Blood test results - IgA deficiency?

[Bellatot]

The web is full of information but I am not a doctor and I really can't find the answer. 

My IgG level was negative but my LgA was 0.5 U/ml

 

What does this mean?  

 

Thanks in advance

[trents]

LGA? Did you mean to type IGA? And can you please post the reference ranges with your particular numbers? Your numbers don't help us much if we don't have anything to compare them to with regard to what is positive/negative. Different labs used different reference ranges. There is no industry standard.

Were any tests run besides IGG and LGA (IGA?)? It is unusual to run only those two tests unless others were previously run. IGG tests are most often ordered when total serum IGA is low.

[Bellatot]

Thank you for your response. This is all I have and yes I meant IgA I was reading up on deficiency and wondered if the level of 0.5 showed deficiency and if I should ask for alternative investigations 

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, by the way!

Wish we could help you more but we just don't have enough information. 

The first think I would ask for would be a hard copy of the lab report. I have a feeling there was more testing done than what you have been able to share with us. Either that, or the physician was uninformed/incompetent with regard to diagnosing celiac disease. Here in the USA we can call the doctor's office and have a staffer print out test results that we can pickup from their office. And if the physician is part of a large healthcare group we usually can access that information online with our personal account.

If what you reported is all that was done, I certainly would push for more testing. I would ask for total serum IGA, tTG-IGA and Deamidated gliadin peptide (DGP IgA and IgG). Here is a primer for celiac antibody testing: https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/screening-and-diagnosis/screening/

Our collective experience as the celiac community is that you can't depend on physicians to be up to speed on diagnosing celiac disease. We recommend going armed with information to appointments and being willing to be appropriately assertive in order to get proper testing done. And whatever you do, don't begin a gluten free diet before all testing is complete unless you intend to forego testing because you have become convinced that gluten is causing you problems. Beginning the gluten free diet previous to testing will invalidate the testing. Many physicians neglect to tell that to their patients. 

Can you share with us what symptoms you have? What led you to seek out testing for celiac disease?

There is also the possibility that you have NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity) which shares many of the same symptoms but for which there is no test. Celiac disease must first be ruled out. Total avoidance of gluten for life is the only way to address either disorder. NCGS is 10x more common than celiac disease.