anyone understand blood test #'s????

Heather · Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: upstate NY

Two Dr's in the same practice(general pediatricians) disagree over my seven year olds ab work. 1st Dr called and said "your daughter has celiac disease" went to see regular Dr today and he looked at blood work and said he didn't believe she does. he is agreeing to retest her blood and send it to the Mayo clinic because he said sometimes the original lab's #'s sometimes run slightly low. He will then discuss those results again with me. He thinks her symptoms seem upper GI related and seem to point to lactose intolerance. I have a copy of the lab #'s. He tried to explain it to me but I am at a loss. I thought it made sense to me at the time but when I look at the #'s now it seems off to me.

Gliadin Ab- IgA 19.8
Gliadin Ab-IgG 57.8
TissueTransglutaminase(Endomysial)IgA Ab 1.3
Can anyone make sense of this? The wait is going to kill me.
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Heather-Mom to Hannah(7)Down syndrome, heart repair and newly diagnosed celiac disease and Logan(3)

jim · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 167 Location: Duluth, Minnesota

All I rememeber about the blood test I had was 0-30 was normal and higher then that indicated celiac disease. Mine was 90. I Can't remember the test name off hand. Someone will know or I'll look it up for you.

Sorry not more helpful,

Jim
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aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8795 Location: WI, USA

Heather · Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: upstate NY

Gliadin Ab- IgA 19.8
Gliadin Ab-IgG 57.8
TissueTransglutaminase(Endomysial)IgA Ab 1.3

The reference part says:
REFERENCE INTERVAL: Gliadin Ab-IgA:
25.0 EU or less......negative
25.1-29.9 EU..........equivical
30.0 EU or greater.....positive

Dr said he was't so concerned about the Gliadin Ab-IgG 57.8 # which was the only high reading- he said the truer indicator was the last # the 1.3 one. I hope he knows what he is talking about. I really do trust him but now I am so confused.
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Heather-Mom to Hannah(7)Down syndrome, heart repair and newly diagnosed celiac disease and Logan(3)

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8795 Location: WI, USA

Yeah, I thought the IgG was high.

Again, the IgA might be skewed if they don't run a Total IgA on her. I must say I don't know what the numbers would look like if she WAS IgA defic. But I think it's worth asking tho.

With the EMA tests...I have seen that this can be dependent on the amount of damage that has occurred. If there's little damage, it might not show up on the blood work. Maybe you are catching this early on and the damage [if there is any], could be light.

I wish you well. Please keep us updated.

Again - if you get no where with testing - keep the GF diet in mind to try.
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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

jayhawkmom · Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 851 Location: Midwest, USA

The lab we went through had normal reference ranges (less than 11) for most tests. However the EMA was either a positive or a negative....there was no number associated with the result. Which I thought was kind of weird. (And, we both had normal Total Syrum IgA's)

In any event, my daughter and I both had over the top IgGAb's - and high normal everything else. She had a questionable endoscopy (inflammation and ulcers in the duodenum, but no apparent villi damage) and mine was normal. We are both on a GF diet, and both doing really well! =)

Good luck getting your results interpreted correctly!! With this disease, it seems it all depends on who you talk to.

Heather · Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 8 Location: upstate NY

Thanks everyone, Hannah spent three days gleutin free so now they say we need her back on gleutin for at least two weeks so they can get an accurate retest. So I am anxious to see if there is a difference back on it.I do have to say that her diarreah cleared up with no dairy about two weeks BEFORE we tested for celiac. So I guess in the meantime I will continue to hang around and read all I can so I can be prepared better for the possibility that she does get the diagnosis eventually. Thank you all!
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Heather-Mom to Hannah(7)Down syndrome, heart repair and newly diagnosed celiac disease and Logan(3)

Noatak · Joined: 13 Nov 2005 Posts: 494 Location: Massachusetts

Kris.....The reason for the positive/negative result vs. a number rating on the EMA test is because Celiac disease is the only disease that will trip this test.
If the antibody is present in the blood, the odds it is CD are something like 99.9%. I read that in medical literature so the source was good. Mine was positive, along with high numbers on all other tests. I think the reason this is one of the more valued, accurate tests is because it helps to distinguish between CD and gluten sensitivity. You may test negative for it but it doesn't mean you don't have a problem with gluten....as you yourself well know!

Heather....you mention on your postings that your daughter has Down's Syndrome? Some of the articles I have looked at on CD mention a link between CD and Down's. Not sure if the present state of medicine recognizes or even is aware of this but it has been mentioned and certainly is something to note. Good luck with everything and keep her on the diet....she'll do well on it!

Purrsnikitty · Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 228 Location: Parrish, Florida

I had an interesting conversation this weekend. Some of you may remember that I posted a couple of times before we went on vacation in May about how we were staying with some friends in Tennessee and how they were going above and beyond to make the time as safe as possible for me.

Well, this weekend, we saw our friends again for a birthday party and he asked me if my celiac disease was contagious (mostly joking). I told him no, it's genetic. He then told me that he had been having a host of curious digestive upsets, reflux, etc. and my experience convinced him to "mostly" eliminate wheat from his diet. Amazingly, he began to feel much better. I told him "mostly" ain't good enough and that I would send him the panel of tests to ask his doctor for. I also warned him that he would have to eat the stuff for a while so the tests would be accurate - yuk.

I know that list has been posted here somewhere, but can't find it. Al, would you mind bumping it up? Many thanks.
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"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8795 Location: WI, USA

Purrsnikitty · Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 228 Location: Parrish, Florida

Yup, that's it - thanks, Al.

I'll send it along and we'll pray for the best.
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"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18