Gluten Free Daughter Tests Positive For Igg

[celiacgirls]

My daughter had a variety of blood tests done by an Environmental Physician. Apparently, he routinely looks for gluten intolerance. Her antigliadin Abs, IgA was 2 (positive > 4) and her IgG was 14 (positive > 9) She has been eating gluten free for 18 months. Does the positive IgG mean she is getting some gluten some where?

I am very careful about gluten. We hardly ever eat out and our kitchen is gluten-free. I don't even bring body products into the house with gluten. I will go over everything again, but how likely is it this is just leftover antibodies from 18 months ago?

[ravenwoodglass]

Do you know what her starting levels were? Is she still symptomatic? Have you checked all her meds and supplements? Does she use arts and crafts items that may not be gluten-free? Things like clays and paints can be a source of CC. Does she eat stuff like Lay's chips? They are famous for gluten free lists of things that are heavily CC'd. It can take awhile for the antibody levels to go down to unreactive levels, she could still have some residual 'floating' around but it is impossible to know without knowing what her starting levels were.

[happygirl]

From Dr. Green Open Original Shared Link

"7. Monitor serum antibody levels

Patients are advised to have follow-up antibody levels measured at 6 and 12 months. Most patients have normal levels by that time though it may take up to 3 years to normalize in some individuals. It is reasonable to assess antibody levels annually. This will serve to monitor adherence to the diet though is not sensitive for minor dietary indiscretions "

[celiacgirls]

I don't buy arts and crafts supplies that have gluten but I haven't gone to the school about it. I just tell her to wash her hands after art class and try not to touch her mouth. The items they have in the classroom are the same ones I would use.

My kids were eating Frito Lay over the summer but I don't allow them any more because I think her sister was reacting. She is not having stomach problems but is having mental problems. I don't know what her starting levels were. She had the bloodwork done and it was "negative" but I never saw the results. She is dx'ed by Enterolab and diet response.

I think I've checked all her supplements and hair products, etc.

I will recheck everything. She is also soy intolerant and I noticed a few products that made it into our house now say soy, so I am obviously not as good about reading labels as I thought.

[kbtoyssni]

My first thought was maybe it's school-related? Do the kids eat in a cafeteria or a classroom? Could she be touching a desk that has gluten crumbs on it? Does she protect her food during lunch so it doesn't get contaminated? Does she clean the table before eating? Is she a nail-biter or pencil-chewer? That would certainly increase her chances of gluten-exposure.

What about soap at school? I think a lot of soaps contain soy so it's something to check.

[happygirl]

Something else to consider:

A good portion of healthy, non gluten problem people make AGA antibodies.

[celiacgirls]

Something else to consider:

A good portion of healthy, non gluten problem people make AGA antibodies.

But would there be gluten antibodies with no gluten? Unless it is left over. Realistically, I guess, it is impossible to avoid every trace of gluten if you are going to go outside of your own gluten-free house.

I will check the soap at school.

She does eat lunch at school and last year, I saw one of her friends reach into her cookies while eating pizza. I told them all about the cc problem and the teacher talked to the class. I know my daughter wouldn't eat anything now that someone touched but something else could be happening.

I will talk to her about washing off her desk and table.

[celiacgirls]

This doctor also said the casein and soy proteins were so similar that it could come from that. Any thoughts on that?

She was getting some soy lecithin by mistake.

[gfp]

My daughter had a variety of blood tests done by an Environmental Physician. Apparently, he routinely looks for gluten intolerance. Her antigliadin Abs, IgA was 2 (positive > 4) and her IgG was 14 (positive > 9) She has been eating gluten free for 18 months. Does the positive IgG mean she is getting some gluten some where?

I am very careful about gluten. We hardly ever eat out and our kitchen is gluten-free. I don't even bring body products into the house with gluten. I will go over everything again, but how likely is it this is just leftover antibodies from 18 months ago?

Or she is just eating other kids food...

Of course every parent will say 'but my kid doesn't smoke/do drugs/insert here' .. my mom certainly did but she was certainly wrong, just like all my friends mom's.

[celiacgirls]

Or she is just eating other kids food...

Of course every parent will say 'but my kid doesn't smoke/do drugs/insert here' .. my mom certainly did but she was certainly wrong, just like all my friends mom's.

Always possible.

If this were my other daughter, there would be no doubt in my mind that she was cheating.

This daughter has told me about some questionable things that she ate. Things that I would never eat because I don't know exactly what is in them but that do seem like they would be ok. It doesn't happen very often but maybe this is enough to raise her level.

If we can find some gluten in her diet, it would actually be a good thing because it might explain the mood issues she is having now. She is acting like her sister used to before her sister went gluten-free.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

A celiac 11-year-old I know is now being home-schooled because he was begging other kids for tastes of their cookies, sandwiches, etc., and was actually caught stealing their food. I think the gluten for him caused a kind of druggie addictive reaction, and it was like a heroin addict being in a school full of users using heroin in front of him.

[celiacgirls]

A celiac 11-year-old I know is now being home-schooled because he was begging other kids for tastes of their cookies, sandwiches, etc., and was actually caught stealing their food. I think the gluten for him caused a kind of druggie addictive reaction, and it was like a heroin addict being in a school full of users using heroin in front of him.

