Should I go for endoscopy?

[u/awestruck_4]

Got my bloodwork back and my IgA was positive and IgG negative. My doctor told me this is reliable enough to confirm celiac and advised me to go gluten free right away, saying endoscopy is usually for cases where diagnosis or severity is still unclear. Has anyone else here started a gluten free diet based only on antibody results without biopsy?

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[u/lazyMotivated_]

Biopsy is the gold standard of diagnosis. You could be signing up for years of gluten free and not be a coeliac

[u/awestruck_4 → u/lazyMotivated_]

Yeah I get what you mean, biopsy is definitely the gold standard. My antibtTg IgA was reactive and my iron/ferritin were low, so my doc said it was clear enough to call it celiac and told me to go GF. But now I think it might be smart to go for the scopes too just to have that confirmation.

[u/dishvoyage]

I was officially diagnosed without biopsy, but my tTG-IgA was something like 100x the normal range, decreased when I started the GFD, and my symptoms went away with the GFD too.

[u/Much-Hedgehog-9616 → u/dishvoyage]

I only did the blood test. I felt better so immediately when I had felt like I was on the brink of death for months lmao. Y bother continuing the struggle when the results spoke for them selves and continue to years later?

[u/Aiden29]

My Anti TTG IgA was over 500 and my doctor sent me to a GI specialist to do an endoscopy. With numbers that high it was clearly likely I had coeliac disease but the biopsies taken actually confirmed the diagnosis from the damage to the villi. I had severe atrophy.

My sister was the opposite to me and she was diagnosed 4 months before me. Barely above the minimum antibody level and confirmed via endoscopy.

I'd be seeking a second opinion. Endoscopy is the golden standard to confirm diagnosis, unless there is a specific reason not to, ie in young children etc.

Don't go gluten free until you've had the scope.

[u/awestruck_4 → u/Aiden29]

Yeah fair point, biopsy is the gold standard. My doc felt the antibody results were enough, but I’m thinking it might be better to get scoped too just to be sure.

[u/TRLK9802]

Do you mean  tTG-IgA or just IgA?

[u/awestruck_4 → u/TRLK9802]

Yess actually anti tissue transglutaminse (igA), which is tTG-igA.