Blood work- can you help me make sense of this?

[samden]

Hello, 

I was recently shocked by my bloodwork results and I don't really know where to start!  I am meeting with my rheumatologist next week but it took me 6 months to get my initial appointment.  I am feeling awful and am worried about needing to wait months and months to get a diagnosis. 

My celiac panel results are: 

Deamidated Gliadin Abs IGA - 39 (positive)

Deamidated Gliadin ABS IGG- 13 (negative)

TTG IGA- 12 (high)

TTG IGG- 12 (high)

My symptoms include joint pain, headaches, diarrhea, mouth sores, depression, anxiety.    What are the chances I have Celiac?  Is it basically a done deal or do people just sometimes have these positive markers?

[trents]

samden, welcome to the forum!

There are some other medical conditions that can cause elevated tTG counts but by far the most likely cause is celiac disease. The centerpiece of the celiac blood panel is the tTG-IgA which has both good specificity and good sensitivity. And yours is high. Do you have access to the reference ranges for negative vs. positive? The raw number you gave is not very useful without something to compare it to. Your symptoms are certainly those found in the celiac community and most of them are likely related to the vitamin and mineral deficiencies that go along with celiac disease. Celiac disease damages the villi that line the duodenum where all of our nutrition is absorbed.

If your doctor is planning further testing you need to keep eating regular amounts of gluten or else you will invalidate the testing.