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Coeliac disease?

T

TypeZero.

Well-Known Member
Messages
296
Hi all, so I have family history of both T1D and coeliac disease — just been diagnosed as T1D about 6 months ago.

I was wondering if anyone else knew a bit more about coeliac disease, I know there’s the internet but I can’t seem to find an answer to my question.

Does positivity for tissue transglutaminase (TTG) antibodies mean you either have or will develop coeliac disease in the future?

Basically, I’m positive for TTG antibodies but an extremely low titre 0.7 IU/ml, (it can’t be an error because 6 Months ago it was 0.6) I know there is a certain limit before you are considered coeliac but the mere fact that I have these antibodies and I also have a preexisting autoimmune condition, T1D, seems to make it likely for me to develop coeliac disease?

Technically speaking I still eat gluten however I like but I have antibodies so that means my small intestine is being damaged but only by a very small amount? Right now in my head I’m thinking I have T1D, some distant relative has newborn twins with coeliac and I’m positive for TTG antibodies, it just sounds like it’s going to happen
 
I have family history diabetes, type 1 myself and dietician recently tested me for cealiac, was negative. But I believe there’s a strong link with the two.
 
Approximately 1% of the "normal" population is coeliac but 10% of Type 1 diabetics
have coeliac.disease. I know little or nothing about the science about CD , so all I can suggest is ask your consultant. I am IGA deficient. At first I thought all coeliacs had this but apparently not. My brother asked colleagues about CD, when I told him my blood test was positive. He was told there was nothing to worry about unless I was IGA deficient. My DSN had already told me I was IGA deficient, so I knew what the forthcoming endoscopy would prove and I received the final diagnosis a couple of months later. I had none of the usual symptoms of CD.
 
I was told about 17 years ago that I had the antibodies for coeliac disease, I also have 4 other autoimmune conditions, plus a family history of autoimmune conditions (my mum has 4, all different to mine, other relatives have several each, all different) but so far no coeliac disease and I get tested every year.
Around the same time I was told I had the antibodies for hypothyroidism and that I was likely to develop it at some point and I was diagnosed as subclinical last year. Not that it means much, but they didn't say I would develop coeliac disease
 
@TypeZero. - this is something you need to discuss with your Endo Team. If your antibodies are in an undesirable place, you may be offered a colonoscopy to rule Coeliac in or out, at that point.

Autoimmune conditions do tend to hunt in packs (as I see it in my little brain), but just because someone in your family has such a condition doesn't mean you do too.

My family history is littered with AI conditions from Diabetes (of all types, 1, 2 and 3c), hyperthyroidism/Graves, rheumatoid arthritis, fibrosing alveolitis, psoriasis and so on. My parents alone accounted for 5 of those listed - mother 2, father 3. I have none. Zero. I'm happy with that.

I have just gone through another round of testing for RA, with a referral to Rheumatology in process, due to painful, inflamed joints - without any of the usual markers.

All I will say is AI conditions can be sneaky, as confirmed by my Endo who has a wager I
eventually turn out to be LADA. For now, 7 years in, with serial A1cs in the 30s, I'm quite happy to see him eating his hat every few months, when he enquires.

See your team. They're the only ones who can help map out a way forward.
 
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