What causes collagenous colitis?
The cause of collagenous colitis is unknown. Several unproven theories exist including damage from food poisoning, an auto immune disorder, or an association with antiinflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen. About half of the patients can identify a specific time when the first episode occurred. How is collagenous colitis diagnosed? When a patient is being evaluated for persistent diarrhea, there is a long list of possible causes. The doctor orders a series of diagnotic tests to narrow the possibilities. These will involve a history and physical examination and laboratory analysis of blood and stool samples. Such routine laboratory data is most often normal. Evaluation with a “scope test” such as colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy is often one of the major diagnostic tests performed. Traditional IBD such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease can often be diagnosed by knowing the patient’s symptoms and the appearance of the colon lining during colonoscopy. However, the inflammatory changes o
