Only Agg Positive

[Willow5]

My test came back with...

tTG-IgA or tissue transglutaminase-IgA (normal)

AGA-IgG or Antigliadin IgG (high)

AGA-IgA or Antigliadin IGA (normal)

Am I supposed do pay any attention to a high IgG?

I had one Dr say that I should avoid Gluten while another Dr say that this didn't mean anything and forget about avoiding gluten.

Appreciate any comments!

Nan

[AndreaB]

I know that IgG on the ELISA allergy/intolerance test means that you are intolerant.

I would assume that it would be the same on the celiac panel since they are both blood draws.

I would definately listen to the doctor the said to cut out gluten. You are intolerant to it.

[Willow5]

Hey, thanks for the reply, I am new to this posting stuff and thank you for your input. I first became curious about the Gluten stuff when two of my kids showed GI troubles almost identical. After the oldest one was tested and came back AgG Positive, I thought It must be my husband who carried this trait if it were something that was passed on... Then when he came out negetive, I got tested and found myself 3 time higher than the normal range! The only symptom I may have is fatigue and perhaps depression. Always thought those might be normal for someone with 5 kids! Anyhow thanks for the reply. Nan

[JenKuz]

My test came back with...

tTG-IgA or tissue transglutaminase-IgA (normal)

AGA-IgG or Antigliadin IgG (high)

AGA-IgA or Antigliadin IGA (normal)

Am I supposed do pay any attention to a high IgG?

I had one Dr say that I should avoid Gluten while another Dr say that this didn't mean anything and forget about avoiding gluten.

Appreciate any comments!

Nan

I don't know. I think, immunologically, the IgG tests are unreliable, in that they return a lot of false positives. We make IgG to anything we eat a lot of (or any of). Since gliadin is a protein in wheat itself, it's not surprising to have a high IgG to wheat if you've been eating plenty of it. It might be more of a concern if you also had high AGA IgA. However, the IgA *blood* tests are bad, too, because they return a lot of false negatives (IgA is made in the guts, so there's not much of it in the blood). I would take the Enterolabs gluten panel, if I were you, which tests fecal IgA. They'll catch what a blood test might miss. If you have high fecal IgA to either AGA or tTG, then you should cut out gluten. But cutting out gluten is a big step to take on a high IgG alone, in my opinion. The other possibility is to try cutting out gluten experimentally and see if your symptoms resolve, but then you'll make biopsy diagnosis more problematic if you've thought about going that route. It's a trade-off.

Incidentally, I know a lot of people here have used the York (or Optimum Health) tests to look for food intolerances. I also know some people have been frustrated by them. I think a lot of people use them because they're frustrated by the fact that IgE tests can't pick up food intolerance, only food allergy. But that doesn't mean the tests work, I'm afraid. The immunologic theory underlying them is simply not sound. The one thing I'd say for them is this: high IgG to a food doesn't mean you're intolerant. But you're unlikely to be intolerant if the IgG is low. So high IgG can be used to guide further testing, or an elimination diet.

[Sara-UK]

From what I've read, it's only recently that much research into the role of IgG antibodies against food has been carried out. This doesn't mean that they aren't important.

From what I understood (which could be totally wrong!), IgA antibodies are normally made to food in the gut, to stop the rest of your immune system responding to it - like masking it.

I thought that the IgG antibodies were only made to food particles that get into your bloodstream - normally the food is digested into very small particles, small peptides etc, but where digestion is poor, or the gut is leaky, bigger bits (not chunks, like a whole pea!) can get through, the T cells mount a response and make antibodies against the particular antigen.

If you have a leaky gut then I'd have thought it would not be too unexpected to have antibodies to a range of foods. If you are a normal healthy person, then there should be none, or very few.

Anyway, I had the York test done - I came up positive for quite a few foods, I cut out the main ones, and felt tonnes better. I didn't know how much better until I started eating them again (mainly gluten, but everything gluteny also seems to contain milk, eggs etc!) to be tested for coeliacs.

Try cutting it out and see. It was horrible at first, lots of cravings etc..but now I'm allowed to eat it again, I'm finding I really don;t wnat to..just don't fancy it - rather have rice and stir fry or something!

Sara

[chrissy]

did they do a total IgA serum to make sure you were not IgA deficient?-----this can throw your test results off.

[Willow5]

Just today, my mother who lives in Canada got her tests back (took 6 wks!) and was positive for Tissue Transglut Antibody!

I have tried going gluten free and find only a few differences in how I feel. Once again - the reason for my getting tested was for my son who has had chronic constipation/encopresis since age 2. He tested high for IgG as myself. And I only got him tested because my 2yr old daughter started up with the same early constipation as her brother.

Thanks for the input - It does seem that the IgG test is rather iffy but when my mom comes back with tTG positive to me it seems that there must be somewhat of a connection.

Nan

Results:

Gliadin Antibody Panel

Gliadin Ab IgA <3 (ref range<11 negative, 11-17 equivical, >17 positive)

Gliadin Ab IgG 39H (ref range<11 negative, 11-17 equivical, >17 positive)

Tissue Transglut Antibody, IgA <3 (ref range <5 negative, 5-8 equivical, >8 positive)

Endomysial Antibody IgA w/rflx - negative

[azmom3]

My son also had high IgG and the others were normal. The allergy doctor who read the tests recommended we see a GI dr for "possible" celiac. The GI dr. isn't ruling out celiac, but said that high IgG can mean celiac, but can also just mean that they have allergies. She recommended to us to have more allergy testing done (already did the basic panel). She also is recommending we eliminate the foods we know he' s allergic to and see if we see an improvement. We are also going to re-run the blood test to see if we have different results. I'm all for trying the gluten free diet as it can only help, not hurt. But if you want to have the diagnosis to be sure (like I do), then get the biopsy done before going gluten free or it won't be accurate. You can also use Enterolab which a lot of people on here recommend. I'm still a little skeptical, but if I had the money, I'd do it to compare to other results. I'm hesitant about changing to a gluten-free diet for life without being sure in my mind. You can always try it for 6-12 months and see if you see improvements. If you do, then stick with it. If you don't, then you can always add gluten back and you didn't lose anything.

