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Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter

Allergy and Immunology
Dallas, TX
44 years experience female

Locations

Office

Dallas, TX

Address

Allergy and Asthma Preston Center, 6114 Sherry Lane, Dallas, TX
Directions

Practice website

Insurances accepted

Aetna Life Insurance Company

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas

Cigna

Great-West Healthcare

Health Care Services Corporation (HCSC)

United HealthCare Insurance Company

Humana Insurance Company

Office

Dallas, TX

About

Bio

A board-certified allergist/immunologist, Dr. Baxter graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. She then trained in Internal Medicine and Allergy/Immunology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, where she is currently a Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Allergy and Immunology Division. After participating in research on penicillin allergy and anaphylaxis, she opened her private practice in North Dallas in 1985. An enthusiastic medical volunteer, Dr Baxter founded a free clinic, the Agape Medical Clinic of Grace United Methodist Church, in 1983. She serves as its Medical Director currently. She also serves on the board of Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic. Dr Baxter is married and has 3 grown children. Her hobbies include singing in church choir, cycling, playing handbells, piano, and swimming.

Specialties
Doctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.

Allergy and Immunology

Licenses

United States: Texas

Doctor Q&A

415 Answers
424 Agrees
The number of answers this doctor has agreed with.
A 24-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Dust mite allergy: Mites live mainly in cloth fiber areas, so in mattresses, rugs and upholstery. You can encase your mattress and pillow, aim for bare floors when you a... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 53-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Allergy vs celiac: A wheat allergy is the symptoms that occur when you make ige antibodies to wheat. Celiac disease is the symptoms that occur when your body makes IgA a... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 32-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Spleen's importance: The spleen helps stop infections from spreading, so losing it means one needs special attention when sick. Doctors caring for these patients should be... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Hours to days to ...: Doryx (doxycycline) is a slow-release form of doxycyline, a tetracycline-type antibiotic. Common side effects include headache, nausea, acid stomach... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 33-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Apnea + insomnia-yes: Sleep apnea and insomnia are 2 separate diagnoses, and can be present in the same person. With sleep apnea, a person stops breathing during sleep, usu... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 32-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Chocolate allergy: Thankfully, severe allergies to chocolate itself are rare. Most reactions to candy bars are to nuts and a few to soy or corn sweeteners. The best way ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 34-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Neomycin not emycin (erythromycin): Yes, you can use topical creams or ointments containing neomycin and polymyxin if you are allergic to e-mycin, also called erythromycin. The three me... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 41-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Sterile pustules: Fire ants cause the most distressing ant bites. They actually are stings, produced by the rear end of the insect, often in a circular pattern. There ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 34-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Scope of practice: Most do, but some practice a fair amount of general pediatrics along with their specialty. To find out, call the office and ask the staff. They will b... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 31-year-old male asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
It's complicated...: Your overall health and lack of frequent infections is the easiest gauge of the strength of your immune system. Usually this system is nearly perfect-... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Ephedra>>cordifolia: Ephedra sinica, has a total alkaloid content of 1–3% by dry weight. Ephedrine (ephedrine sulfate) constitutes 40–90% of the alkaloid content(wikipedia... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 34-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Imitrex (sumatriptan) & allergy ok: It's all right to take your allergy medication on the same day as your sumatriptan. There are no dangerous interactions warnings for antihistamines, l... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 34-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Sometimes sedation: Most of the time, Claritin (loratadine) has few side effects, but in 8% of people, it can be sedating. Rare serious side effects :fast or uneven heart... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Diagnosing rashes: Correctly diagnosing a rash requires a good history and a physical exam. You could have dry skin, atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, a dermatophyt... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 33-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Dry scaly feet: It could be athlete's foot or atopic dermatitis or contact dermatitis, etc. You can try to prevent athlete's foot by wearing sandals, changing shoes/s... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 41-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Blocked ears: Ear- blocking does sometimes occur as part of a person's allergy symptoms, because the eustachian tubes can swell when there is allergic inflammation.... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Take meds when preg.: The risk to the baby of not taking your asthma medications while pregnant is generally considered to be higher than any risks to the baby caused by th... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 46-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Xyzal (levocetirizine) is zyrtec: All the same as zyrec-- drowsiness in about 13%, dry mouth in a few, urinary hesitancy is possible in older men, mostly.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 39-year-old male asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
AllegraD / warfarin : I can find no warnings in the epocrates database for either fexfenadine or pseudoephedrine, the two ingredients in Allegra (fexofenadine) d regarding ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 39-year-old male asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Cortisone cream: You can use cool compresses or otc cortisone cream. Benadryl (diphenhydramine) may work better than Claritin or Allegra for this type of itch. Which a... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 55-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Cetirizine: Cetirizine or zyrtec (cetirizine) can sedate some people, so i usually suggest taking it at night at first. The sedation only affects 13% of folks, th... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 34-year-old male asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Causes of hives : Hives can be very complicated . The longer they continue to erupt, the more complicated they may be. If the lesions are staying in the same place, the... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 34-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Doctor for allergies: Allergists treat the allergies and the ear- blocking and headaches that come with them. They don't do neck adjustments in the USA. I would start with ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 34-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Allergy meds : Allegra is safe to take daily for allergy symptoms . It takes less than an hour to help, so the decision to take it can be made daily. It doesn't matt... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 52-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Asthma vs COPD : There is significant overlap. COPD is usually less reversible and caused by scarring due to smoking in most cases, where asthma is often allergic in c... