQ  

Best of luck

 

 

Is total serum IgA and Immunoglobulin A (IgA) same tests??? because here in Pakistan labs perform immunoglobulin A and Immunoglobulin G. I cant find total serum IgA in menu of labs. 

[Jmg]

1 hour ago, Saghar said:

Is total serum IgA and Immunoglobulin A (IgA) same tests??? because here in Pakistan labs perform immunoglobulin A and Immunoglobulin G. I cant find total serum IgA in menu of labs. 

Ok, I may be wrong as I'm definitely not an expert, but my understanding is that immunoglobulin a would be separate from total igA.

The first test is to check your levels. The second is to check that your natural levels of igA are within the normal leveL. The reason is that some people are naturally low in igA which means that they will score low on the igA test, whether or not they are celiac:

Quote

Total immunoglobulin A (Open Original Shared Link) and IgA Anti-tissue Transglutaminase Antibody (TTG) are usually the first choice tests performed for diagnosis of coeliac disease. IgA deficiency is significantly more common in people with coeliac disease in general population. That may give a false negative result when tested for IgA TTG, which may lead to a missed diagnosis. That explains the main reason for performing these two tests together If the results of the tests described above are uncertain, then the next test that may be performed is IgA antiendomysial antibody (EMA). This can be a helpful test when the IgA TTG result is weakly positive.

The final tests that may be used are IgG EMA, IgG deamidated gliadin peptide or IgG anti TTG. These may be performed if IgA deficiency is confirmed.

If the results of autoantibody testing are positive, or if clinical suspicion remains high despite of negative findings, the patient should be referred to a gastrointestinal specialist to undergo biopsy of the small intestine (gut) to confirm or exclude the diagnosis of coeliac disease.

Open Original Shared Link

[tessa25]

EMA is a test that comes back as positive or negative for celiac.

Immunoglobulin IGA is used to see if your IGA levels are high enough for TTG IGA to be valid.

Too low Immunoglobulin IGA means a negative TTG IGA has no meaning and TTG IGG neads to be used.

 

[cyclinglady]

3 hours ago, Saghar said:

Is total serum IgA and Immunoglobulin A (IgA) same tests??? because here in Pakistan labs perform immunoglobulin A and Immunoglobulin G. I cant find total serum IgA in menu of labs. 

Yes, it is the same test. When used in conjunction with  celiac testing, it verifies that the celiac IgA  test results are valid.  Used alone (not running the celiac tests), if  the Immunoglobulin A result is above or below range....then you are dealing with another set of problems.  For example, my result was above range.  This can be attributed to my having more than one autoimmune disorder and at the same time, it validated the IgA celiac test results.  

[Guest]

On 6/26/2017 at 7:53 PM, cyclinglady said:

Yes, it is the same test. When used in conjunction with  celiac testing, it verifies that the celiac IgA  test results are valid.  Used alone (not running the celiac tests), if  the Immunoglobulin A result is above or below range....then you are dealing with another set of problems.  For example, my result was above range.  This can be attributed to my having more than one autoimmune disorder and at the same time, it validated the IgA celiac test results.  

My test results came and tTG IGA is weak positive, could be due to hypothyroidism 

its 15.22U/ml

Negative: less than 8 U/ml

Equivocal: between 12 to 18 U/ml

Positive: greater than 18 U/ml

and the Serum IGA is 3.23 g/L

Range: (0.4 to 3.5)

What these results mean and what other tests I should consider?

Test results are attached.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

[Guest]

My test results came and tTG IGA is weak positive, could be due to hypothyroidism 

its 15.22U/ml

Negative: less than 8 U/ml

Equivocal: between 12 to 18 U/ml

Positive: greater than 18 U/ml

and the Serum IGA is 3.23 g/L

Range: (0.4 to 3.5)

What these results mean and what other tests I should consider?

[cyclinglady]

You are correct in that other issues that could raise the TTG.  I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis which is hypothyroidism that is due to autoimmune (like celiac disease).   I personally have never had a positive on a TTG test.  If my Doctor had not ordered the entire panel, my diagnosis would have never been caught.  

You could ask for the rest of the panel which includes the DGP and EMA.  If your sysmptoms warrant, your doctor may order an endoscopy.  About 10% of celiacs are seronegative.  

Here is more about the tests.  

Open Original Shared Link

Even if all testing is negative for celiac disease, consider trialing the gluten-free diet.  Unfortunately there is no specific test for a gluten sensitivity, but the symptoms are real.  

Take care.