Episode 28: Axial Spondyloarthritis - A Patient's Story with Dr Elie Karam

01/31/23 • 35 min

On this episode of Around the Rheum, we're thrilled to have Dr. Elie Karam as our guest talking about his journey with Axial Spondyloarthritis, a form of arthritis that causes inflammation and pain of the spine as well as other parts of the body, including the peripheral joints, entheses, gut and eyes.

Dr. Karam is Chair of the Canadian Spondylitis Association (CSA): a patient-led, not-for-profit organization focused on advocacy for Canadians living with this disease. www.spondylitis.ca

He is a self-described Ankylosing Spondylitis warrior, advocating as both a physician and a patient with the condition. In this fascinating conversation, Dr. Karam describes his own journey with spondylitis, the challenge in getting a diagnosis, and finally his experience with treatment. He and Dan talk about the difficulties in dealing with this "invisible disease," how patients can better advocate for themselves, and what more can be done by doctors and the healthcare system to help patients.

Dr. Karam is currently completing his family medicine residency at the University of Ottawa, after having switched out of orthopedic surgery after his diagnosis. Please join us for his inspiring tale!

Around The Rheum (ATR) is produced by the CRA Communications Committee.

A special thank you to the podcast team, Dr. Dax G. Rumsey (CRA Communications Committee Chair), Dr. Daniel Ennis (Host), and David McGuffin (Producer, Explore Podcast Productions) for leading production.

Our theme music is by Aaron Fontwell.

You can claim podcasts as a scanning activity under the Section 2 MOC Program for 0.5 credits per podcast.

For more on the work of the Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA), please visit www.rheum.ca

Dr. Karam is Chair of the Canadian Spondylitis Association (CSA): a patient-led, not-for-profit organization focused on advocacy for Canadians living with this disease. www.spondylitis.ca

Around The Rheum (ATR) is produced by the CRA Communications Committee.

Our theme music is by Aaron Fontwell.

You can claim podcasts as a scanning activity under the Section 2 MOC Program for 0.5 credits per podcast.

For more on the work of the Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA), please visit www.rheum.ca

Previous Episode

Episode 27: Autoinflammatory Disorders With Dr. Dilan Dissanayake

We're thrilled to be joined by Dr. Dissanayake for this episode on Autoinflammatory Disorders. And we're also happy to have Janet Pope back in the host chair again with Daniel Ennis.

Together, Dilan, Daniel, and Janet have a fascinating conversation, taking on basic questions like what defines an autoinflammatory disease and how is it distinct from an Autoimmune disease? What is the interplay between autoinflammatory and autoimmune disease? How can we group or arrange the different autoinflammatory diseases to make them a more approachable topic? How to take a proper autoinflammatory disease history? How to confirm a suspected autoinflammatory disease and rule out common mimics? Finally, treatment principles and possible long-term consequences.

Dr. Dilan Dissanayake is a staff rheumatologist at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and a Transition Clinician-Scientist at SickKids Research Institute. Dr. Dissanayake’s current research interests include using high-dimensional methods to better characterize the immune cells that cause rheumatologic diseases and investigations into the functional consequences of genetic changes that lead to inflammatory diseases.

Around The Rheum (ATR) is produced by the CRA Communications Committee.

Our theme music is by Aaron Fontwell.

You can claim podcasts as a scanning activity under the Section 2 MOC Program for 0.5 credits per podcast.

For more on the work of the Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA), please visit www.rheum.ca

Next Episode

Episode 29: Medical Mysteries #2 with Drs. Angela Hu and Danya Al-Nujaidi

"The patient in this case is a 73-year-old woman. [She] was previously healthy and not on any medications... She developed exertional shortness of breath for a few months, which prompted her to visit [the] emergency room. It was discovered that she had bilateral pleural effusion."

And so begins our latest episode of our popular new segment, Clinical Pearls and Medical Mysteries, in which two UBC Rheum Fellows try to stump Dan and Janet with this case, laying out increasingly complex details piece by piece. No spoilers, but we will say that Dan describes Janet's approach to the case in this episode as "Lebron James-like."

Our guests are Dr. Angela Hu, who is finishing her final year of Rheumatology Fellowship at UBC. She is from Vancouver and completed medical school at McMaster University and internal medicine training in Toronto. She has an interest in lupus and will be pursuing an additional fellowship in this. Dr. Danya Al Nujaidi is also in her final year of her Rheumatology Fellowship at UBC. She completed medical school and Internal Medicine Board at IAU in Saudi Arabia.

Special Thanks: Around the Rheum is produced by the Canadian Rheumatology Association's Communications Committee. A special thank you to the podcast team, Dr. Dax G. Rumsey (CRA Communications Committee Chair), Dr. Daniel Ennis (Host), David McGuffin (Producer, Explore Podcast Productions), Erin Stewart (Marketing and Communications Director, CRA) for leading production. Our theme music was composed by Aaron Fontwell.

For more on the work of the Canadian Rheumatology Association, visit rheum.ca