Panel of Cleveland Clinic Doctors Educate & Amuse Mayfield Crowd

A panel of Cleveland Clinic physicians and surgeons covered it all Thursday night, from osteoporosis diagnosis to myths about gin-soaked raisins.

The doctors gathered at this year's "Ask the Experts" event at 700 Beta Banquet and Conference Center in Mayfield Village. About 250 people from across Northeast Ohio came to ask questions, mostly about this year's theme, "Relieving Your Joint Pain."

The doctors were from various hospitals in the Clinic's system, with moderator and orthopedic surgeon Bernard Stulberg being the only one from Hillcrest Hospital. Stulberg got things going with a few of his own questions that he thought most people would want to know regarding arthritis, osteoporosis and common pains to certain body parts. He then asked the doctors questions from cards filled out by audience members, as well as those who approached the microphone.

Here's a sampling of the questions and answers (note: audience members were not asked to provide their names because of the nature of the event):

Stulberg: One of the initial questions relates to how do you differentiate or tell me if I have rheumatoid arthritis? What should I expect or be looking for first? Should I go to a family physical or a rheumatologist?

Dr. Howard Smith (rheumatologist at Beachwood Family Health Center, Willoughby Family Health Center, Stephanie Tubbs Jones Family Health Center and Cleveland Clinic Main Campus): "The first person to go to is your family physician or primary care provider, who can help sort out if it's actually arthritis. Arthritis is an inflammation or pain in the joints, but a lot of what we see is not necessarily arthritis in technical terms. It's not the joints involved, but tendinitis or they can have muscle aches and pains or they can have bursitis. Technically, that's not the joints that are involved. Neither are they with osteoporosis. That's the bones that are involved.

"You need somebody to screen whether or not it's really the joints that are involved ... is it thyroid disease or something else? So, probably the first thing is to go to your primary care physician and then if he or she thinks it's worthwhile to get referred, then get referral, depending on what the condition is."

Stulberg: Is exercise good or bad for joints?

Dr. James Rosneck (Orthopedic surgeon at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health Center, Mentor Medical Office Building and Solon Family Health Center): "I don't think we move enough in this country, so I think exercise is good. Non-impact exercise, whether it's using the elliptical or riding a bicycle, water therapy ... patients with real bad arthritis who have trouble getting around, (water therapy) is a nice way to get your heart rate up in a very non-impact environment. A physical therapist can help you through that and find out what works for you. They're not going to change the process in the joint and they're not going to build you more cartilage, they can help you protect the joint and help you function a little better in life."

Stulberg: If I think I need something in terms of a replacement ... when do you think a patient is ready for a replacement ... Let's start with the knee.

Dr. Peter J. Brooks (Orthopedic surgeon at Euclid Hospital): "You'll know you're ready for a knee surgery before I do (laughs). The particular questions I ask are, 'do you have pain every day? Is it stopping you from doing something you would otherwise be doing?' ... Particularly pain to wake you up at night because you know that can ruin your life or ruin your next day. Many times when I'm talking to a patient, they've been like that so I'm comfortable thinking this is a person who may need a knee replacement. Look at the x-rays. If the x-rays show advanced arthritis, whether its rheumatoid, osteo, gouty or post-traumatic arthritis, if the x-ray looks bad — your knee is crooked or stiff — just do it."

Audience member: Are there any foods that can help with some elimination of inflammation — and I don't mean this to be silly — but my mother has heard, and a I ran into somebody recently when I was shopping, that said she soaks raisins in gin. She takes a teaspoon of those raisins and she swears she hasn't had pain since. Is there any truth to this?

Stulberg: There's a great pain from arthritis, and the pain can be from within the joint or with things that outside of the joint. There may be a lot of things that would alleviate the pain, but that doesn't necessarily mean they dealt with arthritis. For us, on the scientific side, there's really no evidence that any of this can make a difference ... it's probably not something that would be recommended widely ... We're all going to go home and try it — maybe even without the raisins."