Help me read my blood test results please

[Chrisusa]

 

IgA  —-  92 mg/dL

Deamidated Gliadin Abs, IgA — 40 units

Deamidated Gliadin Abs, IgG —- 3 units

TTG IgA —— <2 U/mL

Tissue Transglut Ab —- 4 U/mL

 

is this a positive celiac disease test?

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @Chrisusa!

We can't answer your question unless you also supply us with the ranges used by the lab for negative vs. positive. There are no industry standards for these things. Each lab develops there own tests and uses different scales. All you have given us are your raw scores.

You will not be able to edit your original post as the time window for doing that is closed. So, repost the original info and add in the ranges for negative vs. positive for the tests you list.

Had you been consuming plenty of gluten for weeks/months when the blood draw was taken or had you already begun eating gluten free or at least significantly cut back on gluten consumption?

[Chrisusa]

for the past 30 days I had been on very low to no gluten at all kinda diet.
 

IgA (Normal Range: 87 - 352 mg/dL) —92 mg/dL

Deamidated Gliadin Abs, IgA( Normal Range: 0 - 19 units)  — 40 units

(Deamidated Gliadin Abs, IgG Normal Range: 0 - 19 units).  —-3 units

 

TTG IgA (Normal Range: 0 - 3 U/mL) — <2 U/mL

 

Tissue Transglut Ab (Normal Range: 0 - 5 U/mL) — 4 U/mL

[trents]

Unfortunately, you may have sabotaged your testing by reducing your gluten intake in the month before the testing blood draw was done. You do have one positive result from the testing, however, and that is for the Deamidated Gliadin Abs, IgA which certainly could indicate you have celiac disease. And it only takes one positive test. They don't all have to be positive.

The next logical step in diagnosis is to have an endoscopy with biopsy of the small bowel lining to check for damage to the mucosa that lines that part of the intestinal track. This is the hallmark of celiac disease and this test is considered to be the gold standard of diagnosis. However, you would need to go back to eating significant amounts of gluten in the weeks leading up to the endoscopy/biopsy. The current recommendations are 10g of gluten daily for at least two weeks leading up to the day of the procedure. 10g is the amount in approximately 4-6 slices of bread. Do you think you could handle that? What have been your symptoms when on gluten?

[Chrisusa]

Oh wow. 
For a long time I was having diarrhea, fatigue, headaches, extremely bloated, intense stomach pain, very gassy, farting and burping all day, acid reflux. Then about a month ago I decided to do the carnivore diet.

eating that much gluten would definitely make me sick.

[trents]

So, I assume your symptoms have improved since reducing your gluten intake. Is this correct?

[Chrisusa]

Yes, tremendously !!! 

[trents]

Well then, I would conclude you do have celiac disease. You have classic symptoms, a positive antibody test result and improved symptoms when gluten is withdrawn. But unless you are willing to embark on a "gluten challenge" you may have to live with that as an unofficial diagnosis. Many people have difficulty staying on the gluten free bandwagon without one as, psychologically speaking, it is easy to rationalize it all away when the reality of the social challenges and the self-denial it presents begin to set in. And in some countries, like the UK, there are actually government subsidies for buying gluten free food and follow-up healthcare benefits that accrue from an official diagnosis.

By the way, kudos to your physician for running a complete celiac panel instead of just the TTG-IGA, which is the most popular antibody tests run by physicians and many times the only one. Had your doc settled for less you would have nothing to go on from the testing. And it would be wise to have a conversation with your physician about granting an official diagnosis on that one test result, your symptoms and improvement on a gluten free diet. Under the circumstances, he or she might be willing to do that.

I'm attaching an article on learning the ropes about gluten free eating. There usually is a significant learning curve involved in achieving a truly gluten free state as opposed to just eating lower gluten. Gluten is tucked into the food supply in so many places you would not expect. And then there is the whole issue of cross contamination.

 

[Chrisusa]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions and for helping me.

I greatly appreciate it.