Probable Cd? Many Questions

[fullagle]

Hello, This is my first post. I'm glad to find this place, although I am not yet officially diagnosed.

My doctor recently sent me for a number of blood tests, some of which related to celiac disease. I picked up the results at the lab, but don't have a follow up with doc for several weeks.

After looking at the results, I gleaned that I might have celiac disease and so have started looking around the web for more info.

Here are the test results that I'm wondering about:

Gliadin AB IGG - 11 (ref: 0-19)

Gliadin AB IGA - 98 (ref: 0-19)

Am I correct in assuming that the positive IGA means I likely have celiac disease?

I really don't have obvious GI symptoms....but I do have another autoimmune disorder (Hashimoto's thyroiditis) as well as osteoporosis and probably fibromyalgia.

Is it always necessary to have to have a biopsy? If I'm correctly understanding what I've read, it seems that the positive IGA is a pretty big clue. I'm perfectly willing to proceed with gluten-free lifestyle without a biopsy....but perhaps there are compelling reasons to have one anyway.....Can anyone clarify that for me?

Also, should I continue eating as always till I get a chance to discuss with my doc and/or have biopsy? If I'm likely to have celiac disease, I am inclined to jump right in and begin eating gluten-free to get on the road to healing. But (back to the biopsy question) maybe getting started now would mess up possible future tests.

Out of curiousity, I dipped my toe in the gluten-free lifestyle for the past two days, and am a bit concerned to find that I feel worse, if anything. Very achy!

Well, those are my questions for the moment! I'm grateful for any insight any seasoned readers might offer! Best, Geri

[gf4life]

Hi Geri,

The Gliadin AB tests are not totally specific to celiac disease. This means that although the high IgA reading could point to celiac disease, it doesn't necessarily. You should stay on a normal diet though, since the biopsy is the next step. Do not let the doctor tell you that going gluten free before the biopsy will not mess up your test results, it WILL mess up the results. So if a biopsy is going to be scheduled stay on gluten until after the biopsy is done.

That said, I would like to welcome you to this board. There is a lot of support here, and we are always glad to welcome new members.

As for the little bit of gluten free you have tried, it often takes weeks and sometimes months to start feeling real relief from symptoms, so a few days does not really give you a good idea of how you will respond to the diet.

God bless,

Mariann

[fullagle]

Hi Mariann, Thank you for the reply and the kind welcome! I'm just getting my hands around how big a topic this is and how much I have to learn. Aren't we lucky to live in a time when so much info is available! Best, Geri