Extremeley Low Iga Level?

[Forensicmom]

I have no clue if this is the right place to ask this or not but I need some information before I meet with our pediatrician in 2 days.

My youngest child just turned 5 and had her yearly physical. The dr was concerned b/c she totally fell off of her growth curve. She's very small to being with but my husband and I and our other 3 children are also small. She went from consistently being in the 10% to below the chart so the dr wanted to do bloodwork. Her IGA level came back at 6.4 and the dr said it was so low that must be a mistake so she decided to do some more bloodwork. I just spoke with the nurse, who said that her IGA level was still low but the other 2 levels (IGG and IGM, I think) were normal. The wanted wasn't able to talk but wants me to come in on thursday to go over things.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I've read about the problems with Celiac's and Low IGA levels but I have no idea if this could be the problem or not.

[chiroptera]

If her IgA levels are too low the Celiac blood panel tests will not be accurate because they are measuring IG antibodies. Some people do not produce any or very many IgA antibodies which doesn't mean they are immune deficient or anything bad, but the typical Celiac screening tests aren't helpful. I believe in those cases they usually recommend a gene test and/or biopsy.

[tarnalberry]

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[lizard00]

I have pretty low levels of IgA, also (based on the lab range). I don't get sick more than anyone else, in fact, since I've been gluten-free, I get sick less than I used to.

It does most definitely throw off the celiac bloodwork. And I'm not sure if you are in the diagnostic process or not, but if you are having celiac bloodwork done for her, there are IgG versions that can be run and can be used in the case of IgA deficiency.

[Forensicmom]

THanks so much for responding. We have a meeting with the dr tomorrow to go over the results and figure out a "course of action" according to the nurse. I've been upset with the thought of something being wrong with my child but it's conforting to know that it might not be as bad as I originally thought.

[jmjsmomma]

After my 6 yo was diagnosed Celiac, I had my two younger children tested. My 2 yo daughter came back as "IGA deficient". My sons GI wanted to see her. He said that the celiac panel was useless since she was IGA deficient (I think her number was 15). He suggested two things....either test her again in six months (she is completely asympomatic), or do genetic testing. We opted to do the testing and the results were negative.