Elevated IGA from Celiac Disease Test. I do not have Celiac Disease…

[Astrongtower]

Hello Everyone,

I have a curious question. What essentially is Elevated IGA? I have look all around google and there is not much information on it.

Let me tell you my story…

I went to an Endocrinologist to check on my testosterone because I am 33. I told him I was feeling okay maybe not the best so he did complete blood work on me. I did tell him that my Father was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease so he went ahead and ran that as well.

Long story short … the endocrinologist said that everything was perfect on me except that my IGA was elevated. His nurse at first gave me a call and said that this is probably no big deal and he just wants me to see a specialist. I was not understanding her so she just had the Doctor call me. He said that he had no idea what this mean and that “I would just not ignore it” kind of hinting that this could be a big deal.

So then he refers me to a hematologist. I am like sure okay, and then I call the office and it is like, hello thanks for calling the Cancer Center … I was like what??? I have cancer now?

Well I see the Hematologist and he gives me this look like I am crazy and why am I even here. He is literally baffled and acting shocked because he is wondering why this test was even ran on me. Well he says give me a minute and goes back into his office just to check the latest research in their system on elevated IGA and he said there is nothing on it. He presumes to say that I am healthy as a boar. He said that he is going to send my blood work out again to see if he can duplicate it and check for other stuff to because I was complaining about joint pain but insinuated that everything is going to come normal.

So then the next day I went to my Primary Doctor and he did a blood test on me little under a year ago also test for Celiac Disease. I did not have those results but I got them today. They showed that I had elevated IGA and he didn’t even bother telling me about it. He was like it didn’t excite me; I guess meaning no big deal. He said IGA is such a basic protein to the system that it is just not that important. Only when levels are low is when people start getting concerned. His blood test just like the last blood test came back perfectly fine, literally everything else, the last blood work was like 1500 bucks, they must have had a field day checking on that IGA levels or something.

I guess the Endocrinologist was wondering how someone would have elevated IGA and not have Celiac. He did confess that he had no idea what this meant and wanted me to see a specialist. It is just the way he told me that it sounded important and that he scared me a little bit. Also the fact that when you call the Hematologist they answer the phone Cancer line how may I help you…

Anxiety. I think I really have anxiety I think. My doctor just prescribed me Lexapro. I have been acting such like a Hypochondriac and have been having multiple high level stressors in my life like going back to college, moving, marriage, in-laws, and not working.

I could have sworn I read somewhere that high IGA could be caused by Anxiety and or allergies to which I have both to where I am living at the moment. I have a lot of anxiety and there are dogs and cats where I live and when I touch one I break out in hives. Also my skin seems to be a lot more sensitive than it used to be like when I work out at the gym and sometimes I will get marks on where I press too hard on stuff. Like one time I was bent pressing and got a couple of bruises on my back that went away, and recently I just did calves raises and had some heavy weight on my shoulders have very slight red line bruise so small doesn’t seem like a big deal but just doesn’t seem like this use to ever happen before.

My Doctor says that I cannot lower my IGA. What if my IGA gets to like 5000 or something? My Doctor did have a very good point. He said blood test values are like a bell curve and that sometimes there can be outliers. I am currently in school and taking statistics so this makes perfect sense to me. He said that your body is just different in this area and this what makes you, you. If it was something low or critical we would take action.

I guess what he is saying is that this outlier is a non-essential concern.

Here are my results below…

Results 05/2013

Solstats

Result Range

IgA = 682 68-379

tTG IgA = 8.3 <20
tTG IgG = 6.5 <20
Endomysial = Negative

Results 04/2014

LabCorp

Result Range

IgA = 710 91-414

tTG IgA = 0-3 <2
tTG IgG = 0-5 <2
Endomysial = Negative

Questions:

What is IGA?

What does it mean to have High Levels of IGA?

What is the worst case scenario of High Levels of IGA?

How do I lower my IGA?

