Blood Test Results

[guest134]

For the person who asked here was my thyroid results:

TSH 4.53 (.3-5.00) It is still going down, was elevated while I was really sick with salmonella

Free T4 19 (12-22)

Free T3 5.3 (2.6-5.7)

TSH at 4.53 is NOT normal. This is about where mine was for a LONG time, but I def. have hypothyroidism. Finally someone put me on levothyroxin to just SEE if that could be my issue. It didn't make it go away, but did help- but if I don't have my levo I can feel it. Personally, I feel the best if my TSH is about 2-2.5

I know you don't think you have Celiac- but I wouldn't write it off. It took doctors years to find my hypo, which can be done with a very simple blood panel (along with my other symptoms.) We should not think that they would find a "hard to pinpoint" disorder easily, quickly or accurately. I have been going on 9 years with this "tummy troubles". I have been to so many doctors its RIDICULOUS. I finally had to take charge of my OWN health.

Doctors do great things daily, but they are not the be all and end all answer.

TSH does not cause nor alleviate symptoms so that does not even make sense. It is your free t's that do so (the actual hormone levels being produced by the thyroid.) Of course, if your TSH is in the high range chances are your thyroid levels will be on the low as your pituitary is stimulating your thyroid to produce more, but as I am trying to explain to you guys with my antibody levels that is not always the case. TSH is created by the pituitary gland and there are many variables that can cause it to rise without your thyroid being out of wack, this includes stress, illness,infection other diseases, and of course a problem with the pituitary gland itself.

The aim is for t4 to be 50 percent of its range and t3 to be about 1/3, both my levels are ideal. Once again the TSH was high because of the infection, it was originally 8.03 when I was in my worst condition and my TSH was last tested at 2.4 a year ago when I had a physical in good health. I just had the entire panel done which showed my thyroid function was fine.

In fact, with how high my thyroid hormone levels are, if I would have taken synthroid I would have probably put myself into HYPERthyroid.

[guest134]

I hear you! My dad and uncle where professional football players; dad was d-tackle and uncle was a lineman. My brother and I both started out big. There is an old wives tale about doubling your height at age 2 and it's supposed to indicate your adult height... I was supposed to be 6' (I'm 5'8") and my brother was going to be 6'7" but he stopped at 5'10". He stopped growing by age 15.

There was a young guy(about 20?) on the boards a few months back who I think hit a growth spurt after going gluten-free for a few months. Search the forum, I think it's title was along the lines of "I wasn't expecting this". Sorry I can't remember more...

So yes, there is a chance you could grow if celiac has held you back, but you're probably near or possibly past the age when many men stop growing so if you wanted to see if a gluten-free diet would help, I wouldn't wait too long. Good luck!

Wow, that is pretty cool to have some pro football players in the family. I think at 5'8 you turned out quite tall for a woman though, the tallest I have really seen are 5'10. Thanks for the info, will look that up.

[MitziG]

Actually, the stats you quoted for the DGP were for the older test. The new ones have something like 99% specificity.

For your sake, I hope you are right, and this all goes away. But I wouldn't count on it.

[guest134]

Actually, the stats you quoted for the DGP were for the older test. The new ones have something like 99% specificity.

For your sake, I hope you are right, and this all goes away. But I wouldn't count on it.

Actually, it is for the deamidated, here is the link Open Original Shared Link

It has about the same specificity as TTG (about 98 percent) which is why it is being praised more, however just like the TTG, deamidated CAN rise as a sign of inflammation, especially if it is a very slight elevation like mine is.

From my research and discussion with doctors, TTG and gliadin antibodies are released in destruction of the colon, which is what celiac usually does, there are only a handful of issues that can damage your colon and that is why most of these tests are so specific. Really there are only 4 things that damage your lining: celiac, crohns, ulcerative colitis, and infectious colitis/disease. Also, the specificity of deamidated IgG was put for labs that use a cut off of 20 as being negative, since mine uses 10, the specificity and sensitivity both drop as well.

You see, the issue with these articles is that one must read how the sensitivity/specificity was determined and at what cut off interval, for labs that use less than the recommended cut-off's, or more the test outcomes will change.

I am looking forward to getting further tests done soon, I think this could turn out a great learning experience for all of us.

[kiddo88]

TSH 4.53

This isn't a good number. It's high normal. I tested high normal for MANY years before I was finally diagnosed with hypothyroidism. When I was diagnosed, my numbers were still only this high- so the levo for me was trial and error. Turns out, it was the right decision. Most people feel the best around 2-2.5. Personally I like to stay at 2.

[guest134]

TSH 4.53

This isn't a good number. It's high normal. I tested high normal for MANY years before I was finally diagnosed with hypothyroidism. When I was diagnosed, my numbers were still only this high- so the levo for me was trial and error. Turns out, it was the right decision. Most people feel the best around 2-2.5. Personally I like to stay at 2.

