Here are my blood results.

total IgA - 4.38 g/L (0.8-2.8 normal range)
Endomysium IgA - negative
IgA gliadin - 35U/mL (15-30U/ml equivocal range)
IgG gliadin - 13 U.mL (15-30U/ml equivocal range)
IgA t-Transglutaminase 22 U/ml (normal range 0-15U/ml)


Biopsy results only showed ' subjective patchy increase in intraepithelial lymphocytes'

I am waiting for an appointment with GI doc to discuss results. Before the biopsy he said he thought it would be negative with these blood results.

I am totally confused - I think he will say that these results don't indicate celiac because there is no villous atrophy etc... I am thinking he will tell me I have IBS. Am I in denial about this do you think or are these results as borderline as I think they are...

Any comments are greatly appreciated

Rebecca

My daughter had borderline results in bloodwork too, GI said: " Her results are as low as they can get and still be called positive - I am doing the biopsy to rule out celiac as a cause for her intestinal symptoms plus we can get a better idea of what might be going on." [rather than saying - we are doing this to confirm celiac]
Biopsy confirmed celiac - subtotal villous flattening with lymphocytic infiltration.
Lymphocytes are the white blood cell that responds to antigens - be it viral, bacterial or gluten causing an immune response.
I read somewhere that dairy can cause villous blunting as well (if the person is intolerant), but not to the same degree at gluten.
IBS is not a diagnosis - its an adjective to describe inflammed bowel when they dont know the cause /havent found the cause. Many so called "IBS" patients respond very well to gluten free.

We had reduced gluten to one piece of bread or a serving of cereal in the weeks prior to biopsy, Kathryn hated eating that gluten! Even before the results were known, Kathryn decided she never wanted "that evil gluten" again.

Sandy

It's possible that you've caught it before any real damage occured - or , damage can be patchy and maybe the biopsy sites missed it.

Something must have drove you to the docs in the first place symptom wise - so you've absolutely got nothing to lose by trying the gluten-free diet now you've had the biopsy

I believe this is recognized as a pre-celiac changes I think Dr. Lewey, and others, write about this. You might want to google it up.

Here's one: http://thefooddoc.com/intra-epithelial-lymphocytes.htm

thank you for your replies.

I shall wait and see what the GI says before making any decision on a gluten-free diet. I am reluctant to start without a definite diagnosis of celiac and these results are not convincing to me, though maybe others would think they are ?

If you decide to not go gluten free at this point, in my opinion you certainly should get another biopsy some time in the future (a year or two). I think it's very likely that you're in the early stages of intestinal damage, and the most sensible thing would be to go gluten free now before any more damage has a chance to happen, but if you don't want to do that, you should have a follow up biopsy later to see if the damage has progressed.

Pauliina

Those were positive blood tests results. How many biopsies were done? 7 to 9 would be the optimum number but many doctors only take 1 to 3. You have 22 ft of small intestines, early in the disease the damage can be patchy and if the right spot is not biopsied you will not get an accurate result. If you need a good reason to stay gluten-free without a strong positive take a look at my signature. I do not show up in blood work and this delayed my diagnosis by many years. Without a positive blood test they never even thought to do an endo. I will never fully recover my brain function, after 5 years gluten-free what I live with is permanent. And I would not wish it on anyone. We do things backwards so often, doctors wait until damage is severe rather than 'inconvience' someone with a diagnosis that can prevent many other disease from ever showing up.