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lunchbox | 13 years ago

How do you know their issues are somatic, or that the relief they experience is a placebo effect?

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jaggederest|13 years ago

Because a substantial minority of people have functional gastrointestinal issues that are well addressed by the same treatments as somatic pain: antidepressants, stress reduction, and placebo treatment.

The rate of actual gluten intolerance is some 4-5 fold less than the rate of functional disorders - it's nigh on impossible that all those eating a gluten-free diet have gluten intolerance (let alone celiac), but it's extremely likely that they have functional gastrointestinal disorders.