Dr. Maria Cristina Gonzalez-Mayda, MD

I saw her 10 years ago, and I still remember how horribly rude and condescending she was. And she had a medical student or resident with her (!) -- modeling for her trainee how to be rude and dismissive to a patient. WashU should have cut this provider loose a long time ago, but I guess tenure is a powerful thing. AVOID HER AT ALL COSTS!

Dr. Gonzalez was always very attentive to my RA as well as watching my diabetes. When she asked about how my RA was doing, she was never satisfied if I told her I still had a lot of pain. She would always suggest new things to help. She referred me to an Endocrinologist for my diabetes because she wanted me to get in better control. Dr. Gonzalez always called personally with results from tests. I think she was excellent!

I felt she was very arrogant and unwilling to truly listen to me. She may treat RA but that does not not mean she understands everything someone who lives with it, goes through. I've had RA basically my whole life. She appears to be a good listener but it does not translate into anything after you leave the office. Office staff is also quite rude and unhelpful.

She and her staff are nice at first but when you question them they become rude to the point of hanging up on you. She does not care about anything outside of RA and is not helpful with solving any other issues. She’s very unprofessional and overall was a waste of my time.

Very Disappointing and pretty unaware of the reality people who live with autoimmune diseases deal with.

Dt. Gonzales gave me plenty of time for my first visit, which I have found to be highly unusual among most doctors - so kudos for that! However, she seemed not to understand that I have been dealing with my diseases for about 5 years She had no respect for what I have learned as a patient - both through my research nor through my experience with my former rheumatologist. I did not learn until I was talking to her that she does not treat fibromyalgia!! She would only treat my R.A. She told me that fibro treatment should come from my PCP. Bottom line - now I have to start all over finding a new rheumo.

She told me she only treats the source of the symptoms--the inflammation--not the symptoms (of which pain is the most common). She would not listen to me when I told her that the med she wanted to give me doesn't work for me (I'd had 2 rounds of it in the prev. Few months). So while We waited to see if methotrexate would work, she had basically condemned me to 3 months of terrible pain, with not even NSAIDS which was the only hiving me relief orior to my diagnosis.

Dr. Gonzalez is personable during office visits and very good at returning phone calls. Before you go to see her for your RA, however, it is important that you understand her treatment philosophy because she will not prescribe pain medicines. Her philosophy is to treat the disease--the inflammation--and that will take care of the pain. While waiting for those meds to kick in and or while working to get the right combination of meds, she will not prescribe any pain meds to get you through. If you agree with her philosophy of treating the root cause, the inflammation, as the only way to treat the disease, Dr. Gonzalez may be the right choice for you. Since I fall into the 70% of RA patients who still have considerable pain even while on a DMARD, however, she was not a good match for my needs.