How To Prepare
When preparing for the visit, you should consider:
What To Expect
The doctor will usually do the following:
- Take your medical history
- How long have you been experiencing pain?
- How intense is the pain?
- How often does it occur?
- What causes it to get worse?
- What causes it to get better?
- Review the medicines you are using
- Conduct a physical exam to determine causes of pain and how this pain is affecting your ability to function
- Take blood and/or urine samples and request necessary lab work
- Ask you to get x rays taken or undergo other imaging procedures such as a CAT scan (computerized axial tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to see how much joint damage has been done.
Ask questions such as:
Designing A Treatment Plan
Once the doctor has done these things and reviewed the results of any tests or procedures, he or she will discuss the findings with you and design a comprehensive management approach for the pain caused by your osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.
What Is A Rheumatologist?
rheumatologista are medical doctors who specialize in arthritis and rheumatic diseases.
The role of the rheumatologist is to diagnose and treat people with arthritis. Often, a patient is referred to a rheumatologist by their primary care doctor after presenting arthritic symptoms.
