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.
Competing interests
The author declares that he has no competing interests.