Is this a precursor of Cancer or anything like that? Or is this simply an outlier like the Doctor says and is absolutely nothing to worry about?

Help:

My main point is that I am going to my follow up visit in a week to the Hematologist and I know what is going to happen. He is going to say everything is absolutely fine. We ran a ton of blood work, not sure why that test was done, but have a nice day. And give me a look of why am I even here.

I do not want to leave still not knowing exactly what this is, and that is why I posted this topic here. I was hoping someone out there could elaborate on this so I can know that this is not a big deal. Is there anything I can do? Should I be watching out for anything? You know. So please if you can help me out and sooth my Anxiety that would be great. Thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful day.

Thank You!

[kurtis1990]

Hi there welcome to the site. Firstly all your questions can not be answered here as we are not medical professonals. Those numbers make no sense to me. I'm sure if there was anything that needed treatment your doctor would be working on it

[Serenity1990]

Hello from a fellow statistician!

Following from what your doctor was saying about a bell curve, using stats look at it that way. Say we take everyone's test scores, and normalise the mean to zero. If we treat the mean as an expected value, that value has a massive standard deviation. As such you end up with a normal range within that normal distribution, which could be calculated using the T-Distribution. Now you have the statistical distribution of what's normal, and your own test result, you can use ANOVA tables to find whether your test result is statistically significantly different to the normal range, i.e. ask the question "is the two-tailed t-stat >1.96?" And the answer will be no. Normal has such a huge variance that even outside the "normal range" you're still not statistically different from normal.

In human terms, neither you or I are qualified to evaluate medical test results. That's what we pay doctors for, and the doctors say you're absolutely fine.

As to your referral, you're from the US and there is quite a suing culture over there, so even if a doctor thinks someone's fine he might refer anyone with a test result outside of normal ranges to a specialist just so in the unlikely event he is wrong it's not his responsibility. The specialist said you're absolutely fine too. Also don't forget healthcare is privately provided in the US as well so it may well be in the company's interest to run superfluous tests and make needless referrals.

You have my every sympathy for your shock at calling the specialist to find it was a cancer specialist, I'm guessing this is what kicked off your anxiety. I was genuinely ill to begin with on my journey, it was only doctors mentioning they needed to "rule out" strokes, brain tumours and other things that really ****ed my head up. My only advice is stop trying to evaluate information you don't have the necessary prerequisites to evaluate. Would you trust a hairdresser with a laptop with your investment decisions? Would you trust a doctor with google to represent you in court? No? Then don't trust a statistician with google to professionally evaluate your health, just because that statistician is you.

[Vigilante]

Now this I am VERY interested in, I tested high for serum igA level too, this was after testing high for Vitamin B12 on 3 different blood tests without supplementation..

I also saw a Hematologist about these readings because as I am sure you have read one immunoglobin being high might indicate multiple myeloma....however that is a fake high caused by paraprotein, I got informed that that was also tested with the other immunoglobins shortly after and was fine.

The hematologist found nothing wrong with me by the way, felt my nodes, spleen and tapped my whole body lol then ran lots of blood testing but all was clear and fine and I was discharged.

I also like you had a celiac panel done, but that was negative just the iga alone high.

[Lilharry]

Have you tried going gluten free? There is a lot of research going on at the moment into gluten intolerance as opposed to celiac and you could fit that catergory. The only way to know would be to cut out gluten for a few months and see how you feel. Going gluten free has helped me a lot in terms of pain and anxiety, and digestion of course.

[Florance]

I was tested for celiac disease but my test was negative, but I tried gluten free diet anyway and it made a huge difference to how I felt

[Astrongtower]

Hi there welcome to the site. Firstly all your questions can not be answered here as we are not medical professonals. Those numbers make no sense to me. I'm sure if there was anything that needed treatment your doctor would be working on it

Thank you for at least reading my thread and replying. I will check with my Doctors.

Hello from a fellow statistician!

