Ttg iga accuracy?

[Sickofbeingsick2023]

Hello! I’m not really sure if I’m doing this right… I’m kinda confused about why ttg iga is the most common blood test checking for celiac but when I read through everyone’s posts and questions I see that it is often negative. I’m in the middle of a gluten challenge and will go for blood work in a few weeks. My background - father has celiac, I have abnormal thyroid antibodies, non responsive to hep b vaccine, years of belly pain and bowel issues when consuming gluten, itchy blisters on my scalp and neck when consuming gluten, meralgia paresthetica when consuming gluten, low vitamin D. My dr ordered a celiac screen with reflex and I know that is IGA and TTG IGA. Is a 6-8 week gluten challenge (2wks light gluten, 4 weeks heavy gluten) enough to show an actual result?

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, Sickofbeingsick2023!

The tTG-IGA is the most common celiac antibody test ordered by docs because of three factors:

1. It has very good sensitivity

2. It has very good specificity

3. It is a relatively inexpensive test to run.

Most other celiac antibody tests suffer from either lack of good sensitivity, lack of good specificity or, in the case of the EMA, are expensive to administer. It is good that your doc ordered the total serum IGA as a reflex. In the case where total serum IGA is low, it lowers the value of individual IGA tests and can cause false negatives. It would have been better had he ordered a full celiac panel which would have included a wider range of antibody tests. You might find this informative:

I would think that your stated gluten challenge strategy will be adequate to render valid antibody test results. But I'm not clear on one thing. Were you on a gluten free diet before beginning the gluten challenge? Normally, the gluten challenge is outlined in the context of someone who was never tested for celiac disease but decided to go gluten free because of symptoms. But then later on they decide they want to get tested to establish ether a formal diagnosis of celiac disease or NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity).

Edited July 17, 2023 by trents

[Sickofbeingsick2023]

Yes I was gluten free (for the most part) since January 1st. I had been struggling to lose weight and discovered that I am insulin resistant. Went low carb and gluten free, lost 20lbs. Then we went on vacation and I started eating gluten here and there… I was reminded how awful it makes me feel. I have done gluten free in the past due to my symptoms and family history. I was tested once before, about 13 years ago and everything was negative.

[Wheatwacked]

As far as I can see, you already know the answer, just want proof.

Up to ~40% of 1st degree relatives of people with Celiac Disease have undiagnosed Celiac. Father counts as 1st degree.

These will also help:  They are all essential nutrients commonly deficient with Celiac Disease.  These doses are well within safe intake limits.  Each helped me individually but combined has been life changing.

These are minimum nutritional requirements not supplements to fix something.  While getting them from your diet would be best, you have deficiencies that need to be addressed, ASAP.  They will not be apparent from testing (except D and B12).  Deficiencies that will elicit Medical symptons but not caused by disease.  Perhaps one bottle of each will be enough while the benefits of your diet kick in.  It has taken me 8 years to get here. Save yourself time and suffering.

• 10,000 IU vitamin D to control autoimmune.
• 500 mg Thiamine - neurologic symptoms
• 500 mg Nicotinic Acid - increase capillary blood flow
• 500 mg Pantothenic Acid - creates energy from glucose Krebs Cycle
• 1000 mcg B12 - creates hemoglobin for oxygen transport
• 500 mg Taurine - essential amino acid, a powerful antioxident that we make indogenously so it is officially labeled "Conditional Essential" as Choline used to be, but not enough when sickness increases inflammation. reduces Reactivite Oxygen Species (ROS are are free radicals.).
• 840 mg Phosphatidly Choline - essential for fat digestion.
• Iodine - muscle tone, testosterone, hyper and hypo thyroid, slow healing.  I eat Nori and Kelp

 

Other symptoms you may have possibly Celiac related:  

 

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Wheatwacked
someday I'll stop making typos

[Sickofbeingsick2023]

15 minutes ago, Wheatwacked said:

As far as I can see, you already know the answer, just want proof.

Up to ~40% of 1st degree relatives of people with Celiac Disease have undiagnosed Celiac.

These will also help:  They are all essential nutrients commonly deficient with Celiac Disease.  These doses are well within safe intake limits.  Each helped me individually but combined has been life changing.

These are minimum nutritional requirements not supplements to fix something.  While getting them from your diet would be best, you have deficiencies that need to be addressed, ASAP.  They will not be apparent from testing (except D and B12.  Deficiencies that will elicit Medical symptons but not caused by disease.  Perhaps one bottle of each will be enough, while the benefits of your diet kick in.  It has taken me 8 years to get here. Save yourself time and suffering.

• 10,000 IU vitamin D to control autoimmune.
• 500 mg Thiamine - neurologic symptoms
• 500 mg Nicotinic Acid - increase capillary blood flow
• 500 mg Pantothenic Acid - creates energy from glucose Krebs Cycle
• 1000 mcg B12 - creates hemoglobin for oxygen transport
• 500 mg Taurine - essential amino acid, a powerful antioxident that we make indogenously, but not enough when sickness increases inflammation. reduces Reactivite Oxygen Species (ROS are are free radicals.)
• 840 mg Phosphatidly Choline - essential for fat digestion.
• Iodine from food. - muscle tone, testosterone, slow healing.  I eat Nori and Kelp.

 

 

Other symptoms you may have:  

 

 

Honestly, I’m so scared the tests will be negative. I know that sounds twisted but I feel like I need justification at this point. Especially after this gluten challenge, I thought I would try to enjoy eating normal food but it’s just been awful. Thank you for the link, I definitely do have some of those other symptoms, and thank you for the list of supplements too. I do currently take super D but none of the others.

[Scott Adams]

As @trents mentioned, approximately 10x more people have non-celiac gluten sensitivity than have celiac disease, but there isn’t yet a test for NCGS. If you test negative for celiac you can still go gluten-free and if your symptoms go away on a gluten-free diet it would likely signal NCGS.