Autoimmune Doctor Paramus North Jersey – Calming the Immune System, Not Just Managing Flares
When your doctor makes an autoimmune diagnosis, his note will likely include a prescription as well as little or no information about what caused your immune system to attack itself. An autoimmune physician in Paramus, North Jersey has a more rounded perspective. Dr. Roman Finn at CITM seeks to understand the causes of immune dysfunction that underlie Hashimoto's, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and psoriasis, and then creates a treatment plan to target the root causes of these conditions, rather than just treating flares when they occur.
The Physicians Guiding Your Autoimmune Care
- Dr. Roman Finn – board-certified internist with a special interest in root-cause, integrative medicine treatment of autoimmune diseases
- Scott David Lippe, MD – gastroenterology collaboration for the relationship between gut and immune system common in auto-immune disease
- Lev Vyshedsky, L.Ac – acupuncture used in selected areas to aid in inflammation and stress management
- A consistent doctor who is involved with your treatment throughout your flare-ups and your remissions, and not a jack-of-all-trades list of doctors
This continuity is particularly useful in the treatment of auto-immunity, where a pattern of what triggers a flare will only become apparent if results are correlated over several visits over a period of time.
Why Autoimmune Conditions Need More Than Symptom Management
Traditional treatments for autoimmunity tend to be ones that dampen the immune response when damage has already been done. That is a valid strategy, but one that doesn’t often ask the question of why the immune system began attacking healthy tissue in the first place. Instead of ending the investigation, the diagnosis of an autoimmune disease is the starting point for an autoimmune doctor at CITM to consider gut health, chronic infections, nutrient status, environmental triggers and stress load as the factors that may be contributing to your symptoms. This is a first for many patients to see anyone go past the antibody panel, and ask what triggered the immune system in the first place.
Conditions We Work With
- Autoimmune thyroid diseases, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
- Rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory joint diseases
- Systemic Autoimmune Diseases, including Lupus.
- Psoriasis and other skin diseases caused by autoimmunity.
- Celiac disease and other autoimmune diseases strongly associated with gut health
Each condition is considered separately, as the underlying causes of two patients with the same condition can be very different when testing is complete – it is for this reason that a generic auto-immune diet or supplement list is often insufficient.
How an Autoimmune Evaluation Works at CITM
Your first visit begins with a comprehensive history of your symptoms, how the symptoms have appeared, family history, and any previous treatments that have been attempted, and then a more extensive blood test panel than a standard autoimmune workup. Food sensitivities, chronic infections, nutrient deficiencies that are often missed and gut permeability are examined with functional and nutrient-based laboratory tests. Findings are not listened to in isolation, instead they are understood within the context of your entire history, and all collected information forms a treatment plan unique to you, not a prescribed treatment plan for every patient. Depending on patient history and antibody patterns, two patients that have the same antibody profile may get very different testing priorities.
Building a Plan That Reduces Flares Over Time
Treatment involves multiple modalities (not just medication) once the underlying causes are identified, and addresses gut inflammation, disturbs and food additives, stress and sleep support, and ongoing medication management as needed for ongoing clinical necessity. Acupuncture is used selectively where it would be beneficial in the reduction of flares and control of general inflammation. Your plan is tailored and customized throughout the process; symptoms and labs change, and flareups happen, and autoimmune conditions don’t always get better with a straight path. If a stretch is flare-free, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is over; instead it just means that the stretch is effective and likely to be refined further.
An Integrative Autoimmune Physician Paramus Patients Trust
The follow-through between flares is what makes it a type of care. Patients don’t just stay in the dark between flares but have a doctor who follows them throughout, who sees trends in what makes them flare, and who modifies the plan, which means that the flares become less frequent and the remission periods longer. This is a type of care that is available only after the flare has started, which is often what’s missing.
Serving Paramus, Hackensack, Clifton, Wayne & Fair Lawn
CITM is based in the heart of North Jersey at 22 Madison Ave in Paramus and provides services to patients with autoimmune disorders in Paramus, Hackensack, Clifton, Wayne, Fair Lawn and beyond. Most of the patients come in after cycling through a number of specialists without a plan that is cohesive.
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Schedule an Autoimmune Consultation in Paramus
If flares continue despite treatment, consider addressing underlying factors instead of simply treating flares when they occur. For more information, contact CITM at (201) 291-0401 or submit a request for a consultation online with the CITM autoimmune care team.
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Frequently Asked Questions: Autoimmune Doctor in Paramus
An autoimmune doctor at CITM is an autoimmune specialist that is working alongside the diagnosis that your specialist has already made, but has special focus on finding and treating what is causing the immune dysfunction, not just treating the disease with medications once it’s been diagnosed. The two roles complement each other and don’t compete with one another.
Yes. Improving gut health and managing food sensitivities often go hand-in-hand with immune health and food sensitivity testing often forms part of an autoimmune treatment plan when gut-related triggers are associated with increased flare-ups. Specific recommendations for change will depend on the results of your testing, not an elimination list for every patient.
Not automatically. Medications are not always eliminated but may be included in the plan depending on clinical need and as part of the diet, supplementation, and lifestyle modifications. Changes in the existing medications are carefully considered and only made in consultation with your prescribing specialist.
Yes. Most autoimmune diseases are not curable, but improving gut health, nutritional deficiencies and chronic stress can make a significant difference over time in reducing both the frequency and severity of flare-ups.
In addition to the antibody and inflammatory markers, functional testing can examine gut permeability, food sensitivities, chronic infections, and nutrients to provide a more comprehensive picture of all that is contributing to your case.
Depending on the individual case and the number of contributing factors, many patients see the flare-ups change over the next few months, as the plan is tweaked. Multiple overlapping triggers typically take longer to stabilize cases than single-driver trigger cases.
No referral necessary. Patients can make appointments directly with the CITM autoimmune care team.
The North Jersey communities of Paramus, Hackensack, Clifton, Wayne, Fair Lawn, and the surrounding area.