the autoimmune professor

Off I went with orders to run some new test called the AVISE test that I had never heard of before. Apparently, this test will test you for a ton of different things on the autoimmune spectrum from IgG reactivities to ANA and a whole lot of other tests in between that even I had never heard of before. The bad thing, it could take up to six weeks to get the results. They have to overnight your blood to a lab in California and then run I don’t even know how many tests (I just know that I got 6 pages of lab results back). While I was waiting for those results to come back, I decided to make an appointment with a gastroenterologist. I really didn’t want to as I am terrified of being put to sleep and all I could think of was that with my gastric issues, this doctor is going to want to do an endoscope and a colonoscopy (which of course is probably needed), but I did not want to think about that or the good that would probably come out of it. So, off I went to the gastroenterologist. The gastroenterologist that I chose is amazing as well. On my first visit, I told him everything that had been going on from anxiety to now, including covid, sleeping on the bathroom floor at least once a week and all the rashes, etc. The good thing is that I stayed in the same hospital system, so all of the doctors were able to see all of the test results from every other doctor due to the MyChart system. The doctor took a few minutes to review what had been ran along with what was still pending based on other doctors notes just to make sure he wasn’t running tests that were already pending or had been ran.

The doctor decided that no one had tested me for parasites, celiac disease, inflammation in my intestines, colon, etc. (basically Crohn’s and Colitis). The doctor ordered a plethora of tests and was so wonderful about my fear of having surgery. He said “we are able to look at a lot without becoming invasive, so we will do everything we can before we take those steps.” This was music to my ears. The doctor ran everything from parasites to inflammation to immunoglobulin responses.

My tests from the gastroenterologist came back before the tests from the rheumatologist, which we anticipated. Most of my tests came back negative; however, my celiac test came back inconclusive toward a positive. The doctor explained that the immunoglobulin response was high, but not high enough to diagnose celiac disease. However, because I had started the whole 30 diet with my nutritionist about two weeks before I had all of these tests ran, so the fact that I had not consumed any gluten can potentially throw off the immunoglobulin responses. Anyway, the doctor said my TTG IGA was not high enough to diagnose celiac, but way too high for someone who had not consumed gluten; therefore, he decided that I at least have some type of gluten intolerance and should probably steer clear of any foods containing gluten. Additionally, he said that I had scarring in my gut and intestines. I am not sure how he knew this without looking at the inside of my intestines, but he ran so many tests, he said he was able to tell based on one of my fecal tests that was done. He said that this could potentially be left over from covid since it did such a number on my gastric system or he said that if my autoimmune tests come back positive that it is possible that my body attacks my digestive system even though it is more common to see autoimmune attack the kidneys or liver.

Finally (though not related at all to any of my symptoms), it turns out that I tested positive for a parasite called cryptosporidium. Basically, this is a parasite that you pick up in areas that do not have great treatment of water or from contaminated water that is on fruits and vegetables. I still have no idea where I picked this up at. For most people they could potentially pick it up but your own body will fight it off; however, for immunodeficient humans, it can make you quite ill. However, up to this point, I have no indication that I am immunodeficient in any way. In addition to the tests that have been done to this point, I had a life insurance test, so I was tested for different cancers in the blood, HIV/AIDS, etc. and all of those also came back negative. The doctor said that it is possible that I picked it up in 2006 when I was in Mexico and so very sick (another story for another day) or I could have picked it up last week from local groceries. I took some anti-parasitic meds for this and went on my way, but still with no real answers to why I feel sick on an almost daily basis.

Pictures below show the day I went to the gastroenterologist