Good Iga, Low Iga-Aga And Low Iga-Ttg

[Lt. Dan]

Hi Folks,

Just came across your board as I am trying to figure out if my Doctor is doing his homework right.

First, my symptoms...fatigue, exhaustion (mental and physical), depression, muscle aches, poor recovery from exercise, brain fog, loss of memory, irritable bowel (alternate between constipation and diarhea), flatulence, very slow to heal from injury, past problems with multiple sinus infections per year, insomniac.

I am an otherwise healthy, active 52 year old guy.

My brain fog, exhastion, depression symptoms have been building up over the years to the point I am out of gas. I have done a bunch of adrenal and thyroid tests with all being negative. I'm on the low end of the scale for vitamin B12 but otherwise pretty well nourished.

My Mom was Celiac Sprue (big time) and therefore I started to research it and found that I have many of the symptoms. This kind of gave me hope that maybe I might find something there. I told my Doctor about the Celiac Blood Panel test and he ordered it up but I fear that he doesn't know how to interpret it.

Here are my results as I understand them:

Immunoglobulin A = 344 (Reference Range: 68 to 378)

Gliadin Peptide Ab, IgA = 1 (Reference Interval: 19 units or less Negative)

Tissue Transglutaminase Antibody (tTG), IgA = 5 (19 units or less Negative)

By my reading, I am pretty solid on the Negative, right? I mean an upper range Immunoglobulin is not a bad thing, is it? From my reading here on the board it just means that the other tests should not be false negatives. I am right?

My Doctor circled the "high" Immunoglobulin A as a possible marker and recommended that I get a biopsy. I am currently unemployed and without good major medical so I don't want to pay for one out of pocket if not needed.

What do you all think? Is my Doctor barking up the wrong tree?

Note: I have stopped all Gluten AND Milk for the last week and am starting to feel a bit better - - even had a couple of moments yesterday where the "brain fog" completely lifted and I could think clearly and effortlessly for the first times in years.

Maybe its the Milk Protein (Casein) and not the Gluten....

[ravenwoodglass]

If your mother was celiac with your symptoms chances are real good you are also. There is a high rate of false negatives in blood tests as well as biopsy. If your not planning on having the biopsy done then keep on the diet as it does seem to be helping. The area in your intestines that helps to make the enzyme that digests milk is the same area that is damaged with celiac. You may find you are able to digest milk products again after you have healed a bit more.

Welcome to the board and do ask any questions you need to. Going with a whole foods unprocessed diet will speed the healing along. You also should supplement the B12 with a sublingual for a bit as that will help with the brain fog and the fatigue. The cut off for low is really low and if your under 500 you really should be supplementing as it takes a while for the B12 deficiency to show on the blood work.

[cassP]

wow... i usually agree with everything ravenwood says...

your iga # is good- it just means that your immune system is working up to par.

false negatives do happen yes... also you should get your EMA tested. my antigliadin was negative twice. my TTG was WEAK positive, but my EMA was positive.

even then- if you still get negative numbers all around... if you feel better Gluten Free- then that is your biggest proof- our bodies often tell us more than the doctors do

plus- if your mom is Celiac- i would bet a million bucks you're at least Gluten Sensitive

[Lt. Dan]

also you should get your EMA tested. my antigliadin was negative twice. my TTG was WEAK positive, but my EMA was positive.

Thanks for the help. What is EMA?

[cassP]

Thanks for the help. What is EMA?

LIEUTENANT DAN!!!?????!! Lol

Endomysial Antibodies

[nora-n]

Your ttg test had a number , it was not 0. This could be a clue. You need much damage to your intestines for the ttg to bepositive, and many labs have a very high cutoff for the ttg test.

There was an article here on celiac.com where researchers sent blood from diagnosed celiacs to many different labs, and several labs could only find half of them, and some found 80-90% of them. With the ttg test.

If you want to persue this further, you can get the gene test from enterolab.com , and the stool test, as it is more sensitive, and designed to be more sensitive. But they cannot diagnose celiac, for that the tests are too sensitive. They are designed to pick up gluten sensitivity early, and milk and soy inolerance I think.

You order the tests privately, without doctor, so this might prove less expensive than the biopsy, if you want to avoid the biopsy.

[cassP]

ya, my ttg was only 6, i think...

im iga deficient, but my ttg igg was low too.

and also, i cannot answer knowledgeably as to why the labs all have different cut offs- but i CAN tell you that my PCP, and GI tested me- and both those lab result cut offs had my "6" at a "weak positive"

luckily, my PCP ordered the EMA. i dont know why my GI didnt do that.?? and that was positive

both my docs would not diagnose me with those results (even tho my EMA was positive- which is 100% specific to Celiac). my insurance wouldnt cover the endoscopy.

2 years later- i revisited those results and studied them, and ordered the gene test thru enterolab. im so glad i did- cause my genes were one more piece to the puzzle, and enough motivation to make me go 100% Gluten Free regardless. and about a week into going Gluten Free- i got a small patch of DH on my stomach.

so that just goes to prove to you that these "inconclusive" test results are not the end all be all. you have to be your own patient advocate untill you get to what works for you

[Lt. Dan]

about a week into going Gluten Free- i got a small patch of DH on my stomach.

DH?

[psawyer]

DH?

Dermatitis herpetiformis, the skin condition associated with celiac disease.

[nora-n]

yes, if you have DH that is diagnostic for celiac. Lots of people are not aware of that. And on DH forums some people do not think one needs to go gluten free with DH. They are wrong.

[cassP]

yes, if you have DH that is diagnostic for celiac. Lots of people are not aware of that. And on DH forums some people do not think one needs to go gluten free with DH. They are wrong.

really???? lordy, people are silly