Clear Scope But Still Raised Antibodies

[covsooze]

Hi all

I'm trying to get to the bottom of the cause of my remainig symptoms, which is difficult as I have other health conditions as well as coeliacs.

My last endoscopy showed that my villi are completely healed, but my antibodies are still slightly raised. I'm obviously getting some tiny amount of cross contamination somewhere but not enough to damage my villi. But given that my body is still producing antibodies, could that mean I'm still feeling the effects of gluten?

[Gemini]

Hi all

I'm trying to get to the bottom of the cause of my remainig symptoms, which is difficult as I have other health conditions as well as coeliacs.

My last endoscopy showed that my villi are completely healed, but my antibodies are still slightly raised. I'm obviously getting some tiny amount of cross contamination somewhere but not enough to damage my villi. But given that my body is still producing antibodies, could that mean I'm still feeling the effects of gluten?

Which specific blood test is showing raised antibodies? Do not assume you are being glutened or cc'd because of elevated antibodies......it depends on which ones are elevated. Other autoimmune diseases may cause an elevated tTg also and if a person has multiple diseases, your antibodies may not come down into the normal range. Is it the tTg or the anti-gliadin test which is spiked?

[covsooze]

Which specific blood test is showing raised antibodies? Do not assume you are being glutened or cc'd because of elevated antibodies......it depends on which ones are elevated. Other autoimmune diseases may cause an elevated tTg also and if a person has multiple diseases, your antibodies may not come down into the normal range. Is it the tTg or the anti-gliadin test which is spiked?

Hi

Thanks for your reply. It's the tTg that's raised. That was the only one they checked. Isn't that just relevant to coeliacs? I do have autoimmune hypothyroidism as well.

[Gemini]

Hi

Thanks for your reply. It's the tTg that's raised. That was the only one they checked. Isn't that just relevant to coeliacs? I do have autoimmune hypothyroidism as well.

Here's how I understand the whole picture, as I've learned from all the reading I have done and what doctor visits have taught me.....I have Celiac, Hashi's thyroid, Sjogrens Syndrome and Reynauds Syndrome. Hashi's thyroid and a few other autoimmune diseases, like autoimmune liver disease, will raise tTg levels also, along with Celiac. This is why other specific tests are done in the Celiac panel to differentiate between what could be causing elevated levels of Ttg. Anti-gliadin IgA and IgG measure your bodies response to gluten, whereas tTg measures damage to tissue.

From my personal opinion only, when a doctor only runs a repeat tTg, they are making a big mistake in not running the anti-gliadin IgA/IgG also because the elevated tTg may be from your thyroid disease and not from gluten sneaking into your diet. If the anti-gliadin numbers are in the normal range, then you are not ingesting gluten (which would explain your clean endoscopy results) and the elevated tTg is most likely coming from your thyroid disease. My personal blood results show a tTg in the high normal range....still normal but I was upset that I could not get my tTg into the low normal range. My anti-gliadin numbers are perfect...low, low normal so I KNOW I am not ingesting gluten. The fact that I have 3 other autoimmune diseases to boot is what the likely culprit is and this was confirmed by a hematologist I saw. She explained that sometimes, even the most diligent Celiacs will still have higher numbers than normal because of all the autoimmune issues I have going on. I have done a good job in taming down my immune system BUT I still have 4 autoimmune diseases so will never be like those in the general population without Celiac disease.

I would highly suggest you tell your doctor to run the anti-gliadin IgA/IgG tests also to see what that says. I would venture to guess you are not ingesting gluten because of your endoscopy results.

That's a guess but it makes the most sense. Don't go crazy trying to figure out if you are ingesting gluten....many make that mistake because their doctors are not running full panels so the whole picture is not seen. Good luck and if you have other questions, ask away!