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To Be Celiac Or Not To Be?low Total Iga

TexasLady

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TexasLady Newbie
TexasLady
Posted

So I have been trying to decide whether or not I am truly a candidate to have celiac disease/gluten sensitive.

I've been struggling with non specific symptoms for several years (headaches, constipation, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, stomach pains, dizzy spells, muscle/bone pains and aches, muscle twitching/cramping, weird skin rashes only when exposed to the sun, mouth and nose sores). I feel some other issues I have had like after the birth of my daughter having high cholesterol and high blood pressure which took 8 months to resolve, emergency gall bladder surgery and just a general feeling of not being well are after effects of something not functioning right with my body.

My whole life I have struggled with my weight (now at 33 I am 5'5'' and weigh 99 pounds). After the birth of both of my children I lost all my pregnancy weight effortlessly but not many gastro issues. I have asked so many doctors about this and they just tell me this is just how your built.

I would not be so paranoid about my symptoms except I have a history of Lupus in my family (mother and sister both deceased and looking back many of their symptoms mimicked celiac) and I try to stay very watchful of my health. My doctor has tested me for lupus and although I did have a + ANA the anti ds DNA test was negative.

Taking matters into my own hands since my doctor wanted to do the "in" thing and label my issues as anxiety/depression (which I am absolutely not) I did the lovely(stool) test from Diagnos-techs which showed negative Anti-glidan, equivocal for casein, and low total IgA (like my value was 15 and the norm should have been 400-800). Does this indicate a false negative due to the low total IgA? I also ordered the Biocard home blood test for celiac which came back negative, but it did not include a total IgA so I'm thinking I don't probably have enough IgA to test positive anyway.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

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JennyC Enthusiast
JennyC
Posted

Can you get blood tests for celiac and IgA deficiency? Blood tests are more respected by doctors, and I think it will be easier for you in the long run if you have the blood work. If you are IgA deficient, then you will have false negatives for any IgA related tests, including the most specific test for celiac: tTG IgA. I hope this helps! :)

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