Test Questions, Please Help!

[Squrl14]

Hello:

I have been suffering from a variety of symptoms for a decade now and I am literally at my wits end. I feel like I cannot take being "sick and tired" anymore, and feel like a complainer for saying that. My main question is if you have high antibodies for Celiac, but the biopsy is negative, can you still have the disease? Also, can other things "mimic" Celiac? I was having chronic diarrhea for years and it went away in December. It was sometimes up to 11 times a day. I am exhausted, my hair is brittle and shedding, my stomach is bloated and hurts a lot, and I am very gassy. My chest hurts a lot as well. I had my thyroid checked and have positive antibodies (TPO) and my TSH is 3.2. I also have a long standing eating disorder history which I am getting treatment for. My estrogen is low, but slowly climbing as I restore weight. So, as you can see, I cannot tell what is leading to what. I don't want to take thyroid medication if it is GI related. I just want to be "normal", whatever that means. I am 30 years old and have no life because of all of this, despite being career oriented and successful. I had wiped Celiac off the boards after the endoscopy and negative biopsy results, but recently got blood work done that indicated my Vitamin D was low - which correlates with celiac disease. My GI doctor insists that I don't have it since the biopsy was negative, but my family practioner says I could since the antibodies are very high (I think 19 and they are supposed to be less than 9.) If anyone has a similar situation and/or could help me shed some light upon this I would greatly appreciate it. I feel lost and nobody seems to understand why I can't just "get well" and "eat more."

Thanks!

[confused]

There are many times they wont take enough biopsies to show the damage to the villi. How long did u have the test done, Can you maybe re-do the blood test and see what it comes out with. Or find a new dr that will diagnose you with blood work alone.

I for one, only did the blood work which was very high, but i also have DH. so that was enough to diagnose me.

You could always test threw enterolab to see if you have a problem with gluten and have the celiac genes.

Or you can just do what many do and go gluten free and see how you feel, if you dont care about an accuarate diagnosis.

paula

[Ursa Major]

Okay, here goes:

If you have thyroid antibodies, you have a problem with your thyroid and need to take medication for that. Any value over 3 (and it is now being revised to being over 2) for the TSH is too high and indicates a problem. The brittle hair and some of your symptoms are definitely thyroid related. Lots of people with celiac disease have other autoimmune diseases as well. You appear to be one of them.

If you have a high antibody count for celiac disease, than it is very likely that you got a false negative when getting your biopsy. It is very easy to miss the damaged spots when doing the biopsy, especially if less than five to ten biopsies are taken. The prudent thing for you to do would be to try the gluten-free diet to see if it helps relieve your gastro symptoms. You sure sound like you have a lot of symptoms that could be celiac disease.

When you start the gluten-free diet, it would be best if you would also eliminate dairy and soy, as those will hinder your healing, and lots of us can't tolerate them, either.

I hope you feel better soon.

[Squrl14]

Thank you for your reply. The reason I am hesitant to take Thyroid medication is because since restoring weight, my levels have gone down. TPO was 285 and now down to 144. TSH was 4.8 and now 3.2. My doctor wants to weight. Every symptom is co-existant of each problem. Can you have Celiac without the chronic "leaky gut?" I have not had one problem since December so I thought it could be anxiety or years of having an eating disorder.

Thanks again!

[happygirl]

You said you had high antibodies: which tests were performed, and which were elevated?

[Squrl14]

Hi:

Thank you all for replying. My test scores are as follows:

Antigliadin Abs, IgA 1

Antigliadin Abs, IgG 7

t-transglutaminase (tTG) IgA 4

t-transglutaminase (tTG) IgG 20

I have no idea what those mean. =) The last two are "flagged" as "high".

I am literally at my wits end and if anyone can offer me any direction it would be appriciated. I am willing to go off gluten and give it a test run, but am afraid it will show a false positive if I need further blood work.

Thanks!

[confused]

Hi:

Thank you all for replying. My test scores are as follows:

Antigliadin Abs, IgA 1

Antigliadin Abs, IgG 7

t-transglutaminase (tTG) IgA 4

t-transglutaminase (tTG) IgG 20

I have no idea what those mean. =) The last two are "flagged" as "high".

I am literally at my wits end and if anyone can offer me any direction it would be appriciated. I am willing to go off gluten and give it a test run, but am afraid it will show a false positive if I need further blood work.

Thanks!

do you know the refernce ranges for those numbers.

paula

[Squrl14]

Antigliadin Abs, IgA 1

Negative 0-4, Positive 4+

Antigliadin Abs, IgG 7

Negative 0-9, Positive 9+

t-transglutaminase (tTG) IgA 4

Negative 0-3

Weak Positive 4-10

Positive 10+

t-transglutaminase (tTG) IgG 20

Negative 0-5

Weak Positive 6-9

Positive 9+

Again, thanks a million!