Would my celiac panel results be considered high?

[hydro46]

Hi All. I'm starting to think my bloodwork when i had it was in actuality high, and the ranges used were just crazy. About 15 years ago I had a positive IgE test for gluten (i was in grad school, i can't remember the ranges). The doctor told me go on a gluten free diet. I did, but for various reasons, including stupidity when i didnt react to eating gluten, I stopped. Fast forward a decade and my thyroid losing functioning and about to lose a gallbladder, i get tested again in 2015 for a celiac panel. Mind you, i was only eating bland food at the time because i was ABOUT to get my gallbladder removed but i didn't think anything of it and neither did my gastroenterologist--i may have inadvertently reduced my wheat but I don't remember.  Anyways, I just looked at my results and my IgA was 327, my diaminated gliadin IgA at 8.3, and ttg Ab IgA at 5.4. My question is, aren't those values high??? I've seen other posts where I think those numbers would have fit the range of high. All of my values were deemed normal. I just started a gluten free diet last week because of various other issues and feel so much better so I'm fine not doing the re-test. Just wanted to see what you all thought about those values from your experience. Thanks!

[trents]

9 minutes ago, hydro46 said:

Hi All. I'm starting to think my bloodwork when i had it was in actuality high, and the ranges used were just crazy. About 15 years ago I had a positive IgE test for gluten (i was in grad school, i can't remember the ranges). The doctor told me go on a gluten free diet. I did, but for various reasons, including stupidity when i didnt react to eating gluten, I stopped. Fast forward a decade and my thyroid losing functioning and about to lose a gallbladder, i get tested again in 2015 for a celiac panel. Mind you, i was only eating bland food at the time because i was ABOUT to get my gallbladder removed but i didn't think anything of it and neither did my gastroenterologist--i may have inadvertently reduced my wheat but I don't remember.  Anyways, I just looked at my results and my IgA was 327, my diaminated gliadin IgA at 8.3, and ttg Ab IgA at 5.4. My question is, aren't those values high??? I've seen other posts where I think those numbers would have fit the range of high. All of my values were deemed normal. I just started a gluten free diet last week because of various other issues and feel so much better so I'm fine not doing the re-test. Just wanted to see what you all thought about those values from your experience. Thanks!

IgE does not test for celiac disease which is an autoimmune disorder, not an allergy. IgE is used for allergy testing.

IgA is a measure of the total antibody load produced in certain kinds of body tissues (membranes of the lungs, sinuses, stomach, and intestines). It is not specific for celiac disease. The most specific IGA test for celiac disease is the tTG-IGA but it is the least sensitive, so it misses about one third of those who actually do have celiac disease.

The numbers you share with us cannot be evaluated unless we have reference values for what is normal. Do you still have access to the report?

[hydro46]

AH thanks very much for the info! i do. So they are all below the reference value, it just seems like more current testing lists reference values a lot lower. 

I see  10+ on the gliadin IGA (tested 8.3) as positive, 10+ on the ttg-IGA as positive (tested 5) and 400+ for the IGA. 

And i might need to see the allergist then. I tested 20 on the IgE and the positive was 10+. 

[trents]

Labs don't all use the same reference value.

As for allergy testing, they are notoriously unhelpful for a variety of reasons. When all is said and done with allergy testing there is typically a significant disconnect between test results and what you experience in real life symptomatically speaking. I suggest you google: "Is allergy testing accurate?" for an analysis of why they aren't that helpful. I've had both the skin prick kind of allergy testing done and the blood test kind. They didn't agree very well with one another as far as the results go. And if you send the same serum test samples to different labs the results are often quite different.

Edited April 18, 2021 by trents

[hydro46]

All true, thanks for the insight. I feel so much better I'm just going to stick with it for now. Because i felt so much better, it made me question my results but honestly i should just stick to how I feel! 

[trents]

You may have NCGS (non celiac gluten sensitivity). The two conditions produce many of the same symptoms but celiac disease does damage to the small bowel lining which is what produces the IGA antibodies. Gluten sensitivity does not damage the bowel lining but still can cause some rather serious health issues over time if ignored. The antidote for both is the same: total avoidance of gluten.

[RMJ]

The reference ranges for the celiac antibody tests can be different from lab to lab because the units of measure are different and arbitrary.  It is not that one lab thinks more antibody is needed to call it positive. If you ran the same sample at labs with different reference ranges, you’d get different numbers. For example, a 19 at a lab where the normal range is 0-19 would probably contain about the same amount of antibody as a 3 at a lab where the normal range is 0-3.

Your total IgA is an absolute unit, probably mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) and can be compared from lab to lab.

I’m glad you’ve found something (gluten free diet) that makes you feel better!

[DJFL77I]

High or low doesn't really matter at diagnosis..   if you're positive then you have Celiac...

Getting the antibody level to normal or 0 is what natters.