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Abuse History and Gastrointestinal Illness
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
TO THE EDITOR:
I congratulate Dr. Drossman for his timely review of the management of refractory functional gastrointestinal disorders [1]. He suggests that the predominant symptom should determine the best medication (for example, loperamide for diarrhea and anticholinergic agents for pain). He recommends psychoactive medications when pain is unrelated to changes in gut function, thus downplaying the role of antidepressant agents in functional gastrointestinal disorders in the presence of gut dysfunction. Greenbaum and colleagues [2] have shown a beneficial effect of desipramine on diarrhea and on the abdominal pain in diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. Similarly, Cannon and associates [3] have shown that imipramine relieves symptoms in patients who have chest pain despite normal coronary angiograms and regardless of abnormal results of esophageal motility and provocative testing. The mechanism of action of these drugs remains to be established.
Anil Minocha, MD
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
- Copyright ©2004 by the American College of Physicians