Following from what your doctor was saying about a bell curve, using stats look at it that way. Say we take everyone's test scores, and normalise the mean to zero. If we treat the mean as an expected value, that value has a massive standard deviation. As such you end up with a normal range within that normal distribution, which could be calculated using the T-Distribution. Now you have the statistical distribution of what's normal, and your own test result, you can use ANOVA tables to find whether your test result is statistically significantly different to the normal range, i.e. ask the question "is the two-tailed t-stat >1.96?" And the answer will be no. Normal has such a huge variance that even outside the "normal range" you're still not statistically different from normal.

In human terms, neither you or I are qualified to evaluate medical test results. That's what we pay doctors for, and the doctors say you're absolutely fine.

As to your referral, you're from the US and there is quite a suing culture over there, so even if a doctor thinks someone's fine he might refer anyone with a test result outside of normal ranges to a specialist just so in the unlikely event he is wrong it's not his responsibility. The specialist said you're absolutely fine too. Also don't forget healthcare is privately provided in the US as well so it may well be in the company's interest to run superfluous tests and make needless referrals.

You have my every sympathy for your shock at calling the specialist to find it was a cancer specialist, I'm guessing this is what kicked off your anxiety. I was genuinely ill to begin with on my journey, it was only doctors mentioning they needed to "rule out" strokes, brain tumours and other things that really ****ed my head up. My only advice is stop trying to evaluate information you don't have the necessary prerequisites to evaluate. Would you trust a hairdresser with a laptop with your investment decisions? Would you trust a doctor with google to represent you in court? No? Then don't trust a statistician with google to professionally evaluate your health, just because that statistician is you.

You are absolutely correct. My standard deviation is actually probably not that far off at all so probably I am actually still in the normal range. I was not really trying to convince myself of this logic I was just letting you know that when the Doctor tolled me this it made me feel more comfortable.

I do believe sometimes that Doctors get incentives for referrals or want to keep the system going, but who knows what are you going to do?

Great analogy, I will think about that. All I know is that we had a lapse in Health Insurance for a year one time and I felt a lump in the back of my head. I use to always have the very bets health insurance and we always go when needed. Well it turn out to be my normal skull loll, I know sad but hey its me. Anyway I goggled it back then and of course everything you Google is cancer so I freaked out and have never been able to get rid of that Hypochondriac type attitude ever since even though we have good health insurance now. Wish I knew of something I could do.

I really appreciated you added to my thread. Thank You.

Now this I am VERY interested in, I tested high for serum igA level too, this was after testing high for Vitamin B12 on 3 different blood tests without supplementation..

I also saw a Hematologist about these readings because as I am sure you have read one immunoglobin being high might indicate multiple myeloma....however that is a fake high caused by paraprotein, I got informed that that was also tested with the other immunoglobins shortly after and was fine.

The hematologist found nothing wrong with me by the way, felt my nodes, spleen and tapped my whole body lol then ran lots of blood testing but all was clear and fine and I was discharged.

I also like you had a celiac panel done, but that was negative just the iga alone high.

Yes lets please talk some more, because I have found little information on this. Yes my myeloma came back negative and absolutely everything else came back 100 % fine. The absolutely only thing that came back high was the IGA. So are you saying that it is possible a fake high? What is paraprotein? And yes they tested all my other immunoglobin levels and those all came back fine as well.

So what is your conclusion in your state of mind? You think it is purely a false reading or do you think it is caused at least by Gluten or Allergies like cats and dogs right now? Or does it have absolutely to do with nothing and that is why both of my Doctors completely blew it off.

I could have sworn I read somewhere that stress or infection could cause it to elevated because my mouth seems dry and my throat especially at night. So I think I am fighting something. I got depressed for a while and didn't brush my teeth forever. My teeth are perfectly healthy but I can't get rid of this filmy type taste in my mouth. My Doctors is chalking it up to Anxeity and is giving me Lexapro but I do not think I am going to take it because I do not want to get dependent on anything.

