Can Anyone Translate These Test Results?

[Meia]

I really don't know much about celiac disease. I have always know I am gluten intolerant and so do not eat much wheat. The week before a round of tests I had barely eaten any gluten, at the last minute of consult the doctor decided to throw in celiac test.

These are my results. I have no idea what they mean, my doctor did not mention anything to me about celiac but I had other worse results on other tests.

For Tissue Transglutaminase Ab IgA - 9 <20.

Then it says: IgA antibody to tissue transglutaminase has approximately 95 % sensitivity and specificity for gluten entrophy. False negative results may occur with IgA deficiency or gluten reduced diets.

Thanks if you can help me decipher what this means. Meia

[mushroom]

Your doctor ran only one of the blood tests in the celiac panel, the tissue transglutaminas or tTG. This test with a score of 9 was negative - anything under 20 is a negative result. The statement that follows the result means that it can be a false negative result if your were on a reduced gluten diet (gluten light) or if you are not a person who produces normal quantities of antibodies (a test called total serum IgA is normally run in conjunction with celiac tests to verify your normal IgA production.) Therefore, the result really hasn't told you anything at all because you were on a low gluten diet and we don't even know if you are a normal IgA producer.

If he ran tests to check your nutrient blood levels (vitamins and minerals) and these results were low, then that could be an indicator that you are in fact celiac but the tests at this point cannot prove it. A person normallly has to be on a full gluten diet for 2-3 months for any celiac testing to be valid. And there is an approximate 20% error rate in the testing anyway. Even if you are not celiac, it is possible to still be intolerant of gluten and need to stay on a gluten free diet.

Wellcome to the forum and feel free to ask any futher questions you may have.

[Meia]

Thanks Mushroom. I really appreciate your reply.

Think I am going to read around these boards a bit. I am also going to try to seriously go gluten free for a substantial period of time. I usually eat a very small amount of wheat once a day, (soy sauce or one piece of pizza or a piece of baquette) but after my other test results came back so negative I think I really need to look at what I am eating. I going to give up my spelt and kamut bread, I will miss them so much. Probably all my health issues are interrelated somehow.