Test Results

[MerrillC1977]

Hubby and I both got our IgA and IgG test results back over the last few days (see picture below).

Obviously, they both appear to be in normal ranges.

My question is: did we receive the same tests? (The "his" and "hers" don't seem to have the exact same wording/names, even though the blood draws took place labs run by the same medical system.)

PS - we were 98% gluten-free for no more than a week-and-a-half before the blood draws -- this shouldn't have caused any false negatives, correct?

Thank you!!

[mushroom]

You are correct that you each received different tests. The doctor really should have run the full celiac panel for an accurate result (and you should have been eating gluten at the time of testing):

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgA

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA

Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA

Deamidated Gliadin Peptide (DGP) IgA and IgG

Total Serum IgA

So you had the first and second tests (the least specific for celiac) and he had the fourth test (both the IgA and the IgG versions). I have no idea why this occurred unless the lab made a mistake and they were supposed to run all of them on both of you. Doctors have been trained that the tTG is the most specific for celiac, but really we are finding out that the newer DGP is the better test. Also, any IgA test is worthless unless they also run the last test, the total serum IgA, to make sure that you do in fact produce normal IgA antibodies. If this test is low it invalidates any IgA testing. He did at least run both the IgA and IgG versions of the tests, however, to cover that base, so that means that each of you had only one of the four possible tests for celiac (AGA, EMA, tTG and DGP. All in all, not a very satisfactory testing experience

[MerrillC1977]

Also, any IgA test is worthless unless they also run the last test, the total serum IgA, to make sure that you do in fact produce normal IgA antibodies. If this test is low it invalidates any IgA testing. He did at least run both the IgA and IgG versions of the tests, however, to cover that base, so that means that each of you had only one of the four possible tests for celiac...

So wait....just to clarify what you wrote: runing both the IgA and IgG versions of the tests covers the base of testing for normal IgA antibodies? Is that what you are saying here? Or are you saying that some other base was covered by running both the IgA and IgG versions of the tests?

[mushroom]

No what I said very poorly was that if you test low on the total serum IgA test then they need to run the IgG version of any test to get a valid result because you are not a normal IgA producer. The fact that he ran both IgA and IgG versions of a particular test means that the result was valid FOR THAT TEST. Sorry to confuse you.

[MerrillC1977]

No what I said very poorly was that if you test low on the total serum IgA test then they need to run the IgG version of any test to get a valid result because you are not a normal IgA producer. The fact that he ran both IgA and IgG versions of a particular test means that the result was valid FOR THAT TEST. Sorry to confuse you.

Thank you, and I apologize for being so confused in the first place. So, even though we each got a different set of tests....eact of our sets of tests was valid and probably reliable? (Because each separate set contained both the IgA and IgG versions of our particular tests?)

[frieze]

Thank you, and I apologize for being so confused in the first place. So, even though we each got a different set of tests....eact of our sets of tests was valid and probably reliable? (Because each separate set contained both the IgA and IgG versions of our particular tests?)

BUT not valid because you weren't eating gluten at the time.

[MerrillC1977]

BUT not valid because you weren't eating gluten at the time.

I thought it was fine unless your gluten-free time extended many weeks or months? We were only gluten-free for *one* week/10 days maximum prior to testing, and not even 100% gluten-free at that.

[Skylark]

I thought it was fine unless your gluten-free time extended many weeks or months? We were only gluten-free for *one* week/10 days maximum prior to testing, and not even 100% gluten-free at that.

That wouldn't throw the tests off.