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Please Help Interpret My Test Results

sacket

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sacket Newbie
sacket
Posted

hello friends; good day to you all.

i'm new around here, and needing some help figuring out these lab results. doc says i'm okay, but i'm really wanting some additional opinions. i will try to make this brief.

age: 20

sex: male

height/weight: 6'0"/130 lbs.

symptoms (may or may not all be related to gluten intolerance): constipation, severe depression, anxiety, low androgens, questionable thyroid function, scoliosis, back pain, rosacea, face FULL of acne.

these symptoms popped up at different times over the past few years, and now, cumulatively, they have become way too much to handle. help please!

the results:

anti-gliadin antibody (iga)

14 U/mL (11-17 equivocal, >17 positive)

anti-gliadin antibody (igg)

72 U/mL (>17 positive)

ttg antibody (iga)

<3 U/mL (<5 negative)

iga, serum

180 mg/dL (81-463 normal)

i also had a small bowel endoscopy and biopsies were sampled. results were negative.

thanks much for your help.

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Marz Enthusiast
Marz
Posted

symptoms (may or may not all be related to gluten intolerance): constipation, severe depression, anxiety, low androgens, questionable thyroid function, scoliosis, back pain, rosacea, face FULL of acne.

Any and all of these symptoms I've heard linked to gluten-intoleranc\celiac, so you may be on the right track.

Ok, let me take a stab at this.

anti-gliadin antibody (iga)

14 U/mL (11-17 equivocal, >17 positive)

Mid range - so you're making some anti-bodies, but not enough to mark you as "positive" by definition, but definately concerning.

anti-gliadin antibody (igg)

72 U/mL (>17 positive)

This seems like a strongly positive result, but not sure of the significance of IgG vs IgA? Did you go on a low-gluten/gluten free diet before you had these tests done by any chance? As IgA clears quicker out your blood than IgG, or so I've heard.

ttg antibody (iga)

<3 U/mL (<5 negative)

Negative, which means you're not producing anti-tissue antibodies, which is a good thing. Means your intestine isn't being destroyed (yet). The biopsy confirms this, hopefully they took several samples and not just one?

iga, serum

180 mg/dL (81-463 normal)

Just an total IgA test - your levels are ok I guess, so it makes the above results valid. (A low result might have indicated false negatives)

I'm not a doctor, so I can't really advise on the results, but you sure don't have completely negative results - there is some reaction happening based on the high IgG and slight IgA levels. Try a gluten-free diet and see if it makes a difference, is what most people would recommend on the forum :)

Skylark Collaborator
Skylark
Posted

Your doctor saying you're OK means you're not celiac. That's good news. The antibodies you have are not uncommon. Some people with anti-gliadin IgA and IgG still eat gluten fine, but others have reactions. As Marz says, the only way to be sure is to try the diet.

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

Please do try the diet. Those levels are high for a reason. Also false negatives on biopsy and blood are all too common. A good strict trial of the gluten free diet is in order. I have a feeling if you follow it strictly a lot, if not all of your issues may resolve. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

nora-n Rookie
nora-n
Posted

If you google ford gluten you get Dr. Ford´s homepage andsomewhere there is info about the signig´ficance of the antigliadin IgG test. He really thinks it means something but not neccessarily old-fasioned celiac.

Some people have constipation as their mein celiac symptom, and you can still be gluten sensitive or celiac or something, and the doctor may have missed the celiac lesions (celiac is typically patchy)

Some who had a video capsule endoscopy done, have been diagnosed with celiac in the wrong end of the small intestine (where the endoscopy does not go)

sacket Newbie
sacket
Posted
  • Author

thanks folks.

well, at least it's only an isolated high aga-igg. as far as i'm told, several biopsies were taken, and the small bowel looked "fantastic."

so is it fairly common then to only have high igg anti-gliadin antibodies, and normal everything else? it may be possible then that none of my symptoms are caused by gluten. :[

i didn't follow a gluten-free diet prior to the testing; actually, i was eating more gluten than normal at the time. more and more over the past few years, i tend to crave glutenous foods.

i will have to do a gluten-free trial and see what happens. a while back, before gluten was ever suspect, i tried a dairy-free diet, to no avail. hopefully this will have a better outcome than that one did. :]

toodles

nora-n Rookie
nora-n
Posted

Read Dr. Ford's view on antigliadin IgG.

It can be early stages fo celiac, or gluten sensitivity where other parts of the body are more affected than the gut.

In my case, the gluten gets to my brain.

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