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Allie asks: “My 2 year old son had bloods taken when he was 26 months old for celiac disease. We were notified that one of the tests came back positive but he has to have another blood test done in 6 months time to confirm whether or not he has this disease. Can you please tell me can bloods change like this? And is it necessary to redo the blood tests?”
I Reply: An excellent question. However, I need a bit more information to give you a full answer. Can you please send me the results and I can give you a better opinion. There are two sorts of antibody tests that can be done: 1 - the gluten antibodies (IgG-gliadin and IgA-gliadin) 2 - the tissues damage antibodies (tTG and EMA)
(see the blood test information on the webpage for much more details) Your son probably has a high IgG-gliadin result. That means that he is either gluten-sensitive, or that he might go on to develop coeliac disease in the future (if he keeps on eating gluten foods). You can get an idea if he is likely to develop coeliac disease in the future by checking his HLA type (DQ2/DQ8). It can take years for the blood tests to show up the tissue damage - during this time he might continue to have trouble some symptoms. The next step is to work out if he should go gluten-free. If he is unwell, then gluten free might help him a lot. Many people who are sick with gluten never get coeliac disease. They are know as "non-coeliac gluten-sensitivity" I hope that this helps - my books deal with all of these questions in more detail. Cheers, Dr Rodney Ford. |
