Celiac Test Results Confusing

[JESS93]

I had a celiac blood panel done and lab results back today but they are confusing.

 

My test results read:

Tissue Transglutaminase Ab IgA: >100 

IgA: 279

 

There are no units and no range, can anything even be deciphered from that? I'm not able to talk to my doctor about it until the 25th.

[trents]

  On 8/14/2020 at 11:36 PM, JESS93 said:

I had a celiac blood panel done and lab results back today but they are confusing.

 

My test results read:

Tissue Transglutaminase Ab IgA: >100 

IgA: 279

 

There are no units and no range, can anything even be deciphered from that? I'm not able to talk to my doctor about it until the 25th.

Expand Quote  

https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/Clinical+and+Interpretive/82587

>10.0 U/mL (positive)

 

https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/Clinical+and+Interpretive/8156

IgA normal values vary with age.

IgA

0-<5 months: 7-37 mg/dL

5-<9 months: 16-50 mg/dL

9-<15 months: 27-66 mg/dL

15-<24 months: 36-79 mg/dL

2-<4 years: 27-246 mg/dL

4-<7 years: 29-256 mg/dL

7-<10 years: 34-274 mg/dL

10-<13 years: 42-295 mg/dL

13-<16 years: 52-319 mg/dL

16-<18 years: 60-337 mg/dL

> or =18 years: 61-356 mg/dL

 

So it looks like the first one is positive for Celiac disease in your case and the second is not.

Edited August 15, 2020 by trents

[RMJ]

The IgA is normal, but that is total IgA, not IgA related to celiac disease.  It is measured to ensure that the results for the TTG IgA are relevant.

Each manufacturer has their own normal range for TTG IgA, so the Mayo Clinic range may not be the same as the range for your lab.  Unfortunately if your results have no normal range you’ll have to wait and hear from your doctor.  However, I must say I’ve never seen a >100 that was considered normal for TTG, so it is very likely that it is a positive for celiac result.

[Scott Adams]

Here is more info in the blood tests:

https://www.celiac.com/celiac-disease/how-accurate-are-celiac-disease-blood-antibody-tests-r32/

[Celiac/Disease]

Hello,

I've been really worried for the past two months due to my Dr finding some liver functions per my blood tests showing up odd. Now how odd and in what way I do not know, he asks me several questions like am I a heavy drinker and do you drink alcohol at all and when I told him know he looked really confused. He said admitting he doesn't know what is going on with my liver but took me off of my Crestor. So it's been a total of three months now and I do not go back to see him until next month but I need to get in and have another blood test before I go see him, which will make the third blood test. I seen your article, although I did read through it I ended up being more confused than ever. I have been on a gluten free diet for several years now, although I have been glutened a couple of times by going out to eat which considering the amount of years I've eaten at home and staying strictly gluten free I wouldn't think  I would have destroyed what I had done by staying gluten free diet.

Is there away of explaining to me maybe a little differently if possible what does Celiac Disease have to do with liver functions?

Sincerely,

Sharon Touart-Crim

[trents]

We're not entirely sure why Celiac Disease can cause elevated liver enzymes. Most think it has something to do with the "leaky gut" that Celiacs have allowing abnormally large protein fragments to get into the blood stream which then have to be processed by the liver. There is also some evidence that gluten itself can be toxic to the liver for some individuals. The elevated liver enzymes detected by the blood test indicate that in some way the liver is being stressed and inflamed. If there is not too much damage the liver should heal after going gluten-free. This is my story.

An occasional episode of being glutened should not prove much danger to the liver but if it was close to the time of the blood test, the liver enzymes might be elevated.

About 18% of Celiacs will have elevated liver enzymes prior to diagnosis and beginning to eat gluten-free. For most of them, the elevated liver enzymes will return to normal once they have been gluten-free for a few months. However, if this was going on for a long time previous to diagnosis there is the possibility of more permanent damage.

Other diseases of the liver that have nothing to do with Celiac Disease will also cause elevated liver enzymes, e.g. hepatitis and fatty liver disease. And statins like Crestor can also stress the liver. Overdosing on Tylenol can damage the liver.

[knitty kitty]

Sharon,

The same thing happened to me.  My doctor accused me of lying about drinking, but I do not drink alcohol. I have never been able to tolerate it.

It turned out to be Thiamine Deficiency! 

Alcohol consumption can cause thiamine deficiency because alcohol inhibits thiamine absorption in the intestines.  Abnormal liver enzymes occurs in alcoholism.

That's why your doctor asked if you drink.  But he's got the cart before the horse.  A thiamine deficiency will cause abnormal liver enzymes similar to those in alcoholism.

You've got Celiac Disease which causes malabsorption which results in vitamin deficiencies.  The Gluten free diet is deficient or low in certain vitamins and minerals.  The longer you're on the gluten free diet, the more likely you can develop nutritional deficiencies.

Thiamine is a water soluble B vitamin (B 1 in the group of eight essential B vitamins).  Thiamine is needed by every cell in your body to provide energy and enzymes used in body functions.

You can have a chronic low level of thiamine that worsens over time.  As time goes on and your thiamine level gets lower, your body can't function as well and health problems begin to manifest.

Your body doesn't store Thiamine for very long.  You can use up your thiamine stores in as little as nine days to two weeks.  You need more thiamine when under stress, both physical stress like when you're ill and emotional stress, if you are physically active, live in hot climate, have a desk job that requires lots of thinking (your brain needs energy from thiamine to think), and when you eat a lot of carbohydrates.  

High dose thiamine (300 mg thiamine a day) is needed to replenish your thiamine.  Refer your doctor to the book by Dr. Derrick Lonsdale and Dr. Chandler Marrs entitled "Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dyautonomia and High Calorie Malnutrition".  You can read more about the effects of thiamine deficiency on Dr. Marrs' website www.hormonesmatter.com.

Here's an article on nutrient deficiencies in Celiac Disease on a gluten free diet...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6681258/

Here's an article about liver enzymes in alcoholism which explains how thiamine works...

https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/44/2/177/185522

If you've been eating a lot of carbohydrates, you can become low in thiamine because so much thiamine is needed to convert those carbohydrates into energy.  Gluten free versions of cookies and processed snacks are not required to be enriched with vitamins lost in processing like the gluten containing ones are.  

Your doctor needs to think outside the box.  Thiamine deficiency does not only occur in alcoholism.  The deficiency can occur in Celiac Disease.  I know.  I lived through it.  

Please have your doctor test for thiamine deficiency using the erythrocyte transketolase test.  

Keep us updated on your progress.

Hope this helps!

 

 

  On 8/22/2020 at 2:06 AM, Celiac/Disease said:

Hello,

I've been really worried for the past two months due to my Dr finding some liver functions per my blood tests showing up odd. Now how odd and in what way I do not know, he asks me several questions like am I a heavy drinker and do you drink alcohol at all and when I told him know he looked really confused. He said admitting he doesn't know what is going on with my liver but took me off of my Crestor. So it's been a total of three months now and I do not go back to see him until next month but I need to get in and have another blood test before I go see him, which will make the third blood test. I seen your article, although I did read through it I ended up being more confused than ever. I have been on a gluten free diet for several years now, although I have been glutened a couple of times by going out to eat which considering the amount of years I've eaten at home and staying strictly gluten free I wouldn't think  I would have destroyed what I had done by staying gluten free diet.

Is there away of explaining to me maybe a little differently if possible what does Celiac Disease have to do with liver functions?

Sincerely,

Sharon Touart-Crim

Expand Quote