In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis, social media and mainstream medical media are mainly focusing on the virus epidemiology (incidence and control) and not so much on the virus biology and clinical issues relevant to the severity of the COVID-19 driven illness. Therefore, I have pulled together published data and break down the information regarding…

What Triggers Celiac Disease: Reasons Beyond Gluten
The answer to what triggers celiac disease is a combination of factors including genetics, gluten exposure, internal gut environment, and external environmental factors. We will explain each in greater detail and how these contribute to developing celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that is a reaction to eating gluten, where an immune response…

Specialty Lyme Testing Labs: Are They Worth It?
As a rheumatology clinic, we see quite a few patients suffering from chronic infections, including Lyme disease. Since 2009, we have diagnosed and treated thousands of patients with Lyme disease. When it comes to diagnosing Lyme disease, we use a combination of blood work from standard lab tests as well as physician interpretation and experience….

The Man behind the Medicine
Get to know Dr. Alexander Shikhman. As the founder of Institute for Specialized Medicine and Gluten Free Remedies, Dr. Shikhman answers some more personal questions about how he became interested in medicine, how he made his way to the United States, and why he started his own practice. How did you first become interested in…

Alternative Treatment for Osteoarthritis
Alternative treatment for osteoarthritis consists of implementing ways to reduce pain and restore joint function without surgery. After decades of treating patients with osteoarthritis, in our experience there are conservative steps you can take to preserve the joint including, hyaluronic acid injections (viscosupplemetation), Platelet Rich Plasma therapy, physical therapy, and dietary supplements. Osetoarthritis is a…

Infrared Thermography in Rheumatology
As a rheumatology practice, IFSMED, there are several instances when our conventional diagnostic tools only show part of the picture. Because many diseases in rheumatology deal with inflammation, being able to visually identify the areas of inflammation is an invaluable tool; however, often times inflammation lies underneath the surface and not visually noticeable. In order…

Gluten Free and Still Feeling Sick? Here Are Six Reasons Why
If you are gluten free and still feeling sick there are some other medical considerations that should be looked into as to why you may not be feeling better. For those with celiac disease and gluten intolerance, following a gluten free diet is a must. We often tell our patients the timeframe to start feeling…
SalivaStim
There are many dietary supplements one can use as natural remedies for dry eyes, dry mouth and dry skin. After years of using this traditional list, we wanted to see if there was something else we could design to help our patients. Based on the research we found two ingredients from aruyveda that have been…

Beating Chronic Fatigue by Identifying the Underlying Infection
As a rheumatology practice we see several cases of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and we know how debilitating it can be. Our belief to beating chronic fatigue is that CFS is a symptom of an underlying factor such as a virus, illness, food induced problems, and mold and mycotoxins; that only until treating this underlying…

Natural Remedies for Sjogren’s Syndrome
Relying on thousands of years of use in Chinese medicine, we believe we have created one of the best natural remedies for Sjogren’s syndrome: SalivaStim. SalivaStim is a dietary supplement combining dendrobium nobile and sarsaparilla have synergistic properties that work together to restore moisture. Click here to go directly to the benefits of SalivaStim. Sjogren’s…