Common Questions

What is a Rheumatologist?

A Rheumatologist is an Internist or Pediatrician who is qualified by additional training and experience in the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis and related disabling and sometimes fatal disorders of the joints, muscles and bones.

What is a Arthritis?

Arthritis means joint swelling, pain and loss of motion or function. More than 150 diseases cause arthritis and related disorders of the joints, muscles and bones in both children and adults of all ages. Some of these diseases also affect other organs or parts of the body.

What are Rheumatic diseases?

The Rheumatic Diseases are a group of more than 150 disorders that cause arthritis in the joints and similar pain and stiffness in the muscles and bones. They may also cause inflammation in the connective tissues of other parts of the body.

A few examples of the Rheumatic diseases include Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, Gout, Lupus, back pain, Osteoporosis, Fibromyalgia, tendonitis and bursitis. Other less common types include Sarcoidosis, Polymyositis, Scleroderma, Temporal Arteritis, Polymyalgia Rheumatica, Wegener’s Granulomatosis, Lyme Disease, and Septic Arthritis or Bursitis.

It is important for you to know that although some of these are very serious diseases and difficult to diagnose and treat, many of them appear in very mild form and respond extremely well to treatment.

What is an Allergist & Immunologist?

An Allergist & Immunologist is best qualified to effectively manage the comprehensive needs of patients with allergic disease. Allergist & Immunologists are trained in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of immune system problems such as allergies, asthma, inherited immunodeficiency diseases and autoimmune diseases.

What are Allergies?

Allergies reflect an overreaction of the immune system to substances that usually cause no reaction in most individuals. Allergic people have abnormal reactions to things in their environment that are normally harmless such as pollen, mold, dust, food, animals and insect stings.

These substances can trigger sneezing, wheezing, coughing and itching. Allergies are not only bothersome, but many have been linked to a variety of common and serious chronic respiratory illnesses, such as sinusitis and asthma.

Additionally, allergic reactions can be severe and even fatal. However with proper management and patient education, allergic diseases can be controlled, and people with allergies can lead normal and productive lives.

What is Allergy testing?

If you are allergic, you are reacting to a particular substance. Any substance that can trigger an allergic reaction is called an allergen. Your Allergist & Immunologist will safely and effectively test your skin, or sometimes your blood, using tiny amounts of commonly troublesome allergens. Allergy tests provide concrete specific information about what you are and are not allergic to.

What is Immunotherapy?

Allergen immunotherapy is a form of treatment aimed at decreasing your sensitivity to substances called allergens. These allergens are identified by allergy testing, and are the substances that trigger your allergy symptoms when you are exposed to them.

Allergen immunotherapy involves injecting increasing amounts of an allergen to a patient over several months. Immunotherapy has been shown to prevent the development of new allergies and, in children, it can prevent the progression of their allergic disease from allergic rhinitis to asthma. Allergen immunotherapy can lead to the long lasting relief of allergy symptoms after treatment is stopped.