Do i or do i not have celiac disease??

[carin3]

Hi!! Any help would be greatly appreciated! I have had iron deficiency anemia for awhile. I finally went to see a hematologist b/c I just couldnt get my numbers up with 3 iron pills a day. She put me on a prescription iron pill and ordered a GI consult. The GI doctor did a endoscopy and colonoscopy and said everything looked great. I went back for a follow up and he started to tell me everything was normal then looked down and said oh wait. My duodenal biopsy said features suggestive of Marsh type 2 celiac disease. The doctor ordered a celiac panel and said he didnt see any need to go on a gluten free diet if i could control my anemia with iron pills. I just got the celiac panel back which was normal and consisted of TTGIGA was mine was <3 and normal is <5. Also my IGA was 324 and normal is 81-463. Also, I do have a history of joint pain, tingling in my hands and fatigue but they have always been associated with the anemia. I dont really have any GI symptoms except for occasional very mild abd pain but it doesnt really bother me. I dont want to go gluten free if i dont need to but I also dont want to be harming my body if I do have it. Like I said I am kinda confused and the GI doc pretty much blew me off so I dont know where to go from here. I do have an appt with my hematologist the end of Oct. Again, I'd appreciate any help or suggestions!

[CalGal]

Carin, I'd really, really suggest you go on a gluten-free diet and see what happens. In the meantime, take a test to find out what alleles (genes) you carry for celiac disease. If you carry the major or the 'bigger' minor ones, stay on that diet. The symptoms you're having can and do go hand-in-hand in some with celiac, and the unfortunate thing is you won't know what damage is being done until it's so far along that you won't be able to do anything about it - when the 'celiac' breaks out in full force.

Check pometheus labs or enterolab.com for the gene test.

[WAYTOOTIRED]

MY UNDERSTANDING,IS,   CELIAC CAN BE A REALLY BAD THING IF LEFT UNTREATED.   SOMETHING IT DOES TO THE INTESTINES...I KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT HAVE LITTLE SYMPTOMS...BUT, ITS A DISEASE...THAN CAN CAUSE SERIOUS PROBLEMS...I WOULDNT IGNORE IT...