Can rheumatoid arthritis affect your teeth and gums? Honestly, that’s a question I hear more often than you’d think—especially after someone sits in my exam room and starts connecting the dots between joint pain and those weird dental issues they’ve been brushing off. As a Rheumatology nurse practitioner, I’ve had a front-row seat to just…
Can food sensitivities raise blood pressure? This might seem like a niche question, but trust me—after years in internal medicine with a focus on hypertension management, I’ve seen more than a few patients whose blood pressure just wouldn’t budge, no matter how many medications or lifestyle changes we threw at it. And here’s the kicker:…
As a Rheumatology Nurse Practitioner with years of hands-on experience, I’ve had the privilege of working with countless patients who struggle with the complexities of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). One of the most common questions I get from my patients, especially those dealing with the more debilitating symptoms, is: “Can rheumatoid arthritis cause chronic fatigue syndrome…
If there’s one question I get asked more than any other in clinic, it’s this: “What are the best natural anti-inflammatory herbs for arthritis?” And honestly, I get it. Living with arthritis—whether it’s rheumatoid, osteoarthritis, or one of the many inflammatory types—can be a daily battle. Between the stiffness, the joint pain that flares up…
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that often affects the joints, leading to pain, swelling, and stiffness. It’s a condition that I, as a Rheumatology Nurse Practitioner, encounter regularly in my practice, and one of the most common questions patients ask is, “Does rheumatoid arthritis get worse with age?” While this question doesn’t…
Can rheumatoid arthritis cause numbness in feet? That’s actually one of the more common (and confusing) questions I get asked in my clinic. You’d think joint pain and swelling would be the main issue with RA—and they are—but when a patient starts describing tingling toes or a “pins and needles” sensation in their feet, it…
Can rheumatoid arthritis cause chronic sinus infections? That’s a question I get more often than you’d expect—and one I’ve found myself digging into more than once both professionally and personally. As a Rheumatology Nurse Practitioner, I’ve seen patients raise their eyebrows at the connection between their relentless sinus pressure and their autoimmune condition. If you’ve…
If you’ve ever had a patient sit across from you, eyes wide with frustration and pain, asking, “Why am I flaring up again when I haven’t missed a dose of my meds?”, you’re not alone. I’ve heard this more times than I can count. And one of the most overlooked triggers I often find myself…
When I first heard someone ask, “Is asthma connected to gut health?”, I blinked. I’ve spent years caring for patients with chronic respiratory issues, and while I’ve seen all sorts of triggers for asthma — pollen, cold air, stress — gut health wasn’t something that ever came up in morning rounds. But once I started…