It?s vacation time, and people travel. For those travelers living with a rheumatic disease, it?s best to plan and prepare. Here are some things to consider: 1. Protect your joints: airports, luggage, and long rides Do you have problems with your joints? Joint pain is the most common symptom of rheumatic illnesses. Many of our
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Summer is here! The sun will be out! And so it is time for those perennial questions from lupus patients: Am I sun-sensitive? What will happen to me if I go into the sun? How much sun is dangerous? Should I wear sunscreens? Here are some factoids for you. Patients who are sun-sensitive show that
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On May 14, Hospital for Special Surgery and the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation hosted a Facebook chat onLupus and General Health. Participants asked more than 160 questions, but our room full of experts could only answer 61 during the one-hour, live event. We categorized the remaining questions, and will run a series of our experts? answers
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A patient with APS recently emailed me with a question about vaccinations for her two small children. Her concern was that her children may be genetically susceptible to having a reaction or could develop an autoimmune condition from their vaccinations. She like the rest of the general public has gotten conflicting information about vaccinations, not
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Public and Patient Education Department Program, October 17 and 24, 2006 Michael D. Lockshin, MD How many days before a colonoscopy procedure should a person with APS cease taking their prescribed 81mg of aspirin or other similar medications? The amount of time before a procedure should be approximately 1 week for aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix) or
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S.L.E. Lupus Foundation “Get into the Loop” NYC Hospital Tour, Public and Patient Education Department Program, November 3, 2005 Michael D. Lockshin, MD What is lupus? Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), commonly called lupus, is a chronic autoimmune disorder that can affect virtually any organ of the body. In lupus, the body’s immune system, which normally
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Summary of a presentation given at the SLE Workshop at Hospital for Special Surgery Michael D. Lockshin, MD • What is Clinical Research? • Conducting Clinical Research: Safety and Confidentiality • Treatment Trials • Trial Phases • Kinds of Drugs Observed in Clinical Trials • Aims of Lupus Research • Lupus Clinical Trial Consortium •
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Three years ago, at a journal club presentation at our hospital and on the hospital web site, I expressed my opinion that the data then available suggesting an excess cardiovascular risk from use of Vioxx (rofecoxib) were inconclusive. I based this opinion on the following. The data compared a large dose of Vioxx (50 mg
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Adapted from a talk at The SLE Workshop at Hospital for Special Surgery A syndrome is a collection of events that constitute a specific illness. Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APS) includes a series of symptoms as follows: Repeated clotting in veins (for example – a pulmonary embolus) or arteries (examples include a stoke, a blood clot
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Current Theories With some exceptions, autoimmune diseases affect far more women than men. For some time, physicians and researchers have been asking why this is so. The most popular theory to date has been that female hormones set the stage for diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren’s syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis. But more recent
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