Sunday, December 18, 2011

What do Staci's test results mean?

From the articles I have found on the internet, the IgG antibodies test is simply a screening test. It does not mean that Staci definitely has these allergies. The main point of contention I have, is that while it's true these tests are not fool-proof, they have a pretty high correlation with allergic symptoms. This article states that IgG antibodies to wheat gliadin have a 91% correlation with a positive diagnosis of Celiac's Disease (CD). I found this to be particularly alarming. Then, I read another article that basically says there's a high amount of false positives with this test, but it doesn't state what it considers to be a 'high rate' of false positives.

After receiving Staci's results, I wasn't able to get in to speak with our doctor for almost a week. Let me say this here---> that was a completely crappy thing to do to a mom. You cannot tell someone their 2.5 year old is allergic to everything they are eating and then leave them high and dry for a week. I doubt any doctors read this, but in the event that you do, please take a few minutes out of your day to call your patients when they receive news like this! By the time I saw my doctor the next week, I had convinced myself that Staci, her dad, her grandfather, and a few other people in our lives all had CD.

Based on this one test, we have the option of removing gluten, dairy and eggs from our diets (peanuts have already been removed) for a few months and then doing the blood tests again. This will allow her gut to heal and see if she is following the diet effectively. If the test results came back normal, we would be advised to slowly reintroduce these potential allergens and see how she does. My issue with this is that if Staci does, in fact, have CD, wheat and gluten could never be re-introduced. The tests for CD will not be accurate if you have removed gluten from your diet, so I feel an extreme urgency to find out if CD could be the culprit behind all of Staci's allergies.

IF Staci does have CD, it could be what is causing her other allergies (dairy and eggs). In other words, once her body heals, we may be able to have yogurt, butter, oooh and ice cream again! It is less likely she will outgrow her peanut allergy, but that is less concerning to me.

So, since gluten intolerance and CD run in families, Max and I both had our blood drawn this week as well. We should have those results hopefully before the end of the year. I also had some more blood work done on Staci (which was awful) and we should have those results next week. At this point I don't know what I'm hoping for, but it will be nice to have some answers.

I could go through the 15 other if/then situations running through my head, but for now with Staci we are doing our best to be gluten/egg/dairy/peanut free and will cross the next bridge when we come to it. I will update the blog with her (and our!) results as I receive them.

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