New to forum and at early stages of testing

[Bob1234]

Hi there,

Thank you to all who answer questions here! You are appreciated for you help, guidance and support.

I have just had some celiac blood panels drawn and the results are as follows:

Deamidated Gliadin Abs, IgA value 13 - reference range 0-19 units

Deamidated Gliadin Abs, IgG value 11 - reference range 0-19 units

Endomysial Antibody IgA - negative

Immunoglobulin A on serum 259  - reference range 87-352

t-Transglutaminase (tTg) IgA 4H - range 0-3 (0-3 negative, 4-10 weak positive, >10 positive)

I have never been a big bread fan, in fact I probably eat about 2 sandwiches a year, I dislike pizza and I do not like pasta.  I cannot remember if my loathing comes from the way it makes me feel, or if I just don’t like those kind of food.  So all the glutens are almost eliminated from my diet naturally, without following a strictly gluten Free diet.  I’m probably just getting trace gluten from soy sauce etc used during cooking.  

So when I had my bloodwork done, there was nothing that stood out apart from the Transglutaminase blood test which was weak positive.

Is it worth pursuing to see if I have celiacs or just continue as I have been doing? There are days when I feel off and have tummy aches and headaches but nothing that prevents me from functioning.  Just don’t want to be causing internal damage if I have celiacs!

Thanks for listening and helping me out!

much appreciated.

take care

Bob

 

[trents]

So it sounds like you are eating a "low gluten" diet but are not gluten free. Yes, you can still be experiencing damage to the small bowel villi even with low levels of gluten intake. Lack of symptoms is not necessarily synonymous with no damage.

[Bob1234]

Thank you Trents.  Yes, I would say I follow a low gluten diet.  
I am waiting on a referral to a GI Dr.  Do you think based on the one blood test marker that was weak positive, that it’s work pursuing? 
I have periodic symptoms which is why my primary care Dr decided to test.

thanks for all you do!

take care

 

[trents]

Unless you are willing to undergo a "gluten challenge," any retest of blood antibodies is likely to yield marginal results as it already has. The Mayo Clinic guidelines for a pretest gluten challenge is the daily consumption of at least two slices of wheat bread (or the gluten equivalent) for 6-8 weeks leading up to the day of the blood draw. If you really need a definitive answer that regimen would need to be followed.

But because you were already eliminating most gluten from your diet, my guess would be that you do have celiac disease in view of the weak positive tTG-IGA and because you have appropriate symptoms. The tTG-IGA antibody test is the most trusted test for celiac disease.

IMO, the smartest course of action would be to commit to a strict gluten free diet and see if your symptoms improve. The other thing I would suggest is to consider genetic testing to see if you have any of the two or three genes that we know are associated with celiac disease. Having the genetic potential does not guarantee that you have or will develop active celiac disease because 40% of the general population has one or more of the genes. But not having the genes would rule out celaic disease. But it would not rule out gluten sensitivity.