Iga Anti-gliadin Antibodies - Does It Ever Resolve?

[bjshad]

I have a question about IgA anti-gliadin antibodies. My 3-1/2 y.o. DD has a positive IgA anti-gliadin stool test through Enterolab. Her score was 62. We have had her gluten free for 3-4 months, and now want to follow up with trying for an actual diagnosis, so we are putting her back on gluten for awhile.

Anyway, about 4 days in and her poor little rear is so red from all the stinky poos - it's actually bleeding it's so irritated! I know that's too much information, but her speech is slurring now, her tummy is distended and HARD AS A ROCK and her rash on her arms that the doc said was "eczema" is coming back. Ugh! Anyway, is an IgA an auto-immune response? I guess I don't really understand what the Enterolab test is telling us, although the website explains it clearly as gluten sensitivity.

Is gluten sensitivity something that can be helped with digestive enzymes? Or if a person has gluten sensitivity and continues to eat gluten it will eventually develop into celiac or another autoimmune disease, such as Diabetes I (which runs in my immediate family, by the way, as does Lupus).

If anyone could explain what exactly an IgA anti-gliadin antibody response is, I would be so appreciative!

Thanks!

Beth

[tarnalberry]

All it means is that, in the presence of gluten, your daughter's body is producing antibodies specific to gliandin (the wheat protein) of the IgA sub-type. Ig antibodies are a particular set of antibodies the body manufactures against things it thinks are bad. IgE antibodies are what cause traditional allergies. IgA and IgG antibodies (to food proteins) generally are described as intolerances (though a lactose intolerance is totally different). Those IgA antibodies are part of the chemical process that eventually causes damage in the intestines in celiacs. (And, it sounds by the testing you've done, that you don't yet know whether or not she actually has the intestinal damage that is classic for celiac disease - which doesn't mean she doesn't have it.)

Digestive enzymes are not going to stop the reaction. The portion of the protein that causes the chemical reaction is *very* resilient to being broken down.

I hope the testing goes well.