Did you even read my post? TSH DOES NOT cause or alleviate symptoms, it is not a hormone, if your high TSH caused you symptoms it is because it was a reflection of how low your thyroid hormones were.That is not the case for me, my TSH is that level because of recent infection, it was higher than that and is still dropping, I was only using that as an example for transient elevations during infections. My healthy TSH level is around 2.4.

[GottaSki]

I was confused by some of your theories:

Celiac Disease damages the Small Intestine, not the Colon.

Please forgive me if I did not understand the intent of your post, but it sounded to me like you are saying the immune response/antibodies in Celiac Disease are in response to intestinal damage, rather than the cause of the damage?

While I do understand the theory that your tTG IgA was elevated by infection, I don't see how that same theory explains your elevated DGP IgG. It is my understanding that the antibodies measured in the DGP are created in reaction to a peptide specific to gluten protein.

I do hope you have a reduction in both positive antibody tests once you recover from the infection - I'll be interested to hear the DGP result specifically.

[guest134]

I was confused by some of your theories:

Celiac Disease damages the Small Intestine, not the Colon.

Please forgive me if I did not understand the intent of your post, but it sounded to me like you are saying the immune response/antibodies in Celiac Disease are in response to intestinal damage, rather than the cause of the damage?

While I do understand the theory that your tTG IgA was elevated by infection, I don't see how that same theory explains your elevated DGP IgG. It is my understanding that the antibodies measured in the DGP are created in reaction to a peptide specific to gluten protein.

I do hope you have a reduction in both positive antibody tests once you recover from the infection - I'll be interested to hear the DGP result specifically.

Well, whatever infectious disease affects the colon will do the same for the small intestine. The damage is all over in bacterial infection. Yes the deamidated has a more specific reaction to gluten but the whole point is that during colitis, the entire digestive tract can become inflamed, which is misleading because you would think the word colitis refers to the colon specifically. For example, my rectum is inflamed right now, I get these occasional very annoying cramps and pressure for bowel movements even though I don't need to go, it started off really bad with the infection and has been slowly dying down but it is still there, that is a classic symptom from colitis.

What that means is that the mucous lining can become torn, releasing the ab's temporarily, while the colon repairs itself. You have to remember too that since deamidated is very new there is still a considerable amount of research that has to be done as to how specific it is for celiac. However, it is proven not to be 100 percent specific and can also be an inflammatory marker.

I know it is confusing, but it is the same thing as asking why does TSH go up during infection. It seems weird that your pituitary would produce stronger signals for your thyroid to pump more hormones when you have a bacterial infection in an area aside from your neck, thyroid, or pituitary itself. Medicine is confusing and that is why we have specialists, I can understand definitely that you guys have had your fair share of dumb doctors, they are out there, but I have been to 5 and a specialist so far who all gave me the exact same explanation, it seems pretty convincing to me.

At this point though, if salmonella did trigger the celiac I have definitely become more accepting and realized it is not a very bad disease ESPECIALLY since it would be caught so early in my case.

Will update you guys with any new info. Let me know if you would like to see some articles on the autoimmune response to infection, they are pretty interesting.

[GottaSki]

However, it is proven not to be 100 percent specific and can also be an inflammatory marker.

Now I must have not been clear. I am not confused at all with regard to inflammatory responses in the body.

My confusion stemmed from your statements in which it seemed you were talking about Celiac Disease when you must have been referring to inflammatory response to infection.

The research I would be interested in seeing is that with regard to DGP being an inflammatory marker. I would be grateful if you could site this research as I have searched for reasons other than reaction to a peptide in gluten protein for elevated deamidated gliadin pedtide antibodies and did not find anything.

There have been folks that have posted that they and more often their children's only positive test is DGP IgA or IgG - I've asked if not an indication of a problem with gluten - either Celiac or Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance - what do their doctors believe is the reason for this positive result -- they have not posted any other reasons yet -- so I really would love to see the science indicating other possible reasons for the positive results.

Thanks!

[GottaSki]

ps....I have NEVER said doctors were dumb. Not sure if you said this in response to my comments, just wanted to be sure someone else reading this thread did not think I had indicated lack of intelligence among doctors. I have indicated on many occasions that there is a real lack of specific and up-to-date knowledge of Celiac Disease symptoms and testing in the medical community.

