Antibodies Present But No Symptoms

[Akber Biberkopf]

Hello,

My 4 year old is part of study for the environmental determinants of diabetes in the young (TEDDY). As such, they test for transglutaminase IgA with each visit and his results are positive; .499 last June and .99 in January. (I am informed by the TEDDY study that above .5 predicts abnormal intestinal biopsy in more than 95% of the children).

However, he has no symptoms whatsoever. I am guessing that it is just a matter of time before they present but really have no idea. Is there any reason to do the biopsy other than to know for sure? It seems to me that if he does start having problems, we remove glutton from his diet, if the problems go away, well, then celiac it is.

Any information or thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[Mother of a Celiac]

Hello,

My 4 year old is part of study for the environmental determinants of diabetes in the young (TEDDY). As such, they test for transglutaminase IgA with each visit and his results are positive; .499 last June and .99 in January. (I am informed by the TEDDY study that above .5 predicts abnormal intestinal biopsy in more than 95% of the children).

However, he has no symptoms whatsoever. I am guessing that it is just a matter of time before they present but really have no idea. Is there any reason to do the biopsy other than to know for sure? It seems to me that if he does start having problems, we remove glutton from his diet, if the problems go away, well, then celiac it is.

Any information or thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Our daughter had a positive blood test and we debated heavily about going thru with the endoscopy. My thoughts were very similar, but she also had symptoms. Having had the test done, I am glad that everything was reconfirmed, especially since most doctors seem to not fully diagnosis until you have the biopsy done. My deciding factor was that she could have had other underlying issues going on with hidden allergies and the doctor wanted to make sure that her esophagus and stomach did not show any damage, as well. The biopsy of her intestines came

back postive and everything else was normal, which was a relief. If you are going to do it, I would definitely recommend doing it now instead of later, before your child has been off gluten for awhile. It really is a pretty simple procedure and is done in like 15 minutes. All

the doctors and nurses were great and treated her like a princess too.

I hope this helps.

[mushroom]

Hello,

My 4 year old is part of study for the environmental determinants of diabetes in the young (TEDDY). As such, they test for transglutaminase IgA with each visit and his results are positive; .499 last June and .99 in January. (I am informed by the TEDDY study that above .5 predicts abnormal intestinal biopsy in more than 95% of the children).

However, he has no symptoms whatsoever. I am guessing that it is just a matter of time before they present but really have no idea. Is there any reason to do the biopsy other than to know for sure? It seems to me that if he does start having problems, we remove glutton from his diet, if the problems go away, well, then celiac it is.

Any information or thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

If your child has positive tissue transglutaminase, and the doctors predict a positive biopsy, then your child is suffering damage from gluten. Even though he has no observable or reported symptoms. I would not wait for him to become symptomatic. I would have the biopsy right away. If you have done much reading on celiac you must be aware of the very serious conditions that can be triggered by gluten in those of us who are intolerant in any way, celiac or not, whether it be diabetes, arthritis, neurological or any of the other multitude of autoimmune diseases associated with celiac. Many, many people have no digestive symptoms and are surprised by the diagnosis. Please consider doing the biopsy, or, in the alternative, remove gluten from his diet if you do not want to subject him to that. But for a child about to enter the school system a firm doctor's diagnosis could be very important to him.

[tarnalberry]

Definitely don't wait for him to be symptomatic. Many celiacs are asymptomatic, but that does not mean they are healthy - they are subject to all of the complications of untreated celiac disease.

[Akber Biberkopf]

Thank you all for your feedback, it helps a great deal. I will make an appontment with a GI post haste. Thanks again, and it looks like I will be around on these boards, so I hope to talk with you again.

[Dannyfor zsuzy]

Thank you all for your feedback, it helps a great deal. I will make an appontment with a GI post haste. Thanks again, and it looks like I will be around on these boards, so I hope to talk with you again.

I have a 10 year old daughter who is also believed to have Celiac. She is a type 1 diabetic and has tyroid desease since she was 2. After long debate and a 164 positive IGA lab. we did the biobsy which came out negative. She's been gluten free for 6 months and still shows over 100 IGA and no symptoms. I would recomend for sure to do the biopsy but it still might not give you the answers. Still dont know why my daughter is still over 100 IGA labs after 6 months gluten free.