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songbird123

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songbird123 Newbie

Hello everyone! :) Until today, I had never even heard of Celiac Disease, but ran across it on Google while doing some research on my current medical state. For about a month, I have been having bowel habits that are not normal for me...having to go 10-15 minutes after I eat (especially if I have milk), diarrhea (which sometimes "looks funny" and has a foul odor) and loose stools, abdominal cramping, feeling like I have to go but can't, and a little bit of blood. I've been worried I might have colon cancer, so I went to the doctor and they did a colonoscopy this past Friday with two biopsies. They said everything looked fine...no tumors or polyps, but I have to wait until next week to get the biopsy results. Well, after doing more research, I discovered some info on Celiac Disease and now I'm concerned that might be my problem. You see, I also have gas/bloating, unexplained weight gain, fatigue, rectal itching and I was diagnosed last year with fibromyalgia because of the pain and easy bruising. And I will admit...I love sugar. I don't sit around all day eating candy bars, but I do love chocolate and sugary things and I live off of Mt. Dew. Just was wondering if anyone here thinks that Celiac Disease might be what's wrong with me. Can it be diagnosed by a biopsy taken during a colonoscopy? Thank you! :)

Michelle


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Hi Michelle, and welcome. No, a colonoscopy cannot diagnose celiac disease. Even an upper endoscopy cannot diagnose it unless they are specifically looking for it and treat the biopsy samples with special staining.

Many of your symptoms are synonymous with those of celiac disease and it is possible you could be in the early stages. Your first step is to go to your GP and ask her to perform a celiac blood panel test on you. That consists of the following tests:

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

The normal procedure if any of these IgA tests are positive is to refer you to a GI for an upper endoscopy and biopsy samples for confirmation of the positive diagnosis, although more and more doctors are feeling that the biopsy is no longer necessary if the blood testing is firmly positive. And it is your decision whether or not to have the endoscopy.

songbird123 Newbie

Well, the more I read about Celiac Disease, the more convinced I am that I have it. :( Forgot to mention earlier that I also have insomnia, and I have had asthma since I was 18 months old. My best friend is being supportive but said "What would you eat?!?" LOL I haven't told my boyfriend yet what I suspect, because I don't want him to think I'm being a hypochondriac like my family does. My mother thinks I'm just looking for something to have. No...I'm looking for a way to feel better. I do want to have the blood test done, but I don't know if I can convince the doctor to do it. :(

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    • trents
      So the tTG-IGA at 28 is positive for celiac disease. There are some other medical conditions that can cause elevated tTG-IGA but this is unlikely. There are some people for whom the dairy protein casein can cause this but by far the most likely cause is celiac disease. Especially when your small bowel lining is "scalloped". Your Serum IGA 01 (aka, "total IGA") at 245 mg/dl is within normal range, indicating you are not IGA deficient. But I also think it would be wise to take your doctor's advice about the sucraid diet and avoiding dairy . . . at least until you experience healing and your gut has had a chance to heal, which can take around two years. After that, you can experiment with adding dairy back in and monitor symptoms. By the way, if you want the protein afforded by dairy but need to avoid casein, you can do so with whey protein powder. Whey is the other major protein in dairy.
    • jenniber
      hi, i want to say thank you to you and @trents   . after 2 phone calls to my GI, her office called me back to tell me that a blood test was “unnecessary” and that we should “follow the gold standard” and since my biopsy did not indicate celiac, to follow the no dairy and sucraid diet. i luckily have expendable income and made an appt for the labcorp blood test that day. i just got my results back and it indicates celiac disease i think 😭   im honestly happy bc now i KNOW and i can go gluten free. and i am SO MAD at this doctor for dismissing me for a simple blood test that wouldn’t have cost her anything !!!!!!!!!!! im sorry, im so emotional right now, i have been sick my whole life and never knew why, i feel so much better already   my results from labcorp:   Celiac Ab tTG TIgA w/Rflx Test Current Result and Flag Previous Result and Date Units Reference Interval t-Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA 01 28 High U/mL 0-3 Negative 0 - 3 Weak Positive 4 - 10 Positive >10 Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) has been identified as the endomysial antigen. Studies have demonstrated that endomysial IgA antibodies have over 99% specificity for gluten sensitive enteropathy. Immunoglobulin A, Qn, Serum 01 245 mg/dL 87-352
    • JoJo0611
      Thank you this really helped. 
    • Samanthaeileen1
      Okay that is really good to know. So with that being positive and the other being high it makes sense she diagnosed her even without the endoscopy. So glad we caught it early. She had so many symptoms though that to me it was clear something was wrong.   yeah I think we had better test us and the other kids as well. 
    • GlorietaKaro
      One doctor suggested it, but then seemed irritated when I asked follow-up questions. Oh well—
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