[Jestgar]

Results:

Gliadin Antibody Panel

Gliadin Ab IgA <3 (ref range<11 negative, 11-17 equivical, >17 positive)

Gliadin Ab IgG 39H (ref range<11 negative, 11-17 equivical, >17 positive)

Tissue Transglut Antibody, IgA <3 (ref range <5 negative, 5-8 equivical, >8 positive)

Endomysial Antibody IgA w/rflx - negative

You may be IgA deficient, which would make all of your IgA antibodies low

[Willow5]

You may be IgA deficient, which would make all of your IgA antibodies low

Boy, I feel so ignorant - I aced nutrition class in college and am an RN but haven't a clue what IgA deficient might mean! I did get my testing done while on wheat etc - in fact being that I am a vegetarian, at the time of the test I was consuming a meat alternative which was made with wheat gluten flour

learned how to quick edit here - read up on site about IgA deficiency. I must say though, nursing classes don't prepare one for this type of thing at all - even my kids Dr had to print off a summary when we got my son tested and even then he didn't know a whole lot - well if anyone knows what type of Dr knows about this type of thing - I feel that we need to counsel with someone who may know what they are doing!

[happygirl]

Willow,

Welcome to the board. You have been given great advice so far.

You might want to read Dr. Peter Green's "Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic". He is a leading Celiac expert at Columbia. It is a great book and I wish it was out when I had been diagnosed. Esp as an RN, you will appreciate the thoroughness it goes into and the related disorders, etc. You can order it off amazon and some big bookstores have it (I got mine at Borders.) I HIGHLY recommend it.

Laura

[Willow5]

Finally got my Enterolab results back for myself as well as my husband and kids, found results very interesting, turns out that my hubby and I both have a celiac gene - mine is no. 2 and hubby's is no. 8. Our son who started us on this tangent (with encopresis) turns out to have both 2 and 8 and the worse symptoms as well, he also tested positive with Gluten sensitivity.

Now for my "IgG only positive" - of course Enterolab does not measure IgG's but on the test my IgA's did show up which I found interesting but they were just below the positive level. I talked to enterolab staff and they advised me that since I do have one of the main Celiac genes and do have symptoms that I ought to recognise a low level reaction and go gluten-free now instead of waiting till the antibodies get higher.

Glad to have done the testing!

[confused]

I am so glad that another person has only the IgG levels are high. I have been so confused since I got my blood work back and it showed that was the only part that was high. I am still debating on starting an gluten-free diet, or wait to talk to a gastro dr. Or if i should see im allergic to other foods and start to do an elimiantion diet to see what im allergic to. Any one have advice on what would work best for me.

Willow what are you going to do, an gluten free diet?

dan

[tummyache]

I am so glad that another person has only the IgG levels are high. I have been so confused since I got my blood work back and it showed that was the only part that was high. I am still debating on starting an gluten-free diet, or wait to talk to a gastro dr. Or if i should see im allergic to other foods and start to do an elimiantion diet to see what im allergic to. Any one have advice on what would work best for me.

Willow what are you going to do, an gluten free diet?

dan

My IgG came back negative, but my IgA was positive. What does that mean? I'm also really confused and would appreciate any help I can get.

[gfp]

Boy, I feel so ignorant - I aced nutrition class in college and am an RN but haven't a clue what IgA deficient might mean! I did get my testing done while on wheat etc - in fact being that I am a vegetarian, at the time of the test I was consuming a meat alternative which was made with wheat gluten flour

learned how to quick edit here - read up on site about IgA deficiency. I must say though, nursing classes don't prepare one for this type of thing at all - even my kids Dr had to print off a summary when we got my son tested and even then he didn't know a whole lot - well if anyone knows what type of Dr knows about this type of thing - I feel that we need to counsel with someone who may know what they are doing!

Its not that difficult, its one of those very rare cases it actually means what you think

I'll defer to Jestgar answering but it just means your body produces low IgA anyway so the normal range doesn't apply.

Without total alpha count the low IgA can mean you have a low total OR you are not reacting in your gut...

Until you rule out being deficient its not a reliable negative test....

However in answer to your whole question....

It probably does mean something and at sometime with the future you might get a reason but to my knowledge at the moment the reasons some some people react with different antibodies is not well understood.

[Willow5]

In the process of learning.... IgG is an alergic reaction and IgA is an intolerance. Alergic reactions can be overcome but intolerant reactions only get worse. It is possible if you show only the IgG reaction that you may be deficite of IgA's , I really don't understand that concept! It is possible to have all the Celiac tests done with the IgG's though!

I did go through enterolab and my IgA's did show up there so I think I am not officially deficient. Because I have a main celiac gene - and a majority of persons do, and also my son has two main genes - not so common, we as a family have decided to go gluten free without further testing. It is also very common to do all the testing commonly done and still come out inconclusive but have a positive health responce to a gluten free diet!

I would get all the testing you can possibly afford! Don't try Gluten free untill you have finished testing!

[gfp]

In the process of learning.... IgG is an alergic reaction and IgA is an intolerance. A

IgE is a true histamine alergic response...

[Willow5]

IgE is a true histamine alergic response...

Like I said.... still learning! Thanks!