Rheumatologists need to contact the patient’s endocrinologist or primary care physician before starting glucocorticoids.
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In your daily contact with rheumatology patients, you likely come across several who have type 1 or 2 diabetes. Are you doing all you can to maximize their treatment?
Most physicians know about the damaging health effects of uncontrolled diabetes. From vision loss to kidney failure to nerve damage, those with diabetes require regular vigilance to minimize further health issues.
Because type 1 diabetes and many rheumatological health issues are autoimmune conditions, it’s not uncommon for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis to have co-existing diabetes. Endocrinologist Joshua Miller, MD, medical director of diabetes care for Stony Brook Medicine in Stony Brook, N.Y., always asks patients with diabetes about a family history of autoimmune disease, because this may lead to a higher risk for concurrent autoimmune problems, including those within rheumatology.
Nancy Ellefson(POA) Muriel Jeffrey says
December 23, 2018 at 11:58 amI have POA for my sister, Muriel Jeffrey. She is in an assisted living facility.
She sees a rheumotologist on a regular basis. She does not have diabetes.
She recently fractured her right elbow during a fall. She has been diagnosed
with osteo arthritis and it has been suggested she see an endocrinologist,
because of progressive thinning of her bones.
I’ve done a lot of reading on this, and am wondering if any medication is a good
choice when she already is in a regimen of methotrexate 50MG/2ML injection
once a week and predisone 1mg 3 times a day.