Hello This Is Mt First Post.
 

Hi I am new here and I thought I would post my introduction here instead of the official page. I found that one slightly confusing. I am a 66 year old Australian woman and I have had various inflammatory diseases occuring throughout my life.

In an attempt to solve the problem I visited a Functional Health doctor in 2000. She did a heap of bloodwork and one test IgA came back as positive, but she dismissed it as she said that the other one IgG was negative and that the it needed the pair of them to be positive. I did not realise the importance of this until quite recently and did not question her about it's meaning.

Over a course of years I have had a variety of symptoms that suggest CD. These include consistent anemia, that continues to today, graves disease, migraines, vertigo, osteoporosis, small skin lesions and lifelong asthma. My intestinal woes consist of pain, bloating, burping, and constipation. I also have various allergies and I am lactose intolerant. I have noticed that only 20 minutes after ingesting any gluten products I bloat immediately.

Since going on a gluten free diet all intestinal problems have disappeared, that is until I eat something with hidden gluten, then I start bloating and burping again. I also have noticed that panic attacks are more common then.
I follow a strict vegan diet and take added iron and vitB12. I have not had a biopsy and I would prefer not to have this *** it involves a general anesthetic and with asthma that is not advisable.

Anyway I am glad to have found this forum. Two years ago I was diagnosed with Regional Sympathetic Dystrophy, but after 18 months of treatment, this seems to have resolved, thankfully.

Jocelyn

Hi Jocelyn,

Welcome to NT! Great to have you.

Glad to hear your RSD has resolved. And it sounds like you have your CD under control.

There is a great group of people here. Take a spin around.

Look forward to seeing you. :hug:

Hi~

I am somewhat curious about the exact blood work that you had done, and what specific antibodies they looked for, but the bottom line is that many people have completely negative blood work, yet they improve significantly on a gluten free diet.

I'm so glad you decided to take the plunge and give a gluten free diet a chance to speak to you. In the end, it may be the best test of all for some people.

Your list of symptoms over the years certainly does sound like gluten sensitivity may be an underlying problem.

Cara

Hi,

Cara is right. I tested negative for CD and psoitive for IBD. Either way, gluten free has helped me immensely. And the stickey's at the top of the gluten forum are fantastic!

Best of luck:hug:

Shelley my RSD resolved because it was caught early and that I worked hard in the hydrotheraphy pool for a full year. Unfortunately my daughter has RSD too and she is confined to a wheelchair because of the severity of the disease. She was diagnosed later than I was.

Jocelyn

I see that I am still termed a visitor. Why is that?

Jocelyn

Woo hoo! There are so few of us around the gf boards. ;) My family has been eating a vegan diet (except for occasional honey) for nearly 8 years, and we've been gf for 2 1/2 (ish) years. Welcome aboard! :)

Thank you Jamie two. Nice to meet you as well. I am finding a lot of GF foods are vegan.

Jocelyn

This is utter nonsense, that you also need a positive IgG version of the test. It does not say so anywhere on the entire Internet. She made it up.

I did not have any sedation during endoscopy, and only heard about a few others who got any, the rest were done without here in this country. They do that if you gag too much so it is impossible to perform the procedure. It only takes some minutes anyway.

nora

Northern lights I am from Australia and my sister has just had a endoscopy and a colonoscopy and both required GA. I was surprised as I have had other test done that required me to have a tube inserted into my stomach. It was fast and did not affect me too much at all.

I think the differencece is how far they go, I think if they just check the duodenum and the very beginning of the jejunum, it taks only a few minutes and one does not need any sedation.

I will have another endoscopy in three weeks' time and this will be like that again. The doctor has an office in a builiding without anesthesia etc anyways.

I have also seen a colonoscopy, and the patient was wide awake and talking to the doctor. He went a bit up (actually some meters, because I saw how much of the tube was left, ther was not much left....) and one could see the intestines on the tv. (all was fine, and they took samples just to be sure. Snipped away some polyps. Patient had some olyps removed some time ago)....

nora

To Jocelyn...as I am..
 

....still in the early stages of exploring CD and gluten sensitivity I am NO expert....however this is one paper I read last night....and remember that this is a 2001 paper so it was published just after you had your 2000 testing done.

From the journal 'Australian Prescriber' Vol 24, No 2, 2001 in an article by Assoc Prof Warwick Selby, Senior Gastroenterologist RPA and U of Sydney he writes:

" The two most commonly used investigations, test for antigliadin antibody (AGA) and endomysial antibody (EMA). These are IgA antibodies. Testing for IgG antibodies is of little value since the sensitivity and specificity are only approximately 50%. More specific tests for antibody to tTG (tissue Transglutaminase) have also been developed and are likely to replace other tests when they become more widely available.

.........80-90% of people with IgA AGA will have coeliac disease; the other 10- 20% have a false positive and a normal small bowel biopsy. Some will have other gastrointestinal disorders, such as Crohn's disease.

Endomysial and tTG antibodies have the greatest sensitivity and specificity for coeliac disease. IgA EMA is found in 95-100% of patients........

There is a need for a Biospy. Antibody testing alone is still not recommended for the diagnosis of CD even though the combination of IgA AGA and EMA/tTG antibody will detect most patients.......

Moreover, if a patient starts a gluten-free diet without having a biopsy the diagnosis may subsequently be very difficult to confirm if there is any doubt. Finally, biopsy confirms the diagnosis for each patient and aids in ensuring the compliance that is required to avoid the nutritional consequences and the risk of malignancy".

I realise that this article is now six years old and there may be some diagnostic changes but I think it belies what your doctor said in 2000 regarding IgG.

Can you ask for the IgA AGA and EMA/tTG antibody tests to be done/repeated?