Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

50 YO Male Recently Diagnosed with Celiac Disease

ekelsay
 Share

Recommended Posts

ekelsay Newbie
ekelsay
Posted

Today, I received the results of my Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) Ab, IgA test. I am not sure how to interpret the results. I have left a message for the doctor that requested the test but have not heard back. The results stated that the normal range is from 0.00 - 4.99 FLU. My results came back at 92.08. Is this concerning? This seems extremely high for someone who has reached the age of 50 before finding out he has celiac disease. 

The reason that I was administered the test in the first place is due to bloating issues that started about a year ago. I met with a Gastroenterologist and after a short question and answer session she wanted to test me for celiac disease and a bacteria test via the H. Pylori Breath Test. She seemed more concerned with the fact that I am a healthy male suffering from Anemia. Is it possible the anemia could be a result of celiac disease? I have been on an iron supplement for the better part of 5 years.

 

 

 

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


trents Grand Master
trents
Posted

Welcome to the forum community, @ekelsay!

Yes, your tTG-IGA score is strongly positive for celiac disease. There are other antibody tests that can be run when diagnosing celiac disease but the tTG-IGA is the most popular with physicians because it combines good sensitivity with good specificity, and it is a relatively inexpensive test to perform.

The onset of celiac disease can happen at any stage of life and the size of the score is not necessarily an indicator of the progress of the disease. It is likely that you you experienced onset well before you became aware of symptoms. It often takes 10 years or more to get a diagnosis of celiac disease after the first appearance of symptoms. In my case, the first indicator was mildly elevated liver enzymes that resulted in a rejection of my blood donation by the Red Cross at age 37. There was no GI discomfort at that point, at least none that I noticed. Over time, other lab values began to get out of norm, including decreased iron levels. My PCP was at a complete loss to explain any of this. I finally scheduled an appointment with a GI doc because the liver enzymes concerned me and he tested me right away for celiac disease. I was positive and within three months of gluten free eating my liver enzymes were back to normal. That took 13 years since the rejection of my blood donation by the Red Cross. And my story is typical. Toward the end of that period I had developed some occasional diarrhea and oily stool but no major GI distress. Many celiacs do not have classic GI symptoms and are "silent" celiacs. There are around 200 symptoms that have been associated with celiac disease and many or most of them do not involve conscious GI distress.

Via an autoimmune process, gluten ingestion triggers inflammation in the villous lining of the small bowel which damages it over time and inhibits the ability of this organ to absorb the vitamins and minerals in the food we ingest. So, that explains why those with celiac disease often suffer iron deficiency anemia, osteoporosis and a host of other vitamin and mineral deficiency related medical issues. The villous lining of the small bowel is where essentially all of our nutrition is absorbed. So, yes, anemia is one of the classic symptoms of celiac disease.

One very important thing you need to be aware of is that your PCP may refer you to a GI doc for an endoscopy/biopsy of the small bowel lining to confirm the results of the blood antibody testing. So, you must not begin gluten free eating until that is done or at least you know they are going to diagnose you with celiac disease without it. If you start gluten free eating now there will be healing in the villous lining that will begin to take place which may compromise the results of the biopsy.

Scott Adams Grand Master
Scott Adams
Posted

In the Europe the new protocol for making a celiac disease diagnosis in children is if their tTg-IgA (tissue transglutaminase IgA) levels are 10 times or above the positive level for celiac disease.

According to the latest research, if the blood test results are at certain high levels that range between 5-10 times the reference range for a positive celiac disease diagnosis, it may not be necessary to confirm the results using an endoscopy/biopsy:

There are other things that may cause elevated tTg-IgA levels, but in general a reaction to gluten is the culprit:

 

 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      130,632
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    junell
    Newest Member
    junell
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.3k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • cristiana
      Struggling to get into a good pattern

      By cristiana · Posted

      I think going back to your GI isn't a bad idea - my visits to the GI did not stop following my diagnosis as I had annoying issues on and off for some time.  Thankfully he is a fantastic GI, with  a great sense of humour, so it wasn't a chore to see him again although I'd rather not have had to, obviously!  But I needed my mind to be put at rest as my symptoms didn't seem to go away overnight as I'd hoped they would.  Initially I recall he recommended I went Dairy Free for three weeks, and he told me it would take that time to see an effect.  At that time, even lactose free milk went straight through me, so it is important, I would say, to even avoid that during a Dairy Free trial. My ongoing symptoms were bloating which did respond a bit to that trial.   However, within about 18 months there was a return to a very sore stomach, plus various aches and pains.   It turned out some gluten was sneaking in with my iron supplement (I was buying Floradix instead of Floravital), but I also think the dishwasher, the oven and eating out were contributors, too. Before my numbers normalised (from memory, about eight years!) I had several follow up appointments and a few more tests, but things gradually did get better.  Having read many accounts on this forum over the years, I don't think it is uncommon for symptoms to get a bit worse before getting better, that was certainly the case with me.  Your gut is damaged so you may well have issues digesting other food in the short term. But do try to be as scrupulously gluten free as you can possibly be as a first step, and I'd definitely try a three week Dairy Free trial.   Your villi because they are damaged are not able to create the lactase required to digest dairy at this time so you may well see some improvement if you come off dairy for a while.  Perhaps keeping a food diary of what you eat, where you eat it, whilst a bit onerous to do, will help identify foods that are causing issues.  For a while, apart from oats, I found peas, lentils and soya products hugely aggravating.  Things should calm down.
    • Rejoicephd
      Struggling to get into a good pattern

      By Rejoicephd · Posted

      Thankfully those are normal. B12 was on the low end of the normal range when I first got diagnosed. When I last got it checked, it had come up a lot (455 last time checked).
    • Scott Adams
      mystery gluten?

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      You can search this site for prescriptions medications, but will need to know the manufacturer/maker if there is more than one, especially if you use a generic version of the medication: To see the ingredients you will need to click on the correct version of the medication and maker in the results, then scroll down to "Ingredients and Appearance" and click it, and then look at "Inactive Ingredients," as any gluten ingredients would likely appear there, rather than in the Active Ingredients area. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/  I didn't notice any gluten ingredients in Kirkland Almond non-dairy beverage, however it does contain Locust Bean Gum. Some gums may cause IBS-type issues in some people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity:    
    • trents
      Struggling to get into a good pattern

      By trents · Posted

      Have you had B12 levels checked?
    • Rejoicephd
      Struggling to get into a good pattern

      By Rejoicephd · Posted

      For the past few months, I've been taking several supplements (a multi-vitamin, an iron supplement, a vitamin C supplement, and a magnesium supplement), all of which state that they are gluten free on the label.  
×
×
  • Create New...