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 51-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Sore throat from med: The prednisone is for asthma , but can increase your blood sugar and cause an increase in stomach acid, leading to reflux or gastritis. Both prednison... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 37-year-old male asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Contact dermatitis: Poison ivy can get on your penis if you touch a plant and then your privates. If you did that, about 2-3 days later, it would do exactly what you desc... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Meds for colds: Yes, but it's not usually advisable. Claritin d contains antihistamine and decongestant. Mucinex (guaifenesin) dm contains expectorant and cough suppr... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 29-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Get AIDS vertically: Yes. If a child is infected by its mother, it will carry the virus lifelong. The HIV virus has also been acquired by needle-sharing among parenteral ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 43-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
rash from scratchin: Most of the time, the main symptom is intensely itchy skin that causes the person to scratch. The scratching can cause patches of red rashes, often in... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 45-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Sulfa not= sulfite: Sulfonamide drug allergies are not generally predictive of reactions to sulfites. Although they sound similar, the body sees these chemicals quite dif... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 29-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Dough has eggs: Most cookie dough contains raw eggs. Check the ingredient list. If you have a severe egg allergy, even a tiny amount could be dangerous. Many people d... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 37-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Benadryl (diphenhydramine): It helps if you know what caused the hives. Benadryl (diphenhydramine) will work the quickest but also will be out of your system the quickest and wi... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 46-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Can help symptoms: If you mean, does taking singulair (montelukast) help prevent symptoms from Aspirin sensitivity in people known to have this problem? Yes, it can. It ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 42-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Nausea, diarrhea: Doryx (doxycycline) is a slow-release form of doxycyline, which is a tetracycline-type antibiotic. This family of antibiotics has a lot of side effec... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 37-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Keep a food diary: If you develop hives immediately after eating, you might have a food allergy. To test this idea, try writing down everything you ate before getting hi... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 47-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Rheumatoid arthritis: Rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, osteoarthritis, sjogren's syndrome, -these are some of the commoner ones.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Glycemic index: A high glycemic index means a food turns into sugar readily in your body. Foods containing gluten are grains, and are carbohydrates, so they have a hi... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 35-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Repeat lung collapse: Yes, people have had this happen more than once. It is more likely to happen again if a person is tall and thin, the body type that is risky for this,... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 47-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
It depends: If the rheumatologist has told you nothing else is showing up, you may not need to see the specialist again for a long time, or ever. Lots of people h... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Wikipedia: Epocrates can be a bit difficult for a non-physician to navigate. You might want to start with wiki instead. This article has quite a bit of informati... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 36-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Don't smoke period: Are you talking about inhaling a burning substance, or cooking it in a smoker like "smoked salmon" ;-) ? Any kind of smoke that is inhaled into your l... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 26-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Gastroenteritis: Most gastroenteritis is viral and lasts only a few days at most. Often it lasts only 24-48 hours. The total WBC count is not usually elevated. A low l... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 42-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Androgens: Male hormones, called androgens as a group and referred to as steroids by body builders, can help increase a person's muscle mass. Because they have b... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 29-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Food allergy symptom: Any food can cause an allergy, and nuts like almonds cause allergies pretty often. Food allergy symptoms can affect many different organs and are uniq... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 32-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Prevent allergic rxn: Don't count on it. That might work, but it could be very dangerous--fatal! you need tests to determine your allergies and if you want to challenge you... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 32-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Food allergies: Most of the time, an allergy stays the same, at least for a while. However, in about ten per cent of cases, the allergy will become more severe. Your ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 46-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Facial rash: Facial rashes can be caused by many things. Most commonly, they are due to contact sensitivity to products used on the face, but they can also occur f... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 36-year-old member asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Yes, unless infected: Clobetasol will help decrease the local inflammation associated with most insect bites. If a person has scratched the bites and caused them to become ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
A 56-year-old female asked:
Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter
Allergy and Immunology 44 years experience
Transplant patients: If you have had a life-saving transplant, you should not take any medications without consulting your transplant team. If you have a serious weight i... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.

Testimonials
Recommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.

5
Recommendations
701
Thank you notes
Jul 17, 2013
excellent answers and an excellent doctor
Dec 22, 2015
Highly recommend
HealthTap member
Mar 30, 2015
Dr. Baxter is an amazing doctor! #nationaldoctorsday2015 #virtualflower1
HealthTap member
Thank you for the kindness and no-nonsense answer! The headache is more of a throbbing/dull pain goes away on its own after a short while on standing-- possibly could be dehydration. Thank you!
HealthTap member
This was very helpful. Thanks! I never finish allergy shots to be effective, abmnd yes i do have asthma, just came from the er i have bronchitis too prednisone and levaquin..
HealthTap member
Thanks for your quick reply! On Prilosec and take singulair. Hoping to get answes soon.Thank you for such a quick response.My pulm doctor wants to rule out bronchiectasi

Education & Training

Medical/Graduate school

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY
Graduated 1979MD

Awards

Outstanding Teacher Award, 2004-5, UT Southwestern Allergy Division
American Lung Association Dinner Chair award 1998, 1999
East Dallas Weed and Seed 2004 Community Heart and Soul Award

Affiliations

American College of Physicians
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
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