How Long Does It Take For Antibodies To Decrease?

[Asharia]

I haven't been able to find any good information on how long it takes for a positive antibody blood test to return to normal on a truly gluten free diet. My antibodies are currently at 3X the normal range, but I don't know if it's possible to go back to normal within a week, a month, half a year, etc. Are there any published works on this? Even if not, I would love to hear from anyone that has personal experience with watching their numbers drop.

I am currently trying to figure out what the source of gluten cross-contamination in my diet is (my antibodies had successfully dropped to normal in 2010, but for the past 6 months have been elevated). Unfortunately there is nothing that is obviously triggering me .. I assume it is some of the processed food I am eating, like Amy's or Trader Joe's stuff, but haven't noticed any real cause and effect. In fact, I was surprised when my antibodies were still elevated at my last Dr. appointment!

[ravenwoodglass]

Many doctors will test at the 6 month mark after you start the diet. If your antibodies had returned to normal levels and then elevated I would advise you to try and go with more unprocessed food. Many of us have had issues with CC with Amy's products and that would be the first thing I would drop.

[gfcolorado]

I just found out that my antibodies (DGP IGA) are elevated again,too and I've been searching all over for info. I also want to know if it's possible for them to be elevated from a one-time exposure or if it has to be continued. My doctor said it would have to be from continued, almost daily exposure. I had my father-in-law/retired GI research it for me and he found that the DGP results can stay elevated for up to 1 year for some people but he couldn't find anything on how much gluten is needed for it to be elevated.

Which of your tests are elevated? My TTG IGA and IGG and DGP IGG were normal but my DGP IGA was 61. It's so frustrating trying to figure out where I am getting the cc. I am going to get tested again to make sure it's not a false positive. I also get minimal symptoms when exposed to gluten so it's impossible to tell where I am getting it.

Hopefully someone can answer our questions!

[T.H.]

  On 9/25/2011 at 9:54 PM, gfcolorado said:

I just found out that my antibodies (DGP IGA) are elevated again,too and I've been searching all over for info. I also want to know if it's possible for them to be elevated from a one-time exposure or if it has to be continued. My doctor said it would have to be from continued, almost daily exposure. I had my father-in-law/retired GI research it for me and he found that the DGP results can stay elevated for up to 1 year for some people but he couldn't find anything on how much gluten is needed for it to be elevated.

I haven't seen anything that yet that seems to have a definitive answer on this one. I was super, super gluten-free, and still testing positive a few months into the diet. I keep reading on various sites that by 6 months, there should be 'noticeable improvement.' My own doc told me it could take up to 2 years to heal, which it did for me, but partly because I had to figure out exactly what was making me sick first, you know?

The only information on elevation that I've see was from a review of celiac disease studies, and it claimed that how severely celiacs react to gluten is quite varied. Some might get hardly any damage from repeated low level cc, while some might react severely to just one gluten cc hit. That's probably worth investigating more, though.

Asharia,

if you want to list out some of the foods your eating, maybe we can help you track down what the problem might be? A lot of people here have had to go the same route, so they've got eagle eyes in picking out potential issues.

Also might be of use to know if you have a gluten-free kitchen or not, what you do to prevent gluten cc in the kitchen, and if there is construction or a lot of baking in any areas you frequent. Any lip products/makeup that could be an issue, for you or a partner? Baby lotion on a little baby's tummy you kiss?

Stuff like that - loads of lovely people here who can probably help at least narrow it down for you.

[Karla01]

  On 9/25/2011 at 4:47 PM, Asharia said:

I haven't been able to find any good information on how long it takes for a positive antibody blood test to return to normal on a truly gluten free diet. My antibodies are currently at 3X the normal range, but I don't know if it's possible to go back to normal within a week, a month, half a year, etc. Are there any published works on this? Even if not, I would love to hear from anyone that has personal experience with watching their numbers drop.

I am currently trying to figure out what the source of gluten cross-contamination in my diet is (my antibodies had successfully dropped to normal in 2010, but for the past 6 months have been elevated). Unfortunately there is nothing that is obviously triggering me .. I assume it is some of the processed food I am eating, like Amy's or Trader Joe's stuff, but haven't noticed any real cause and effect. In fact, I was surprised when my antibodies were still elevated at my last Dr. appointment!

Mine went down from the 300's to 28 after being on the gluten free diet for 6 months. My doctor hasn't rechecked them since then. I have a friend though that has never lowered hers. She remains high even on a gluten free diet.

[Asharia]

It sounds like someone needs to do a study on this! Maybe I should change fields from ecology to celiac-studies, hah.

I have been careful about non-food products (toiletries, dog's food, etc), and I live alone. I would say my (non-dairy, non vegetable) staples are:

Frontera salsa

Frontera, Bearitos, or Tostitos torilla chips

Bearitos or Amy's refried beans

Whole Food's 365 brand beans, corn, etc.

Amy's rice mac and cheese (I am planning on cutting this out due to other Amy's processed food complaints)

Trader Joe's gluten free pancakes (I am planning on cutting this out)

Trader Joe's peanut butter

Sabra hummus

Trader Joe's gluten free rice snaps (I am planning on switching to glutino crackers)

Trader Joe's fiberful bars

Larabars

Enjoy Life Flax cereal

UDI's bagels and bread

Tinkyada pasta

Thai kitchen noodle bowls

And I have tried a bunch of different pasta sauces, sticking with the more organic ones with no obvious gluten ingredients

I eat a lot of nachos, hah.

  On 9/26/2011 at 1:39 AM, T.H. said:

I haven't seen anything that yet that seems to have a definitive answer on this one. I was super, super gluten-free, and still testing positive a few months into the diet. I keep reading on various sites that by 6 months, there should be 'noticeable improvement.' My own doc told me it could take up to 2 years to heal, which it did for me, but partly because I had to figure out exactly what was making me sick first, you know?

The only information on elevation that I've see was from a review of celiac disease studies, and it claimed that how severely celiacs react to gluten is quite varied. Some might get hardly any damage from repeated low level cc, while some might react severely to just one gluten cc hit. That's probably worth investigating more, though.

Asharia,

if you want to list out some of the foods your eating, maybe we can help you track down what the problem might be? A lot of people here have had to go the same route, so they've got eagle eyes in picking out potential issues.

Also might be of use to know if you have a gluten-free kitchen or not, what you do to prevent gluten cc in the kitchen, and if there is construction or a lot of baking in any areas you frequent. Any lip products/makeup that could be an issue, for you or a partner? Baby lotion on a little baby's tummy you kiss?

Stuff like that - loads of lovely people here who can probably help at least narrow it down for you.