Nerve Disorders, Bowel Disease May Be Linked
Carpal tunnel among problems found more often, especially in women

(HealthDay News) -- Nerve ailments -- including carpal tunnel syndrome -- seem to occur more often in people with inflammatory bowel disease than in the general population.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) -- a group of disorders that includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis -- affects more than 600,000 people in the United States , according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Inflammation of the intestines causes such symptoms as abdominal cramping and pain, weight loss, diarrhea and intestinal bleeding.

Brazilian researchers found that people with IBD are more likely than people without it to have a number of nerve disorders. For example, they're four times more likely to have carpal tunnel syndrome.

People with IBD are "more than six times more likely to also have a disorder called sensorimotor polyneuropathy, a nerve disease that can cause weakness, pain and numbness," Dr. Francisco De Assis Gondim, a neurology professor at the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil, told HealthDay .

"Those with bowel disease were also four times more likely to develop symptoms in the spectrum of a nerve disease called small fiber neuropathy, which causes pain and lack of feeling in the feet," he said.

These nerve disorders were more common in women with IBD than in men with the disorder.

The study included 103 people with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and 51 people with other digestive disorders, including chronic heartburn, gastritis and irritable bowel syndrome, which affects mainly the large intestine and causes constipation, diarrhea or both at different times.

All participants were given a standard neurological evaluation, including tests for nerve problems. The results showed the people with IBD were much more likely to develop a variety of nerve conditions than those with other digestive disorders.

The study findings were presented at an annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

But Gondim said that further research is needed to learn more about the exact link between IBD and nerve disorders.

"This should be analyzed carefully because, in many patients, I could diagnose other medical conditions which could have at least contributed to the development of nerve damage -- like diabetes, glucose intolerance, vitamin deficiencies, hypothyroidism," Gondim said.

However, he added, "in many patients, we have no explanation [other than IBD], which may suggest that there is an undiagnosed nutritional deficiency or ongoing immune-mediated nerve damage." It's not known how these factors might interact to affect the course of IBD.

The study's findings were important because they "exemplified the fact that when we are dealing with patients, we cannot overlook that GI [gastrointestinal] disorders affect many systems," Dr. Dawn Eliashiv, director of neurophysiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles , told HealthDay .

"Patients with IBD may have vitamin B12 deficiency or vitamin E deficiency, which may cause numbness, instability of gait or balance problems," she said.

The findings could help raise awareness among people with IBD, as well as their doctors, of the possibility of neurological complications.

Eliashiv and Gondim both said that people with IBD who have numbness or pain in their hands or feet, balance problems or weakness should consult a doctor.

On the Web

To learn more about inflammatory bowel disease, check out information from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Francisco De Assis Gondim, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology, Federal University of Ceara, Brazil; Dawn Eliashiv, M.D., director of neurophysiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles; April 23, 2007, presentation, annual meeting, American Academy of Neurology, Boston
Author: Robert Preidt
Publication Date: April 30, 2008
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