Questions about tests
 

Hi All,

I am usually in the TOS forum but wanted to ask a question. I just had some recent blood tests and the following came back and was wondering if anyone had some insight...

Elevated levels of ASCA IgA Elisa and ASCA IgG Elisa. It did say suggestive of Chron's disease but then the gastro doc said it's unlikely. also negative for celciac disease.

Also will trying a gluten free diet help lower these elevated levels above?

Just curious, the gastro doc was not very forthcoming in explaining any one this. If it's nothing then great, but just want to make sure.

Thanks for any insight, I sometimes read some posts over here and you all seem super smart :D

Sounds like you had some blood tests for Crohn's disease. I don't know much about it, but it's explained in this article by Dr. Scot Lewey:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Blood-Test...tion&id=332954

How did the doctor determine that you were negative for celiac disease? Did you have more tests than what you mentioned in your post?

If it's a possibility that you might have Crohn's disease, it might be worth it to try the gluten free diet and see how you feel.

Claire

Thanks so much Diamondheart. That article was very helpful and the website it directs you to is interesting. The lab they mentioned in the article, Prometheus is the name on the report I am looking at that the doc faxed to me late this afternoon.

It looks like they did do other tests that have very long names (but I think its a test for pANCA) and at the bootom it says serological markers for celiace disease not detected.

Get the rest of the results on Friday but so far the highlights were low thryroid, high insulin and bad cholesterol.

Time to seriously change my diet I guess.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

Hi Shelly,

The most commonly ordered tests for celiac disease are:
anti-tTG and/or anti-endomysial
total IgA (this rules out IgA deficiency, which would affect the other results)

I think Prometheus lab includes antigliadin antibodies on their panel, although it is falling out of favor because the newer tests above are more specific to celiac disease. However, some still believe that antigliadin antibodies are important...so, hopefully they were included!

I have read that some people with Crohn's do respond to a gluten free diet, and others to a yeast free diet. Yeast sensitivity is the more common in Crohn's.

There are some studies and information in the following links that might provide some useful info. You will see a few references to Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA).

IBS, IBD, Crohn's

Food Allergy & Leaky Gut Syndrome

Information on celiac disease diagnostics and much more can be found on other pages of The Gluten File....just scan down the right bar.

Hope this helps,

Cara

P.S. Those with autoimmune thyroid disease (looks like you might have it) have a higher risk of having celiac disease. In fact, some suspect the gluten sensitivity comes first, but goes unrecognized. There are some isolated reports of thyroid antibodies decreasing with a gluten free diet if begun soon enough.

Quote:

After 18 months on gluten-free diet, the anti-thyroid antibodies titre decreased significantly, and we could discontinue thyroid substitutive therapy. Unusual association of thyroiditis, Addison's disease, ovarian failure and celiac disease in a young woman. PMID: 10401714 Moreover, untreated patients with celiac disease have been found to have a higher than expected prevalence of organ-specific autoantibodies. In a prospective study of 90 patients with celiac disease, we found that the prevalence of diabetes and thyroid-related serum antibodies was 11.1% and 14.4%, respectively. Like antiendomysium autoantibodies, these organ-specific antibodies seem to be gluten-dependent and tend to disappear during a gluten-free diet. Gluten-dependent diabetes-related and thyroid-related autoantibodies in patients with celiac disease. PMID: 10931424 Duration of exposure to gluten and risk for autoimmune disorders in patients with celiac disease. SIGEP Study Group for Autoimmune Disorders in Celiac Disease.

More: http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com...thyroiddisease