Positive Blood Test, Negative Biopsy, But Vomit When I Eat Wheat Products

[Jeffiner]

This is going on seven years. I vomit on nearly a daily basis. My IgA level was slightly positive but my biopsy was negative. I have been eating gluten free and have not been vomiting. Today, I had two regular cookies and literally tossed them. I have an appt with an allergist next month to see if it is an allergy. Occasionally without gluten in my diet, I will vomit. It is not reflux. I get terribly nauseous and light headed ten minutes after eating, then throw up up to an hour later. I have even experienced shortness of breath, which makes me think allergy.......maybe? IDK I can't eat it, bottom line. I would like to know if it is an allergy or if it still could be celiac disease because the effects are different. My intestines were okay but I had a nasty looking esophagus. Thanks for any input.

[sb2178]

This is going on seven years. I vomit on nearly a daily basis. My IgA level was slightly positive but my biopsy was negative. I have been eating gluten free and have not been vomiting. Today, I had two regular cookies and literally tossed them. I have an appt with an allergist next month to see if it is an allergy. Occasionally without gluten in my diet, I will vomit. It is not reflux. I get terribly nauseous and light headed ten minutes after eating, then throw up up to an hour later. I have even experienced shortness of breath, which makes me think allergy.......maybe? IDK I can't eat it, bottom line. I would like to know if it is an allergy or if it still could be celiac disease because the effects are different. My intestines were okay but I had a nasty looking esophagus. Thanks for any input.

Sounds more like an allergy, but celiac shows up in many varied ways... are you avoiding rye, barley, oats too? Do they make you sick? If they don't, it's less likely to be celiac.

[skigirlchar]

i had gone gluten-free and then had to "add it in" for both the blood work & the biopsy

i came up negative on both tests but i have the same vomit issue that you do. (example - last night i had something made by someone else.... i woke up in the middle of the night vomiting.)

some of the items i do have positive allergy test results for

some i don't

i have since gone gluten-free/CF/SF and while it's difficult, i find it's worth it to feel human again

good luck and you know you have support here

[nora-n]

Hi, what do you mean by "IgA level slightly positive"?

was it the total IgA, or the ttg IgA, or the antigliadin IgA?

Have you heard about ee, eosinophilic esophagus? This is food allergy related. There are several postings about ee here, and it is somewhat related to celiac in as that some have both.

If you surf on www.thefooddoc.com 's blog, there is an article about ee there too. And about early celiac where the tests are not high yet.

[Jeffiner]

Thank you that have replied for the information and support. I had a Transglutimnase IgA Autoantibodies of 4.5. A weak positive is 4-10. All the other numbers were normal.

[mommida]

Going back to your scope on the esophagus, what type of damage was happening there? Did you have any biopsies taken from the esophagus? Do you have a copy of that report? Do you have pictures?

Eosinophilic Esophagitis was only given a standardized medical code in October of 2008 (if I remember right). Doctors might not be fully aware of all of the eosinophillic disorders that can occur anywhere thoughout the GI tract. Some cases of GERD might be misdiagnosed. If the doctor does not order the biopsy to be examined for Eoisinophils the pathologist will not give the eosinophil count. ( Adult diagnoses will depend on the range of the count)

Damage in the esophagus from EE would be active eosinophils. Eosinophils are the nastiest white blood cells the body makes. The cells have a spearlike projection to attack foreign bodies (mostly parasitic infection) but the cells don't know how to tell the difference from it's own bodies tissue. The cells cause damage to anything it comes in contact with.

The E's are sometimes visible with the scope, but normal looking tissues need to be biopsied as the E's can be imbedded into the tissue. Furrows can be seen in the esophagus and can cause food to get stuck.

Since there really isn't much to support valid medications for treatment, it is best to avoid any triggers. Allergy testing may help an individual learn what to avoid, but most cases allergy testing reveals nothing. The trigger may be food or airborn and possibly seasonal.

Vomitting on a daily basis is definately a symptom.

[Jeffiner]

Going back to your scope on the esophagus, what type of damage was happening there? Did you have any biopsies taken from the esophagus? Do you have a copy of that report? Do you have pictures?

Eosinophilic Esophagitis was only given a standardized medical code in October of 2008 (if I remember right). Doctors might not be fully aware of all of the eosinophillic disorders that can occur anywhere thoughout the GI tract. Some cases of GERD might be misdiagnosed. If the doctor does not order the biopsy to be examined for Eoisinophils the pathologist will not give the eosinophil count. ( Adult diagnoses will depend on the range of the count)

Damage in the esophagus from EE would be active eosinophils. Eosinophils are the nastiest white blood cells the body makes. The cells have a spearlike projection to attack foreign bodies (mostly parasitic infection) but the cells don't know how to tell the difference from it's own bodies tissue. The cells cause damage to anything it comes in contact with.

The E's are sometimes visible with the scope, but normal looking tissues need to be biopsied as the E's can be imbedded into the tissue. Furrows can be seen in the esophagus and can cause food to get stuck.

Since there really isn't much to support valid medications for treatment, it is best to avoid any triggers. Allergy testing may help an individual learn what to avoid, but most cases allergy testing reveals nothing. The trigger may be food or airborn and possibly seasonal.

Vomitting on a daily basis is definately a symptom.

All the doctor said was that I had esophagitis from vomiting so much. I have the picture but there was no biopsy taken from it.

[mommida]

The esophagus definately has the furrows (the grooves). There is some of cream colored pus stuff in the furrows.

The doudendom (sorry can't spelll today) has the creamy speckled look.

Talk to your doctor about the possibility of Eosinophils. (The name of eosinophils is because of the cells absorbtion of red dye.)

My daughter was vommitting up to 5 times a day. Were you given a steroid puffer to help heal?

[nora-n]

Unless you have giardiosis or some kind of liver disease or diabetes 1, shich might give a false positive on the ttg test, the positive ttg test does mean something.

How many biopsies did they take from the duodenum?

Some places they have started to take at least 12-15, because celiac is typically patchy (something they have only been aware of for a few years) and it is easy to miss the celiac patches.

With the standard 4 they would mostly find very advanced celiac.

Also, some people only have the celiac lesions on the wrong end, and they find that with a pill cam.

The pill cam will even show such good images of the villi that they can see if the villi are blunted=celiac.

Some pathologists are just lousy at diagnosing celiac. You might have a positive biopsy, but the pathologist thought one needeed total loss of villi and did not count the IEL's (special staining technique needed for that) and increased IEL's means celiac. But that is new too.

Yes, they should have biopsied the esophagus to check for ee.