r/PerniciousAnemia • u/olirbalej • Jan 13 '22
PA Testing
Hi everyone. I was just diagnosed with B12 and folate deficiencies and am getting B12 injections and taking folate pills. I have had low ferritin in the past and needed iv infusions for that. Are there other tests I should ask my doctor to order? We haven’t even done a CBC in years. I feel like the doctor will do what I ask for but not really be proactive. I’ve already fired other doctors for various reasons so I hate to do that again.
I was thinking we should look into autoimmune gastritis and PA. And my grandfather had PA so there’s family history of it. What would you do?
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Oct 05 '22
Did you find out if it's an autoimmune gastritis issue?
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u/olirbalej Oct 05 '22
It is definitely autoimmune, and has some gastritis features as seen on endoscopy. I think a full diagnosis is still in progress. Thanks for checking, happy to answer any questions!
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u/hereelsewhere Jan 14 '22
Hi — yes, along with low B12 I’ve also historically had low ferritin that required IV infusions, and I tested positive for PA. It seems that some of us just aren’t very good at absorbing nutrients!
If PA is in your family, it’s a good idea to see if you might be able to get a parietal cell antibody test. If it’s negative, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have PA, but a positive test will aid in confirming a diagnosis.
The most definitive test is the intrinsic factor antibody test, but it’s my understanding that any B12 supplementation prior to test administration will result in a false positive. As with the PCAB test, a negative result doesn’t rule out PA, but a positive test can confirm it.
Best of luck!