Worried About Over The Top Blood Test Numbers

[chisket]

Good Evening and thank you in advance for taking the time to educate me. I just got the bloodwork back for my 11 year old daughter who has been complaining of severe chronic stomach aches since March. We thought it was acid reflux, then lactose intolerance, and then finally I insisted on a blood test for gluten intolerence. The panel showed: Tissue TransglutaminaseIgA - 72.1 (reference range <=19.9); Gliadin Peptide AbIgA 29.6 (reference range <=19.9); Gliadin Peptide AbIgG 21.2 (reference range <=19.9)

The result summary stated: possibility of certain gluten sensitive enteropathie such as celiac disease or DH.

My pediatrician was able to get her in with a specialist for a biopsy next week. Given the high Tissue number (72.1), should I be overly concerned? And is it likely it's celiac disease? And do you know if anything else would cause this type of result?

Again, many thanks for enlightening me. I'm pretty worried.

[shadowicewolf]

It could be celiac, however if you think about it this way there are much worse things than it out there.

Not much will give that result. There are 3 (?) things i believe that do: Celiac, arthritis, and an issue with that type of cell.

Look at it this way, celiac is controled by diet and not some sort of strange medication

Keep positive!

[Roda]

In all likely hood she is stong positive on the blood tests she has celiac. There are a few other autoimmune diseases (don't know which ones off hand) that can elevate the ttg. If she doesn't have any other issues gluten is likely the problem. I would go gluten free after the scope/biopsy and not wait for the results. Biopsy can give false negative results also.

[Skylark]

Hi there. Don't worry. She's almost certainly celiac, because there is no other disease that causes that Gliadin Peptide antibody to appear along with TTG. Your daughter is very lucky that you were smart enough to insist on the gluten intolerance tests. Untreated celiac is no fun but kids usually recover really well off gluten.

I know it's scary that she probably has celiac but she will be fine. You should not be concerned about the TTG number. The amount of antibody does not correlate very well to damage on endoscopy. It can take her medium level of antibodies a bit longer to go away gluten-free but they will.

I know it's hard for kids, but you should probably put her on the diet no matter what the endoscopy says. The TTG is an autoimmune antibody and what you want to do is put her gluten free and get her retested in six months. If the TTG antibody falls, you know gluten was causing it and she's celiac no matter whether it was bad enough to show up on biopsy or not.

There are great moms around here who help you cook and find foods for your daughter so don't hesitate to ask for tips!

[ravenwoodglass]

Welcome to the board. With numbers like that she is most certainly in need of the diet. Some doctors would diagnose based on that but many do still want to do a scope. Do not take her gluten free until after the biopsy is done. As was said she can go gluten free as soon as that testing is done you don't need to wait on the results. Keep her on the diet even if the scope should come back negative.

Do be sure to get every other first degree relative tested also even if they don't seem to have symptoms.

[chisket]

I want to thank all of you who replied to my post. Just having people who know what they're talking about give me advice is so comforting. I will take your advice and go gluten free after the biopsy and also have all immediate family tested. I was tested a few years ago because they thought I had dermatitis herpetiformis...the blood test came back positive but the biopsy came back negative. Now I'm wondering...

Thanks again to you all.

[Jungle]

Don't freak out about the number. I was 193, my brother 196, and my niece 197 (TTG) It takes time for the levels to come down. After 6 months my brother's halved.

Regardless of the scope results I'd go gluten free. Don't worry after the first month or so it get easier. There is lots of help and information right here.