Fathers Gi - Is He An Idiot?

[Ken70]

My father is working through some issues that I have believed have been related to gluten intolerance/sensitivity for some time now. I posted his Enterolab results before and will do so again below.

He took the results to his GI who told him since he is not technically defined as Celiac that he can go ahead and eat pizza on Friday nights if he feels like it. My father is the type to believe implicitly everything a doctor tells him. I am the opposite. This GI told him he wants to CAT scan my fathers gut and specifically his pancreas for signs of cancer due to the malabsorption problem. He believes my father is missing an enzyme that the pancreas produces therefore a problem with pancreas. In his defense he did say a gluten free diet couldn't hurt.

Here is Enterolab results

A) Gluten Sensitivity Stool and Gene Panel Complete *Best test/best value

Fecal Antigliadin IgA 21 (Normal Range <10 Units)

Fecal Antitissue Transglutaminase IgA 29 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

Quantitative Microscopic Fecal Fat Score 1275 Units (Normal Range <300 Units)

Fecal anti-casein (cow's milk) IgA antibody 15 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 1 0301

HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 2 0501

Serologic equivalent: HLA-DQ 3,1 (Subtype 7,5)

Interpretation of Fecal Antigliadin IgA: Intestinal antigliadin IgA antibody was elevated, indicating that you have active dietary gluten sensitivity. For optimal health, resolution of symptoms (if you have them), and prevention of small intestinal damage and malnutrition, osteoporosis, and damage to other tissues (like nerves, brain, joints, muscles, thyroid, pancreas, other glands, skin, liver, spleen, among others), it is recommended that you follow a strict and permanent gluten free diet. As gluten sensitivity is a genetic syndrome, you may want to have your relatives screened as well.

Interpretation of Fecal Antitissue Tra! nsglutam inase IgA: You have an autoimmune reaction to the human enzyme tissue transglutaminase, secondary to dietary gluten sensitivity.

Interpretation of Quantitative Microscopic Fecal Fat Score: A fecal fat score greater than or equal to 300 Units indicates there is an increased amount of dietary fat in the stool which usually is due to gluten-induced small intestinal malabsorption/damage when associated with gluten sensitivity. Values between 300-600 Units are mild elevations, 600-1000 Units moderate elevations, and values greater than 1000 Units are severe elevations. Any elevated fecal fat value should be rechecked in one year after treatment to ensure that it does not persist because chronic fat malabsorption is associated with osteoporosis among other nutritional deficiency syndromes.

Interpretation of Fecal anti-casein (cow's milk) IgA antibody: Levels of fecal IgA antibody to a food antigen greater than or equal to 10 are indicative of an immune reaction, and hence immunologic "sensitivity" to that food. For any elevated fecal antibody level, it is recommended to remove that food from your diet. Values less than 10 indicate there currently is minimal or no reaction to that food and hence, no direct evidence of food sensitivity to that specific food. However, because 1 in 500 people cannot make IgA at all, and rarely, some people can still have clinically significant reactions to a food antigen despite the lack of a significant antibody reaction (because the reactions primarily involve T cells), if you have an immune syndrome or symptoms associated with food sensitivity, it is recommended that you try a strict removal of suspect foods from your diet for up to 12 months despite a negative test.

Interpretation Of HLA-DQ Testing: Although you do not possess the main genes predisposing to celiac sprue (HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8), HLA gene analysis reveals that you have two copies of a gene that pr! edispose s to gluten sensitivity (DQ1 or DQ3 not subtype 8). Having two copies of a gluten sensitive gene, means that each of your parents, and all of your children (if you have them) will possess at least one copy of the gene. Two copies also means there is an even stronger predisposition to gluten sensitivity than having one gene and the resultant immunologic gluten sensitivity may be more severe.

[tom]

Mark me down in the "Idiot" column.

What a rotten position to be in, having to dispute a bad, imo, Dr to a believer.

[blueeyedmanda]

I would agree with Tom....idiot. Any gluten containing food is doing damage even if you don't feel the effects.

[ravenwoodglass]

Unless I am mistaken your Dad is a DQ7. This is the 3rd gene to be officially recognized as being a celiac gene. Your Dad's GI is either an idiot, misinformed or needs a new vacation home. Hopefully after your Dad gets sick as a dog a few times from those Friday night pizzas he will realize that perhaps his doctor does not know everything there is to know about this disease.

[CMCM]

Jeez, another IDIOT doctor at work!

Your dad's scores all show reactivity to gluten. And the fecal fat score is HUGE....showing malabsorption is a definite factor....a sign of celiac at work.

Dr. Fine of Enterolab is most emphatic that with elevated scores, a person should NEVER NEVER NEVER eat a bite of gluten. Eating gluten keeps the body under a condition of continual stress, thus opening the door to a host of other degenerative conditions including cancer.

I repeat, IDIOT doctor. Your dad needs a new doctor.

[Ken70]

I'm gonna need a few more checks in the idiot column before I can convince my father to get rid of this guy so please keep 'em comin'!

Thanks

[Tim-n-VA]

I don't know anything else so I'll with hold judgement.

As a parallel, if a doctor told a patient not to quit smoking most would also call him an idiot. I had a friend who was working at a facility that was closing and his wife was divorcing him. His doctor told him that he needed to quit smoking eventually but that he needed to resolve the other stresses in his life first.

My doctor told me I could eat gluten. The rest of the story is that it was to be a one-time thing to clearly identify symptoms to be able to recognize CC symptoms.

Those are two things where you might call the doctor an idiot if you only had part of the story.

[HAK1031]

with those numbers? idiot.

[Ursa Major]

Yes, that doctor surely doesn't know what he is talking about. He is obviously an idiot.

[nora-n]

I think the doctor said he is not celiac because he is not DQ2 or DQ8.

But, there are several people on the forums that are DQ1 or DQ7 or DQ9 and celiac.

I dug up some references that show they officially found some celiacs that are DQ7 and DQ9 and DQ1.

Open Original Shared Link

nora

[GlutenWrangler]

Certified Idiot

[cmom]

Idiot...followed closely by the Condescending who pretend to be sympathetic but really just believe you are a hypochondriac. Sorry, I'm a little jaded when it comes to the medical profession.

[loco-ladi]

Idiot! I am self diag'ed and i read the results and I still say the dr is an idiot, can he not even read whats in front of him!!!!!!!

it is recommended that you follow a strict and permanent gluten free diet.

[CMCM]

What makes me the angriest about doctors like this is that

1) They may realize they don't know enough but won't admit it (don't want to look stupid)

2) They know they don't know but don't go find out about it rather than telling you with great assurance something they know is wrong

3) They don't know enough to take the whole thing seriously....like the doctors who see a negative blood test and tell you to go back and eat gluten, no problem

Getting thru medical school and residency certainly doesn't mean you know about everything. But as a doctor, you should be trained to search out information when you need to AND to admit you don't know it all AND be inclined to research those things you deal with and don't know about. Unfortunately, there are some doctors who think they've learned it all and that's it....true of many professions, too.

[Ken70]

What makes me the angriest about doctors like this is that

Getting thru medical school and residency certainly doesn't mean you know about everything. But as a doctor, you should be trained to search out information when you need to AND to admit you don't know it all AND be inclined to research those things you deal with and don't know about. Unfortunately, there are some doctors who think they've learned it all and that's it....true of many professions, too.

I couldn't agree more.