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Brief History for those who haven't read it or don't recall:

I've been low gluten for 5+ years. Not rigorous, initially due to a
diagnosis of Candida Albicans overgrowth (blood test) and now because I feel
better on low carbs. I don't honestly crave grains of any sort. 

Recently, my mother was diagnosed with celiac disease. I found out shortly
afterwards that her sister was also diagnosed with celiac disease 10 years
ago. Her other sister had hyperthyroidism a number of years ago, until the
doc killed her thyroid with a radioactive pill. She refuses to be tested for
CD, but I know enough about her to suspect she may also have CD. Their
mother died of Alzheimer's. Some make a connection to that an CD. My father
had a lifelong obesity problem, and died of esophogeal cancer. His mother
also had Alzheimer's but it was very late onset, barely affected her. She
did have some sort of blindness due to retinal damage that affected her in
her 50's or 60's. My father was Scotch/Irish. I hear the Irish are doomed,
that's why I mention it. We're crazy too.

Directly as a result of my mother's diagnosis, I went on a 2 week,
half-hearted gluten challenge in order to have some blood tests done.

Reticulin abs - 1:40 - positive (they don't give a reference range)
EMA - negative - no numbers given
Gliadin ab, IgA 3.7 (<20 negative)
Gliadin ab, Igg <1 (<20 neg)

This was sent in to Mayo Medical Laboratories by my GP. He felt the results
warranted a second round of tests and a more rigorous gluten containing diet
for 8 more weeks. I requested a more complete panel, but he said I'd have to
make an appointment with a GI for that. So, I did the exact same tests in
the second rounds. The results have confused me. (of course they did)

Reticulin abs - 1:20 - since there is no reference range on the test
results, I'm not clear if that is still a (low?) positive or not

Everything else is exactly the same! (negative) The fact that these other
three components are negative again is not my question. My question is, how
can it be the numbers are exactly the same, specifically for IgA Gliadin,
which was 3.7 in both tests. IgG was <1 in both, so I don’t think that can
be judged either way. I’m no medical expert or lab technician. Is this unusual?

Since the ARA (Reticulin abs) is the only component to the test that is
giving me any clues I am most interested in that portion of the test. I am
really curious as to why it may have gone down in spite of increasing my
intake of gluten and clearly being very symptomatic. I have symptoms I
haven't suffered with for a number of years.

I am reading, to my sorrow, that since I was on a low gluten diet for so
long, it may take months of being on a gluten challenge for enough damage to
show up on tests. It appears to me our tests aren't sensitive enough. Anyone
else get that feeling???

Regarding ARA, although it is considered an outdated component of most
celiac disease panels, according to the chart on page 146 of "Kids With
Celiac" by Danna Korn, ARA (an alias for Reticulin abs, according to Mayo
Medical Laboratories site: 

http://www.mayomedicallaboratories.com/test-catalog/Overview/9275 

is 100% specific for celiac disease. Of course, I'm only correct about the
100% specificity IF this test was Reticulin abs IgA, rather than Reticulin
abs IgG. If it is IgG, then it's almost useless for me. I've deduced from
hours of reading up on Reticulin abs that if it doesn't specify IgG, then it
is IgA. I surely do hope that is correct.  I understand that ARA is no
longer considered useful for diagnosing celiac disease due to it's lack of
sensitivity (40% of folks with active CD do not have a positive ARA). For
obvious reasons (it being the only positive component) the ARA results are a
curiosity to me. 

I am scheduled to see the GI for the first time in a couple of days. In
neither case was my Total IgA tested, which could affect overall accuracy. 
will be certain to request that component, as well at tTG.

Feedback on any and all points would be much appreciated.

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