Igg And Iga

[Kairyn]

Hello guys,

I am 17 years old and for the past year and a half, I've been on a gluten-free diet. I hadn't actually been tested before, my mom just wanted me to try the diet to see if I felt better because since I was 13 I always felt sick, and bloated immediately after eating bread, and when I was younger I had terrible headaches and blah blah blah. Recently, I asked my doctor if I should be tested, he said sure if I really thought I was, he'd order a blood tests(I was on a gluten free diet at this time however, and I asked my doctor if I should start eating gluten rich foods before the test... he said no), I got the test results back and both my IgG and IgA test results are below the normal range. Does this mean I am celiac, or not?

*Additional info: I am slightly Anemic, and I am very sensitive to milk, ice cream, and yogurt... but not cheese.

[MitziG]

Your doctor is incorrect. In order to be tested you need to be eating gluten regularly, for several months.

The blood tests look for IGA and IGG antibodies being made in response to gluten. If you aren't eating gluten, your body does not make antibodies.

Many doctors are not very knowledgeable about how to properly test for celiac. If you really need to know if you are celiac, you must begin eating gluten now, and continue for several months. Even then you may get a negative response as celiac doesn't always show up in tests. Gluten intolerance cannot be tested for at all.

If you feel bad when you eat gluten, you really have your answer. My advice would be to simply call yourself celiac and be done with it.

[mushroom]

Hi Kairyn, and welcome.

Your doctor is wrong, if you had not been eating gluten there is a very slim chance that your tests would be positive for celiac. It is normally recommended that you be eating gluten for at least six weeks before testing. So your test results do not tell you whether or not you have celiac disease. To get a proper test you would have to go back on gluten.

I am assuming since you did not mention current symptoms that the gluten free diet has taken care of your symptoms If this is the case your are at least non-celiac intolerant, if not celiac. If there is some overriding reason why you need a diagnosis (e.g., you have to pay for a meal plan in college) you would need to follow through with testing. Otherwise, it is up to you whether you can live without a proper diagnosis. Many of us on here have no diagnosis because we could not tolerate eating gluten for six weeks in order to be tested.

It is interesting that you are still intolerant of lactose containing dairy. If you have been really strict with your diet your small intestine should have healed by now and you should once again be making the lactase enzyme to digest those products. This might indicate that you still have intestinal damage and that perhaps a biopsy would be able to diagnose whether or not you have celiac disease. It is something to talk to your doctor about. Celiac damages the villi in the small intestine, and lactase is produced at the tips of the villi. Most celiacs have problems with lactose until they are sufficiently healed.

One thing we have all learned is that in order to heal we have to eliminate ALL gluten.

[GottaSki]

Welcome Kairyn!

Your doctor was incorrect. The blood tests measure the antibodies produced in reaction to gluten ingestion. There is no way you would have antibodies to be measured at a year and half gluten-free.

Do you feel better since you removed gluten?

Are you sure you have removed all gluten?

Do you have reactions to small amounts of accidental glutening?

Some doctors will diagnose Celiac Disease based on symptom improvement alone - others require you complete a gluten challenge for testing. The major celiac centers all say a challenge must be at least six weeks - University of Chicago suggests three months.

If you want to go forward to obtain a diagnosis I'd contact a local Celiac Support group to ask for a referral to a gastroenterologist that specializes in Celiac Disease.

It is also important to understand there is something called Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance that there are no medical tests for. The only test is strict elimination of gluten. Those with NCGI can have severe symptoms that are very similar to Celiac.

Good Luck to you!