I am thinking that if lexapro is just going to increase chemicals in my brain well then I can just do that myself and go have some fun. well see.

But please get back to me and if you don't mind please help me figure this out because I know my Doctor is going to come back and tell me everything is fine and blow me out the door real quick while I still have questions. =(

Have you tried going gluten free? There is a lot of research going on at the moment into gluten intolerance as opposed to celiac and you could fit that catergory. The only way to know would be to cut out gluten for a few months and see how you feel. Going gluten free has helped me a lot in terms of pain and anxiety, and digestion of course.

I have not tried that but I have aches and pains all over my body off and on. I am wondering what this is but no Doctor seems to ever be concerned or can find anything. My dad has celiac but I do not.

My only question is that I asked my Doctor if I could lower my IGA levels and he said that I could not but I am unsure if he even knows what they are or if he is even concerned.

So basically what you are saying is try gluten free and see if I feel much better and if I do maybe I have a minor intolerance enough to irritate me but not show up on a blood test. This is probably a very smart idea.

Do I not eat anything that a person diagnosed with Celiac disease or do I just stay away from gluten? Or is that one in the same?

Thank you so much for your help, please keep helping me.

I was tested for celiac disease but my test was negative, but I tried gluten free diet anyway and it made a huge difference to how I felt

Please go into more detail. Where you having aches and pains, tired, irritated? What where you feeling like and how do you feel know?

I am thinking of very heavily considering this option so please help me all you can, thank you so much.

[Lilharry]

Happy to help where I can. I'm not expert, but I have suffered from anxiety all my life and was recently diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue. I have suffered from pretty much every symptom out there including aches and pains, fatigue, irritability, brain fog, severe anxiety, unable to digest food etc etc. I have been tested for celiac and the test was negative, but I decided to change my diet anyway after reading a lot about it and how diet changes have helped many people. I'm pretty much on a primal/paleo style diet now and it has helped me so much. I wouldn't go back to eating the way I did before. I haven't found doctors to be very helpful as they don't know about a lot of this stuff and certainly aren't experts in terms of nutrition. I have found the Perfect Health Diet book to be a huge help. Going gluten free is definitely a good start. That is what celiacs are told to do - they must avoid anything with gluten in it as it attacks their bodies. So I guess eating what celiacs eat and avoiding gluten are one in the same in that respect. There is hidden gluten in a lot of processed food, so you have to be really careful. Good luck and feel free to stay in touch if you want to keep discussing as I'm pretty passionate about this stuff after finding it helped me so much.

[Florance]

I had a lot of symptoms including dizziness, visual disturbances, pains in my upper abdomen and back, muscle spasms, nausea, bloating, pins and needles, low blood sugar. Chest pains the pain got so bad I ended up in a and e a few times! I also used to feel very tired and used to fight sleep during the day at work when I stopped gluten most of it stopped although I have Ibs so still have some issues I also felt a lot more alert. Hope this helps

[Vigilante]

I don't think its a "false high" I mean in the case of Myeloma its a false high because its a cloned immunoglobin but as you are clear of Myeloma like me it isnt the case.

I have kind of put this to one side personally over the past few months but I am interested in this answer too.

I am unsure if it is linked to celiac disease, especially since we both have had clear celiac blood tests. But the other abnormal test found in me is Vitamin B12 was also high, I was tested for most things that cause that too and again nothing was found.

B12 is also absorbed via the small intestine, where celiac disease happens.

I sometimes get lower abdominal cramps, that can last for hours to almost a whole day which seem to be wind related but again in the area of my small intestine.

other so far unexplained symptoms I have are:

fatigue
headaches
dizziness
muscle pain/fatigue
pins and needles
high blood pressure


I am going to try to see my dr again 2moro, to talk over this yet again but one test I want is an MMA urine test to see if I have some kind of functional B12 defiency.

Going Gluten free seems like quite hard work, but maybe its worth a try?