Test Results

[breadbreadbaby]

I have very (very very) newly been diagnosed with celiac and to be honest the diagnosis came out of nowhere. I’m trying to find information on the values and whether or not certain numbers mean a more severe case. 

These are my numbers:

IgA - .98

Tissue transglutaminase IgA Ab 45.4 

Urate 129 

Ferritin 126 (H)

 

I have no GI symptoms — what prompted testing is life-long extreme fatigue and sore joints (10+ hours a night plus 1-3+ hr naps)

Thanks for your help! 

[breadbreadbaby]

Just as a follow-up — I guess I’m wondering if I could have a false positive, despite how elevated it seems to be? My doctor said a biopsy doesn’t make sense considering the high result and the lack of GI symptoms but still unsure what I’ll do. 

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @breadbreadbaby!

We cannot comment on your test numbers until you also provide the reference ranges used by the lab doing the analysis. Different labs construct the test analysis differently and used different reference ranges, Hence, there are no industry standards. You will likely have to repost the existing information in a new post as I don't think you will be able to edit your original.

These two tests are the only ones that are celiac specific for which we need the reference ranges: 

• IgA - .98
• Tissue transglutaminase IgA Ab 45.4 

Urate and ferritin are not specific tests for celiac disease. Urate is a test for uric acid levels and would be something run when gout is suspected. Ferritin is an iron storage protein. Though not a celiac specific test, iron stores are often depleted in those with long term celiac disease because of the damage done to the lining of the small bowel by celiac disease. The small bowel is the portion of the intestinal track where all of the nutrition from what we eat is absorbed, including minerals like iron and the vitamins necessary to assimilate iron like B12.

Many celiacs have few if any GI symptoms. This is common. We call them "silent celiacs". I was one of them. Silent celiacs are usually discovered indirectly because they develop health issues or irregular lab values indicative of vitamin and mineral malabsorption. In my case, it was elevated liver enzymes which had no other explanation. It took 13 years for me to get that figured out after the first appearance of elevated liver enzymes. By that time, I had experience significant bone demineralization.

[trents]

Oh, yes. When you reply with the reference ranges, please also add the units used such as mg/L or whatever. Different labs will used different units of measure just as they will deploy different reference ranges.

[breadbreadbaby]

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your feedback on my post. Here’s the updated information:

IgA 0.98 (Range 0.80 - 4.90)

Tissue transglutaminase IgA Ab 45.4 (<=14.99 U/mL, Positive >=15.0 U/mL)

[trents]

So, you are not IGA deficient and your tTG-IGA is clearly positive, indicating you do have celiac disease. Historically, it has been standard practice to confirm positive blood antibody tests with endoscopy/biopsy. In the past several years, however, there has been a trend to forego the latter if the tTG-IGA antibody test scores were 5-10x normal. Your score fits into that category.