<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Thanks to all who responded...I learned so much!
Maggie

Your test does not rule out CD and it certainly does not rule out gluten
sensitivity.

Opportunities for false negatives abound: already on a gluten-free diet;
poor biopsy preparation; drug interactions; misinterpretation of data; lab
errors; pregnancy (immune system is surpressed so baby isn't rejected
as a foreign body); smoking (smokers have neg. antibody tests), deceased
immune system function that comes w/ increased age, sometime after 55....

A negative tTG-IgA is not an indication that you are not reacting to gluten.
It is a possibe that you do not have damage in your villi, but you may 
easily
have just as serious damage elsewhere in your body.  There is a new
panel available from Immunosciences Laboratories in Beverly Hills that is
much more detailed.

A tTG IgA is a screening test. This test correlates well with total villous
atrophy. If you have partial villous atrophy or very early stages of CD,
this test will be negative.

There is also a stool test from Enterolab.com that looks for a couple of
antibodies and tests for intestinal function.

There are blood tests for vitamin deficiencies.  You can learn about a lot
of this in the Merck Manual Guide which has normal values for test
ranges and explanations of the various deficiencies and what they produce
clinically in the body.  The book costs $10 in paperback at Borders or you
can borrow it or look at it from a library.

One negative test for celiac does not mean that you won't develop it in
the future. If you don't have the genes, you probably will never have 
celiac.

A good place to read about getting diagnosed is "The Gluten File". 
http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1062 (click on
The Gluten File).  This is a treasure of articles and abstracts about
gluten sensitivity/celiac disease.

You may not have celiac disease.  Check out eosinophillic disorders.  The
most common of this is from corn and corn starch.

I would suggest you call the Celiac Hotline at the University of Chicago
Celiac Disease Program for information about the different antibody tests.

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