Blood Test Results

[flex9198]

Hello All -

I went it for routine (thorough) blood work and the results came back positive for celiac. I was wondering if someone can help me with interpreting my test results (I'm still somewhat skeptical I have celiac but I have been on a gluten free diet since the results came back).

A little background: I went it for routine blood work and my liver function came back high so the doc did a celiac panel which came back positive (but my liver function on the second test was back in the normal range). I absolutely no symptoms after eating gluten (silent celiac?). I have been eating it fine for my entire life and haven't had any issues that I know of.

My tests came back as follows:

Anti-Endomysial - Negative (<1:10, which is in the normal range)

Gliadin IgA, Abs - Negative (<20, which is in the normal range)

Gliadin IGG, ABS - Positive (86 HI, which is well outside the <20 normal range)

So my questions is, what should i do next? Should i get a confirming blood test with all of the tests? Biopsy? If I am celiac then fine, I can cope. But I don't want to have to give up gluten if I don't need to. So what should I do?

Thanks!!

[beachbirdie]

Hello All -

I went it for routine (thorough) blood work and the results came back positive for celiac. I was wondering if someone can help me with interpreting my test results (I'm still somewhat skeptical I have celiac but I have been on a gluten free diet since the results came back).

A little background: I went it for routine blood work and my liver function came back high so the doc did a celiac panel which came back positive (but my liver function on the second test was back in the normal range). I absolutely no symptoms after eating gluten (silent celiac?). I have been eating it fine for my entire life and haven't had any issues that I know of.

My tests came back as follows:

Anti-Endomysial - Negative (<1:10, which is in the normal range)

Gliadin IgA, Abs - Negative (<20, which is in the normal range)

Gliadin IGG, ABS - Positive (86 HI, which is well outside the <20 normal range)

So my questions is, what should i do next? Should i get a confirming blood test with all of the tests? Biopsy? If I am celiac then fine, I can cope. But I don't want to have to give up gluten if I don't need to. So what should I do?

Thanks!!

First of all, welcome to the forum! You've found the best place for support and information!~

Also, my hat is off to your doc for doing the celiac tests based on liver function. Most people have a very hard time getting their docs to test them! So far, yours sounds like a real keeper!

The positive test shows that your body is reacting to/attacking gluten as an invader. That is not a good thing, means your body does not like gluten. The anti-endomysial test would have shown if you have an autoimmune reaction (body attacking itself), it does not appear to be the case here but false negatives are common.

Did they test your total serum IgA? The anti-EMA is an IgA test, and it is possible you DO have damage occurring but they would miss the serologic evidence if you are IgA insufficient (common in celiacs). They should have tossed in a TtG test for good measure.

Anyway, has your doc recommended a biopsy?

You could consider yourself celiac based on the testing you have, but if you are going to have doubt about your diagnosis you could let them do a biopsy. The biopsies are not always positive even in a true celiac, damage can be patchy and they can miss it, take insufficient samples, or mis-interpret what they find.

Clear as mud, eh? Testing for celiac really isn't always very exact, unfortunately!

I would say gluten-free is a good choice, but if you are going to let them do the biopsy you need to be eating gluten! Don't stop it until you are done testing.

There are many people with celiac who do not have classic gastrointestinal symptoms. It is called "silent" celiac. It is no less damaging than when it causes symptoms.