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New Here- I Have Some Questions

Ex3

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Ex3 Newbie
Ex3
Posted

Hi all! I'm sure you all get people like me all the time. I'm new to this celiac thing and need some help. My son is 4.5 years old and I had him tested for celiac last week. He's not really showing symptoms but I've had cause to look into celiac (it's a long story). I know there's a family history on my husbands side of stomach ailments. 2 people have Crohn's and his brother has diverticulosis. Anyways, I got the results back and I'm really confused. I was hoping maybe you all could shed some light on this. The ped. that gave me the results was not helpful at all and would not explain what the results mean. He said I could take him off wheat for a couple of months and see what happens. But I'd prefer to know if he actually has celiac. His IgA results were <4 (negative is 0-4) and his IgG results were 10 (>9 is positive). His IgA was <4 (0-3 is negative) and his tTG was <6 (0-5 is negative). I'm sorry to throw out a bunch of numbers. I don't know what they mean but I'm hoping someone here will. Any opinions are welcomed :) .

Ann

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Corkdarrr Enthusiast
Corkdarrr
Posted

I have no idea what those results mean, either. But if I were you I'd find a new ped. ASAP if he won't even explain test results to you....kinda defeats the purpose of testing to begin with, doesn't it?

Someone will jump in shortly, I'm sure.

We're all still abuzz from the story that was on CNN a half hour ago! :P

Jestgar Rising Star
Jestgar
Posted

All those numbers are either just above, or at the high end of normal, which I think suggests there may be a problem, or that may be normal for him....

You might want to consider taking him off gluten -all gluten- for 3 months and during that time monitor his behaviour, eating, weight, etc. Then, after three months introduce gluten again and again monitor everything about him.

If you see changes, you'll have a better idea about whether or not gluten is a problem for him.

Ex3 Newbie
Ex3
Posted
  • Author

I also wanted to add....I did a gluten/casein peptide test and for gluten he was .94 (normal is <.95). So again he was borderline.

GFBetsy Rookie
GFBetsy
Posted

Usually (though I'm not guaranteeing that this holds true for all labs) there is an "equivocal" range for the TtG. In other words, there is a range of numbers where the lab doesn't say you are negative, but they won't call you positive, either. My daugter's bloodwork came back Equivocal for TtG, but the blood tests are notorious for returning false positives for children, so I assumed that the fact that she didn't come back below the negative cutoff meant that she was positive. I took her off of gluten, and 3 days later her diarhea was gone and she started smiling all the time. Which just confirmed (to me) that "equivocal" meant "positive" for her.

It looks like your son might have 2 or 3 results that the labs might label as equivocal or slightly positive. If you want a "firm" diagnosis, you probably need to push your pediatrician to refer you to a pediatric GI and have a biopsy done. If you ever want to have a biopsy done, your son will need to be eating gluten in order to show damage in his intestines, so you would probably want to have it done before ever taking him gluten free.

ON THE OTHER HAND, and this is a big caveat here, if he responds positively to the diet, you really know that he's got problems with gluten. Having a "firm" diagnosis of celiac can actually be a negative thing . . . there are several people on the board who have been denied insurance bacause of their firm diagnosis. I noticed that you say he doesn't really show symptoms . . . this is where taking him off of gluten is harder for you, because you don't have those "obvious" improvements to judge by. I think I would just echo Jestgar's advice . . . if you decide to give gluten free a try, closely monitor his behavior, appetite, etc. so you will be able to judge whether the diet is helping him or not.

Good luck!

emcmaster Collaborator
emcmaster
Posted

Hi there and welcome,

I wanted to add that there is nothing unhealthy about a gluten-free diet - so if you are unsure about the results, taking him gluten-free will do nothing "bad" to him if it turns out he doesn't have problems with gluten (although with the borderline results, I'd say he probably does). In fact, he will probably be healthier on a gluten-free diet because of the nature of gluten-free foods - fruits, veggies, legumes, meats, etc.

Good luck & let us know how he does!

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