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Tallforagirl

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Everything posted by Tallforagirl

  1. Happy birthday and may God bless you today!

  2. Thanks Mushroom! I'll look those up. Cookies sounds good - mmmm, coookiesss!
  3. Hello, I have been AWOL from the board for a while, and guess what, I am only back cause I need something Can anyone in the Auckland city area advise on availability of gluten free bread from grocery stores over there? I'll be in Auckland after Christmas and I'll be staying in a hotel. I'm thinking about taking a toaster with me so I can make toast...
  4. There can be other causes for villous atrophy, so do make sure your doctor rules out any other causes before diagnosing celiac disease. Since you don't have positive blood panel results it may not pay to jump to conclusions before checking out all possibilities. Other causes of villous atrophy include: "Cow
  5. There's an article on the main site that may help you shed some light: https://www.celiac.com/articles/57/1/Interp...ults/Page1.html Since it's not the tTG test that has come back positive, but the anti-gliadin (I'm assuming this is the IgG test you quoted), which is a less reliable test, I would be asking for an endoscopy to confirm the diagnosis and...
  6. Which tests did you have exactly? The anti-endomysial antibody test (EMA) is very specific for celiac disease, almost 100 per cent. The tTG (tissue transglutaminase) is the next most specific but can be false-positive if other autoimmune disease is present. Anti-gliadin tests are much less specific and are falling out of favour for diagnosis of celiac disease...
  7. Hi Scott, It does seem really overwhelming to start with, but I promise it gets easier and easier. As others have said, the best thing is to be prepared. I bring my lunch every day to work and nuke it in the microwave - I usually just make extra at dinner and bring leftovers. (Note: this does not work well with gluten-free rice pasta which is horrible the...
  8. You just learned an important lesson, which is when you're going out to eat gluten-free it's best to check beforehand that there are options available. Even things like chips can be a problem, because while they are gluten free they may be cooked in oil which is used for other items which aren't (breaded or battered foods), and this means they are likely...
  9. My younger sister was diagnosed with RA at around 25 years of age too, and because of that they screened for other autoimmune conditions including celiac disease, which she tested positive for. She says the gluten-free diet hasn't really helped with the RA, but I know in the past she has been less than strict with it. The good thing about YS being diagnosed...
  10. Mine was given as ">200" too (on the scale from the laboratory that did my test, anything over 20 was positive). I guess if it's that high, you don't need an exact number to know it's most definitely positive!
  11. I know where you're coming from. I must've looked at my blood test results and biopsy report 20 times and looked everywhere on the internet to try to find something that would tell me it's possible for both tests to be false-positive. It's only when I had the positive EMA blood test, which is as near 100 per cent accurate as you get, that it finally sunk...
  12. You may not need to know, but if you're not going to get tested I'd err on side of caution and get a full blood count and bone density test. Vitamin deficiencies and osteoperosis are very common amongst undiagnosed celiacs, but both treatable if caught early.
  13. If I was going to cheat it wouldn't be with junk food. I don't know about Fargo's Pizza or Sonic, but any time I've ever had KFC or BK I was left wondering why I bothered. It just tastes of salt, fat and sugar. If I were going to cheat it'd be brioche bread, danish pastries, baklava or a delicious croissant. For most if not all the food items you've mentioned...
  14. By deciding to go gluten-free without any testing you've made it more difficult for yourself. There is a lack of awareness of celiac disease, but don't think it helps when people fly under the radar and change their diet without getting tested first. If you are diagnosed they'll test you for vitamin deficiencies, other related autoimmune conditions...
  15. OK, I was going to stay out of this, but since it's already a runaway train... I believe that a topical reaction to gluten is seperate to an autoimmune response caused by ingestion of gluten. This supports that belief. I reckon I have Atopic Dermatitis, I don't reckon it's got any relation to ingestion or topical application of gluten. No-one...
  16. You can't rely on symptoms to diagnose celiac disease. Your test had little chance of being positive if you were already gluten-free or "gluten lite".
  17. It's possible you may still be able to get a skin biopsy from your DH if you have active lesions. If your skin biopsy is positive for DH then you are positive for celiac disease, you don't need a gut biopsy. Your doctor may be willing to diagnose on dietary response alone, or dietary response plus genetics (if you have the gene test).
  18. The blood tests can be less sensitive in young children. Your son is symptomatic, so I wouldn't take the negative tTG blood test as the final diagnosis. If you still want to try for a diagnosis you could ask that he be referred for a endoscopy/biopsy, or try to find a more sympathetic doctor who will dignose on basis of family history, the AGA test results...
  19. It does get easier, I promise. It takes time to get comfortable with it but you won't always feel like you do right now. Make sure you get a list or make notes from your dietician appointment regarding which ingredients are okay and which are not and what you need to look for on labelling. Some things you may be suprised to know are okay for most celiacs...
  20. You and your husband will both need time to get used to your new lifestyle. My BF took a while to get used to the idea when I was first diagnosed, because like you I was afraid of eating anything when I didn't know exactly the ingredients. I had no symptoms to speak of, so he couldn't get his head around the idea that one day I was happily eating platefuls...
  21. Depending on how long you've been gluten-free for, they may not be able to test for DH anyway, although I think the antibodies remain in your skin for much longer than they do in your blood. DH has a very specialised treatment, Dapsone, so I guess if you wanted to get that to relieve the itching you'd at least need to consult with a dermatologist. You...
  22. The anti-gliadin IGA test is more sensitive in terms of when you ingest gluten, it goes up more quickly, and down more quickly when you eliminate gluten. tTG levels can take a long time to go up or down. A repeat biopsy may also be in order to check for healing of villi.
  23. tTG levels may never get to zero, so I wouldn't be worrying that you're doing something wrong. The anti-gliadin IGA test is a better one for monitoring dietary compliance, since those levels increase quickly and decrease quickly with ingestion of gluten/compliance with gluten-free diet. The cancer risk is elevated in untreated celiac, to about 3 times...
  24. A year and a half seems a long time to not see any improvement. Are you certain you have eliminated all sources of gluten from your food-sources and medication? Having said that, tTG can take a long time to normalise, a year or more is not unusual. Anti-gliadin IGA is more reactive and will normalise more quickly with removal of gluten from the diet ...
  25. A large proportion of diagnosed Celiacs are asymptomatic, it doesn't mean that damage isn't still occurring. I guess a lot of the problems associated with celiac disease can be "silent" and you only know something's wrong when, say, you fall and break a bone due to Osteoperosis, or you develop more obvious symploms of another autoimmune disease like diabetes...
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