Ttg Results And Symptoms Relationship?

[Bookie53463]

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering what people's experiences have been regarding their tTG results and their symptoms after they have become gluten free...

Before going gluten-free, I had a tTG score of about 180 (where a high positive is > 30)

1.5 years later, my tTG is only 70, so still a strong positive but not as positive

My primary symptom of a [essentially constant] bloated/distended/uncomfortable gassy stomach did not change at all over that 1.5 years (i.e. I'm 6'2'', 170 lbs, and still wear pants with a 36 inch waist despite being a muscular guy).

My symptoms are the above mentioned bloated stomach and moderate constipation/sense of incomplete evacuation (the latter which is helped by miralax but alleviating the constipation has done little to help the other more concerning symptom).

--> Have other people had these symptoms and had a high tTG?

--> Will I have to wait until my tTG is much lower to experience any improvement?

Thanks guys

[Tallforagirl]

--> Have other people had these symptoms and had a high tTG?

--> Will I have to wait until my tTG is much lower to experience any improvement?

Thanks guys

A year and a half seems a long time to not see any improvement. Are you certain you have eliminated all sources of gluten from your food-sources and medication?

Having said that, tTG can take a long time to normalise, a year or more is not unusual. Anti-gliadin IGA is more reactive and will normalise more quickly with removal of gluten from the diet (and vice versa), so it is better for use in monitoring the diet.

Have you considered you may be lactose or fructose intolerant? These can both cause bloating/gas. A lot of celiacs have lactose intolerance (mostly temporary) because of the damage to the villi, which normally release lactase enzyme from their tips.

There is a hydrogen breath test you can take to diagnose these, so maybe ask your doctor about it.

In regard to a link between high tTG and symptoms, in my case my tTG was >200 when diagnosed, and went down to 132 after four months. I never had any symptoms to speak of, apart from ongoing nausea and fatigue which I now put down to low B12, as it cleared once I had a course of B12 injections. The low B12 was most likely from malabsorption due to the gut damage.

[Bookie53463]

I know I'm a bit lactose intolerant and as such, have very little lactose containing products

My primary symptom of an uncomfortable distended bloated abdomen doesn't seem to cycle with what I eat that much --> it only seems to feel less uncomfortable if I avoid food in general

I've tried a 3 week elemental diet under the theory that this might be some sort of bacterial overgrowth but it didn't help (and such a diet would have been free of lactose/fructose/gluten for that time) -- I still felt pretty bloated during those three weeks making me think this symptom may be a function of ongoing inflammation as opposed to some sort of other process

also re: dietary compliance -- I was compliant as I could ever really be (my anti-gliadin was negative); if i became any more compliant I'd rule out eating out entirely (e.g. I would usually just eat mexican food like tacos which could have a spec of a gluten in them from a fleck of flour landing on them in the kitchen -- though if that's enough to set me off I should wear a mask everywhere...)