My 11 year old has been told I will home school her if she continues to cheat on her diet. I can not go back to the way it was when she was eating gluten. She was defiant and could even be violent. It was terrible.

This is my 9 year old. I really don't think she is cheating because she comes home and tells me about the smallest things that aren't perfect that she does. If the teacher tells her and her friends to be quiet, she will come home and tell me, all upset that she was ''bad".

It honestly never entered my mind that she could be cheating until it was suggested here. Maybe she is. It almost makes the most sense because I feel like I am extremely strict and careful. My oldest one acts so badly when she has gluten that I don't take any chances.

[gfp]

My 11 year old has been told I will home school her if she continues to cheat on her diet. I can not go back to the way it was when she was eating gluten. She was defiant and could even be violent. It was terrible.

This is my 9 year old. I really don't think she is cheating because she comes home and tells me about the smallest things that aren't perfect that she does. If the teacher tells her and her friends to be quiet, she will come home and tell me, all upset that she was ''bad".

It honestly never entered my mind that she could be cheating until it was suggested here. Maybe she is. It almost makes the most sense because I feel like I am extremely strict and careful. My oldest one acts so badly when she has gluten that I don't take any chances.

Rather weirdly .... I am an older brother... and my brother 2 yrs younger.

I was the 'bad one' at school .. my brother the 'perfect student' .. etc. when my younger brother got a skateboard I wasn't allowed because I would kill myself .. when he was 16 he got a motorcycle ... I wasn't allowed etc. etc.

Like your 9 yr old he would come home from school and recount the smallest things and be upset... (and I think he genuinely was) but he was the one for instance smoking at 14 .. and the one who later did hard drugs..

My parents were utterly convinced that any trouble was me... yet he made far more. He relied on being my brother at school. That is I was regarded as someone not to mess with (with good reason) yet I never went looking for trouble, its just if someone did try and bully me I would make sure they spent at least a week off school, preferably in hospital. At times this involved kids much older than I was and I was often having arms broken etc. by kids 3-4 yrs older when they tried to push me about. With the way English schools worked by the time my brother got to the same one as me noone would even attempt to bully me because my response was always as violent as possible (bearing in mind I was always small).. which got me rather a bad name at the school that my brother used to maximum potential.

All this time my parents thought he was goody two shoes .. when in reality he would deliberately provoke kids often 2 yrs older than me and then run to me for protection....

I never told my parents but certainly in the latter part of school from 11 on most of the fights I got into were the result of my brother ..

One incident I'll recount when we were 11/13 or perhaps one yr older ...

We were messing about making gunpowder and my brother (for some reason) threw a lit bag which hit me in the forehead. I got pretty bad burns before I jumped into the nearby canal.

I hid my wet clothes, bought a dressing with my lunch money and didn't tell my parents it was him ... and instead said it was some kids messing about with fireworks. My parents were divorced and it must have been a Friday and we spent weekends with my father.. he presumed my mother had me to the hospital and visa versa on the Monday...

A week later ... we were playing with some minature darts .. basically a pin on the end of a stick of balsa with flights and one hit my brother. Knowing I would be in trouble for even making these I begged my brother not to tell, he really had a tiny pinprick... I still had a huge bandage and had got a HUGE tetanus a week late when my parents finally found out neither took me to the hospital.

He of course told my father immediately...

My brother never was and still isn't a bad person... however he certainly wasn't the little angel my parents both presumed.

In many cases I just took the rap for him... I don't know why, perhaps its what big brothers are meant to do???

p.s. I certainly did have mood issues .. and of course looking back its easy to see why with the gluten and all but perhaps your eldest is just less secretive about small stuff... and perhaps she is also looking after little sister as well.

[celiacgirls]

This is something to think about. Back in the pre-gluten-free days, my oldest one would explode and hit the younger one. Now that the oldest is better, I see the youngest one isn't just sitting there innocently when this happens. So I realize she probably isn't as "perfect" as I think about her diet. Unfortunately, I can't threaten her with homeschooling because she would like to be homeschooled. I will talk to her about the importance of eating nothing other than what I send her or she knows without a doubt is ok and we will do followup blood testing in a few months.

[happygirl]

Another point to bring up here: not all labs are created equal. What lab was this done by?

[gfp]

This is something to think about. Back in the pre-gluten-free days, my oldest one would explode and hit the younger one. Now that the oldest is better, I see the youngest one isn't just sitting there innocently when this happens. So I realize she probably isn't as "perfect" as I think about her diet. Unfortunately, I can't threaten her with homeschooling because she would like to be homeschooled. I will talk to her about the importance of eating nothing other than what I send her or she knows without a doubt is ok and we will do followup blood testing in a few months.

Just a thought but I wonder if by giving some responsibility to the eldest regarding the diet of the 9yr old you might solve two things at once and there is little to lose?

My experience is kids can be far more responsible when they have a younger kid they are responsible for...

The flip side is it might instill some responsibility into the 11 yr old as well. It might not help but ??? the downside seems pretty small?? By 11 she will probably take more responsibility for her little sister than for herself... ???