The Treatment of Enteropathic Arthritis Learn which medications
are used treat the pain and inflammation of arthritis, and the
symptoms associated with the enteropathic disorder. Some people
with a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) — Crohn’s
disease or ulcerative colitis — as well as other
gastrointestinal diseases, including celiac disease, may also
have enteropathic arthritis. Symptoms include pain, stiffness,
and inflammation of the joints. Up to 30 percent of people with
IBD have peripheral arthritis (arthritis of the extremeties), or
spinal involvement. In fact, these joint symptoms might occur
before those of IBD, and may not coincide with the IBD flare-
ups. “Usually the challenge [with enteropathic arthritis] is to
diagnose it," says Chaim Putterman, MD, chief of rheumatology at
Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Patients may
test negative for a substance called rheumatoid factor, which is
usually positive in classic rheumatoid arthritis. To make the
proper diagnosis, Dr. Putterman