Depressed Total Siga Combined With Low "normal" Glaidin Siga?

[lstroyan]

Hello all,

Hope this is an appropriate place to post this. I have a 10 year old with a complex history and am trying to find out if gluten intolerance is part of the picture. I know that the answer probably is "just go off of gluten" but I've been resisting that step and trying to figure out how likely that is to help things, given the number of other interventions we've tried.

His main health issues are adrenal fatigue / chronic fatigue (is on cortisol and DHEA supplements), mood issues, and anxiety (he is on a lot of supplements for those). When he was younger he did have stomach aches a lot but hasn't complained of them in a long time. Stools seem pretty normal.

We just did the Diagnos-tech food intolerance panel. Milk, Soy, and Egg came back negative; Gliadin SigA came back at "4 Negative' with a reference range of Borderline 13-15; Positive 15+. HOWEVER, his total salivary SigA levels came back at "<5 depressed", with a normal range of 25-60. (I interpret <5 to mean "undetectible" - not good!)

What I have been reading is that if total SigA is so low, he won't show a SigA response to Gliadin because the immune system is so depressed....so since there was even detectable Gliadin antibodies wouldn't that suggest an intolerance?

Should we get an enterolab test run? Wouldn't his gut SigA also be depressed and potentially not show up on their test? On the other hand, it would seem even the value of "4" would count as positive. Their website says..."The amount of antibody present is not a measure of clinical severity, but rather, the amount of antibody being produced by the plasma cells in the intestine in response to gluten at that site. A positive value of any degree means your immune system is reacting to dietary gluten in the way the immune system reacts to an infection. With an infection, this immune reaction ultimately kills and clears the infectious organism. But with gluten, the reaction continues as long as it is eaten. Thus, the only way to halt this immune reaction is to remove all gluten from the diet. This is true whether your positive test is 10 units, 350 units, or anything in between."

I'm also wondering how long we would need to keep him off of all gluten to see an effect to know whether we were on the right track.

Thank you -

Lisa

[AliB]

It sounds as if gluten intolerance may very well be a part of the picture. Due to the characteristically unreliable nature of the tests the only real way to tell is to 'suck it and see'.

At the end of the day it is a relatively cheap and noninvasive way of trying to deal with his problems. Every drug he is given will further tax his already overburdened liver and immune system and only deal with the symptoms not the cause.

Perhaps the earlier stomach aches were trying to tell you something but it just got to the point where his immune system got so depressed it gave up trying!

My grandson has had odd stomach aches over the years (he is nearly 7) but finally started showing more obvious signs about 4 - 5 months ago when he started messing himself constantly. This we have discovered is a common thing but we probably would not have put it down to gluten if I hadn't developed my own issues around the same time and found it after investigation. Celiac and GI can manifest in so many different ways there are no hard and fast rules - it simply depends on the genetic vulnerability of the individual.

Many who have put their child on gluten-free as an experiment have noticed improvements pretty quickly - even within the first few days, but you have to be extremely strict with it and not allow gluten to creep in or even the smallest amount will keep the damage momentum and immune response going.

Some find that the gluten-free diet isn't always the only answer - there may be other food intolerances which stop the body healing properly - until they are removed the body won't be able to sort itself out. Other food intolerances are often due to Leaky Gut syndrome allowing undigested food particles through into the bloodstream, setting up immune responses.

These will normally correct themselves once the body and gut has healed and any Candida issues have been resolved. Some prefer to go right back to basics and start with an Elimination Diet which should catch all the 'culprits' in one go. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is good for that (have a look at the 'Pecanbread' website which is a useful resource, if you're interested)

Any unexplained health issues are very likely to have food-based source, so it is certainly worth a try for a few weeks to see what happens. There is nothing to lose, but perhaps a happy and well child to gain.

[fedora]

hi. deficiant IgA levels make testing unreliable on the IgA level. You can still test on the IgG antibodies with blood work. Enterolab tests for IgA antibodies.

My daughter's total IgA level was low, but still in the normal realm. so the lab her blood work went to did not test for IgG antibodies. Her enterolab score was the highest negative possible and her malabsorption score was almost positive. They said based on the fact she is low producer of IgA, her score is pretty indicative of a reaction. The only way to know for sure is the diet.