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Testing Accurate?

TammyTE

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TammyTE Apprentice
TammyTE
Posted

I asked this question on a site for kids with allergies but I am now understanding that celiac is not an allergy.(?) So I will post here to see if someone can help me. :) I have five children and have had two tesed for food allergies using the IgG/IgE antibody blood test. I'll bold the gluten part for you all here. I would like to know if this test could be at all accurate or if I should take my children elsewhere. Thanks so much!

~Tammy

My 2yo dd is my child that has the following symptoms:

peanuts/peanut butter - any part of her body that touches it gets red welts

beans - I'm pretty sure beans give her horrible diarrhea that makes her bottom bleed.

eggs - a bite of an egg gives hives all over her body, if she eats something with egg in it she gets eczema on her outer elbows and over her entire leg and also gets nasty poop that burns her bottom.

We were grain free for about 10 months and then started when she was a little over 1yo so she really only had some pasta and bread a few times before we went grain free. Since going back on grains her skin did get much worse but I attributed it eating things with egg in it. Her skin is beautiful now! Her poop is okay except for when we had chili. I have been thinking it was the beans that gave her trouble and her test does show high sensitivity to kidney beans but we also put pasta in our chili so maybe that's the problem.?

Those are all the things I have noticed. She had a blood test with a Nurse Practitioner that says she specializes in food allergies that a friend suggested. I am questioning the validity of the tests. It was an IgG/IgE Food Antibody Assessment. It shows she is allergic to egg whites on the IgE test but peanuts do not show as an allergy. They do show as a high sensitivity on the IgG part of the test.

There is a page in the paperwork that says "Celiac & Gluten Sensitivity". Here's exactly how it reads:

Biomarkers

Total IgA = 68 (Sufficient)

Anti-Tissue Transglutamanase IgA (tTG IgA) = <1.2 (Negative)

Anti-Deamidated Gliadin IgA (DGP IgA) = 2 (Negative)

Anti-Gliadin IgA (AGA IgA) = 3 (Negative)

Anti-Gliadin IgG (AGA IgG) = 34 (Strong Positive)

Interpretation: Patient results are consistent with Gluten Sensivitiy.

Then there is this chart at the bottom of the page that takes all the negatives and positives from above and you follow the flow through the chart. Since her tTG iGA and DGP IgA are both negative it says she is not celiac but because her AGA IgG/IgA is positive she has gluten sensitivity. They said because the number is such a "strong positive" I should treat her as if she was celiac. That because she is so young that it may not show up on the test but she really could be.

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Mperkins1224 Newbie
Mperkins1224
Posted

My battery is dying but, inreber in 06 when I was tested I was considered a gluten sensitive category.... I only felt better when I was 100% gluten-free now 6 almost 7 yrs later I'm going casein free as well. It can't do any harm but make her feel better, it's extremely hard at first but I promise is gets better. I'd look into getting everyone tested... It's generally healthier yet expensive. Happy new year!

nvsmom Community Regular
nvsmom
Posted

I would say, based on her AGA IgG, that she is a celiac and does not just have a gluten sensitivity. That means that she has an autoimmune disease, which she will not grow out of, which causes her body to attack her small intestine when gluten is eaten (it acts like a a trigger). If she does not eat gluten, her body will not produce the autoantibodies that damage her upper small intestine.

Many small children will not have a positive test even if they have celiac because they do not have enough damage being done yet to produce a positive test (or so the theory goes). That she had a positive test at age two is unusual, and could be an indicator that she has had celiac since babyhood. :(

It's wonderful that you've found this so early on so you can remove the gluten and prevent damaging inflammation and possibly prevent or slow the development of other autoimmune diseases or health problems. Celiac disease can cause horrible rashes on some people (Dermatitis Herpetiformis or dh for short). It is frequently mistaken for eczema; hopefully it will resolve for your daughter on a gluten-free diet.

celiac disease is genetically linked, so you might want to have all of of your kids tested (and you and your spouse), and even have a gluten-free trial of a few months. My 3 boys tested negative for celiac but we made them gluten-free anyways. Two of my boys have shown real health improvements on the gluten-free diet so we're keeping the whole family gluten-free... Wheat is so genetically modified from what our great grandparents were eating, that I think it's for the best to get it out of their diet regardless.

Best wishes to you and you daughter. I hope she is symptom free very soon. :)

TammyTE Apprentice
TammyTE
Posted
  • Author

I would say, based on her AGA IgG, that she is a celiac and does not just have a gluten sensitivity. That means that she has an autoimmune disease, which she will not grow out of, which causes her body to attack her small intestine when gluten is eaten (it acts like a a trigger). If she does not eat gluten, her body will not produce the autoantibodies that damage her upper small intestine.

Many small children will not have a positive test even if they have celiac because they do not have enough damage being done yet to produce a positive test (or so the theory goes). That she had a positive test at age two is unusual, and could be an indicator that she has had celiac since babyhood. :(

It's wonderful that you've found this so early on so you can remove the gluten and prevent damaging inflammation and possibly prevent or slow the development of other autoimmune diseases or health problems. Celiac disease can cause horrible rashes on some people (Dermatitis Herpetiformis or dh for short). It is frequently mistaken for eczema; hopefully it will resolve for your daughter on a gluten-free diet.

celiac disease is genetically linked, so you might want to have all of of your kids tested (and you and your spouse), and even have a gluten-free trial of a few months. My 3 boys tested negative for celiac but we made them gluten-free anyways. Two of my boys have shown real health improvements on the gluten-free diet so we're keeping the whole family gluten-free... Wheat is so genetically modified from what our great grandparents were eating, that I think it's for the best to get it out of their diet regardless.

Best wishes to you and you daughter. I hope she is symptom free very soon. :)

Thank you both!

We were grain free for about 10 months and I saw great results with others in the family. We weren't really watching for cross contamination but probably didn't get much with the whole foods diet we were following. So I am used to this type of meal plan. I just got burnt out and was unsure if I was doing the right thing for my family. Lots of naysayers in my extended family saying I'm the crazy mom that doesn't give her kids fun foods. That's one of the reasons I had the test done. The other reason was that she was reacting to eggs and peanuts and she still doesn't talk much. I wasn't sure if I would know if anything was majorly wrong with her.

I have an appt with a pediatric GI doctor in a couple weeks for her and my son. My other kids will be tested soon! :)

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