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Response to ‘Remarkable prevalence of celiac disease in patients with irritable bowel syndrome plus fibromyalgia in comparison with those with isolated irritable bowel syndrome: a case-finding study’

In a recent issue of Arthritis Research & Therapy, I read with interest the report by Rodrigo and colleagues [1] documenting a fairly high rate of celiac disease in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia. It is noteworthy that their patients improved on a gluten-free diet. However, that article references the report by Taubman and colleagues [2] and implies that our patient improved on a gluten-free diet whereas she actually, as reported, had an exacerbation of her symptoms on a gluten-free diet. Although the majority of such patients may improve when their celiac disease is treated, I do not want your readers to have the impression that such improvement is a uniform phenomenon. Both conditions are relatively common and therefore it is to be expected that some individuals will be unfortunate enough to have both conditions, unrelated to each other.

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  1. Rodrigo L, Blanco I, Bobes J, de Serres FJ: Remarkable prevalence of celiac disease in patients with irritable bowel syndrome plus fibromyalgia in comparison with those with isolated irritable bowel syndrome: a case-finding study. Arthritis Res Ther. 2013, 15: R201-10.1186/ar4391.

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  2. Taubman B, Mamula P, Sherry DD: Prevalence of asymptomatic celiac disease in children with fibromyalgia: a pilot study. Pediatr Rheumatol Online J. 2011, 9: 11-10.1186/1546-0096-9-11.

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Correspondence to David D Sherry.

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Sherry, D.D. Response to ‘Remarkable prevalence of celiac disease in patients with irritable bowel syndrome plus fibromyalgia in comparison with those with isolated irritable bowel syndrome: a case-finding study’. Arthritis Res Ther 16, 402 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/ar4487

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/ar4487

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