Bowel Disease, Nerve Problems Linked
(HealthDay News, 4/23/07)

Dr. Francisco De Assis Gondim of the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil, and team, ran standardized neurological tests on 103 subjects with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and 51 people with other digestive disorders, like heartburn, gastritis and irritable bowel syndrome. The investigators found a link between IBD and nerve disorders, such as sensorimotor polyneuropathy, which causes weakness, pain and numbness. The researchers say that IBD patients have a greater risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as symptoms of small fiber neuropathy, which is characterized by pain and lack of feeling in the feet. These findings suggest that the causes of IBD affect other systems throughout the body.

(Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Boston, April 2007).