Is It Celiac?

[beachbel]

Hi. I'm looking for suggestions on my son's situation. He is seven years old and had a low positive blood test for celiac disease ( His Ab, IgA was 20 with a range of over 19 positive). I should mention that is IGA was low (50 with reference range of 51-259 normal) which the dr said can cause the Ab, IgA to be a false low too. So we had a endoscope biopsy done. I just got the biopsy results yesterday. The biopsy found he is lactose intolerant and it also found inflammation but the dr said it isnt inflammation that is typical of celiac disease. So the dr gave us two options. First, I can put him on a lactose free diet and then if that doesn't clear up his symptoms, put him on a celiac diet. Or the second option is to put him on a lactose free diet and then have him re-tested in a couple of years for celiac disease while monitoring his symptoms and growth carefully. His symptoms are constipation, foul smelling bowel movements, and he prefers to avoid gluten and milk products ( we did make sure he had plenty of gluten for the 6 weeks prior to his biopsy).

I should mention that I have celiac disease and have a 14 year old son on the celiac diet. My 14 year old had a higher positive blood test and more symptoms, including stunted growth; his biopsy was completely negative. Even though his biopsy was negative, the dr had us put him on the celiac diet because of the severity of his symptoms and he is responding well to the diet. The dr is still checking him for other conditions since his biopsy was negative.

So, does anyone have any suggestions? It seems my boys have fallen into the "gray" area of diagnosis and I want to make the right decision. Thank you in advance.

[lizard00]

I have very low IgA, too, and it does greatly affect the test results. If your son falls below the range, and still tests positive, that would be a pretty big indicator to me. If it actually shows up on the test, even though in the low range, it may be really high for him.

And with 22ft of small intestine, it's possible that they just missed a spot that fit their criteria for damage.

Looks like celiac to me.

[leadmeastray88]

I have to agree with Lizard00.

It does really sound like Celiac since his blood was positive, and it's not a "low positive" if he's IgA deficient which he clearly is... so in reality his IgA levels are probably extremely high.

I would take the bloodwork as enough evidence because some Celiacs will never have a positive biopsy no matter how much gluten they eat. You don't want to poison him any more. Maybe your doctor will give him a positive dx based on bloodwork alone. You should consider also that many Celiacs also have intolerances to other foods, dairy being one of the more common. It's possible that 'inflammation' is being caused by both gluten and dairy.

Good luck!

[beachbel]

Thanks for the feedback. We are definitely leaning towards putting my son on the gluten free diet. I guess it won't hurt whereas if I leave him on gluten it could cause damage. He prefers gluten free food anyhow.