Can microscopic colitis be associated with symptoms other than diarrhea or abdominal pain?
Because microscopic colitis is a chronic inflammatory syndrome associated with production by the immune system of chemical mediators that circulate in the blood, patients with microscopic colitis often experience fatigue, joint pains, muscle aches and fibromyalgia, and even fever is possible. Because the genes involved also predispose to other autoimmune syndromes, such diseases (like arthritis, thyroid disease, etc.) do occur in patients with microscopic colitis. If gluten sensitivity is present, many additional abdominal and other symptoms may be present. How are microscopic colitis and gluten sensitivity (or celiac sprue) related? I have shown in a previous study that the most common cause of diarrhea in patients with celiac sprue treated with a gluten-free diet for many years is microscopic colitis. Other individuals are found at the time of diagnosis to have both of these syndromes. this realtes to the fact that the same immune system regulatory genes, called HLA, are involved in