[Ligii13]

First off, I hope you feel better and you get a clear answer. Do you have anyone in your fam with an autoimmine disease or with Celiac. The only reason I ask that is when I went to the dr and explained the symptoms I was having he ran a whole bunch of blood tests, one being a Celiac Disease Panel. He included the Celiac Panel cuz my mother was diagnosed with Celiac Disease years ago. We both have hypothyroid issues and are on Synthroid. When the results came in my Dr. said that my Transglutinase IgA was elevated at 27.3 (the labs reference was >15)., but my Transglutiminase IgG was in the normal range as well as were my Gliadin IgG and Gliadin IgA. That is all they tested me for. My primary physicnian (who ran the my blood) has now recommended I see a Gastro dr. I don't know how I maybe have Celiac, but I am assuming because it is in my fam they even checked in the first place. I am really confused especially because this is so relatively new. Hopefully we will all get the answer we seek and can begin to feel better. If anyone has any insights or suggestions please let me know, but for now Good Luck!

[guest134]

Open Original Shared Link

Elevations were shown in patients with "other digestive pathologies"

Open Original Shared Link

You have to become a member, but the first article

It is difficult to find very much on since it is so new and has not been looked into much. There have been other studies that really talk down its specificity, the only thing that has been confirmed is that it is more accurate than the previous gliadin.

[guest134]

First off, I hope you feel better and you get a clear answer. Do you have anyone in your fam with an autoimmine disease or with Celiac. The only reason I ask that is when I went to the dr and explained the symptoms I was having he ran a whole bunch of blood tests, one being a Celiac Disease Panel. He included the Celiac Panel cuz my mother was diagnosed with Celiac Disease years ago. We both have hypothyroid issues and are on Synthroid. When the results came in my Dr. said that my Transglutinase IgA was elevated at 27.3 (the labs reference was >15)., but my Transglutiminase IgG was in the normal range as well as were my Gliadin IgG and Gliadin IgA. That is all they tested me for. My primary physicnian (who ran the my blood) has now recommended I see a Gastro dr. I don't know how I maybe have Celiac, but I am assuming because it is in my fam they even checked in the first place. I am really confused especially because this is so relatively new. Hopefully we will all get the answer we seek and can begin to feel better. If anyone has any insights or suggestions please let me know, but for now Good Luck!

No autoimmune in my family, I have a large family and would be the first.

[MitziG]

Please keep us updated.

[guest134]

Please keep us updated.

Was called into the clinic yesterday, turns out my H Pylori test came back as inconclusive so they are retesting that now. If it is H Pylori than that would explain the antibody elevation, this shows that there is some inflammation going on though with all these weird test results. We ordered multiple tests to see if anything is going on autoimmune wise, here is what we took yesterday:

Endomysial Ab

Thyroglobulin Ab

ANA

Rheumatoid factor

C reactive protein

Sed rate

Liver antibodies

Kidney antibodies

Microsomal Ab

So if there is something going on, we are going to find it with all those tests. Definitely some inflammation happening in my intestines though, I guess salmonella is worse than I originally thought.

[guest134]

Hi everyone,

Well everything came back negative, except for H Pylori, that is a positive. We took vitamin levels and other things to check for disease, everything was in range.

Why do I have 2 negative EMA's? Went to two different clinics to rule out false negatives, both came back negative.

Everything else is back except for the kidney and liver ab's which will take another week, all the tests I mentioned in the previous post are negative. We are going to go ahead with the H. Pylori treatment and will see what happens after, my endoscopy is not going to be until April so we are going to do some checks on my TTG and Deamidated IgG to see what happens to them over time.

Eating bread energizes me and does not give me stomach pains, I actually have most pains in the morning before I eat and then I am good, I am very confused right now. Once again I had no stomach issues prior to salmonella. Perhaps the salmonella triggered the H Pylori bacteria that was sitting dormant and it is now creating stomach ulcers causing the rise in TTG? My grandfather had ulcers.

[GottaSki]

I don't think you are going to get any more information until your system has more time to heal from the salmonella infection/H Pylori treatment. Since gluten doesn't seem to bother you there is no problem continuing to eat it - in fact you should until you test for celiac again.

If your symptoms don't improve within the next few months, I'd suggest you have blood tests / possible endo in three or four months rather than waiting until April, but that's just my opinion. If your symptoms improve, waiting until April sounds like a good choice.

Good Luck!

[guest134]

I don't think you are going to get any more information until your system has more time to heal from the salmonella infection/H Pylori treatment. Since gluten doesn't seem to bother you there is no problem continuing to eat it - in fact you should until you test for celiac again.

If your symptoms don't improve within the next few months, I'd suggest you have blood tests / possible endo in three or four months rather than waiting until April, but that's just my opinion. If your symptoms improve, waiting until April sounds like a good choice.

Good Luck!

Thanks, unfortunately the beauty of living in Canada is that it takes like half a year to see any sort of specialist. I could have an appointment sooner with another GI but she claimed this guy is the best in the city for celiacs so I will wait. I think I am going to wait until my H Pylori treatment is done and then I am going to retest the TTG and deam igg.