WELLNESS.BALANCE.YOU.

Autoimmune
Conditions

Cherise FNP-BC combines the best of functional medicine, nutrition, and lifestyle management with conventional treatments to treat the root cause of your autoimmune disease.   Your experience will be individualized, focused, and comprehensive in finding the treatment solutions you deserve.

Autoimmune disease is an immune system problem that causes your immune cells (your defense system against viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens) to attack your own healthy tissues– the very tissues they are supposed to protect!

There are over 100 autoimmune diseases. Some you may have heard of are:

  • Ankylosing spondylitis
  • Autoimmune Thyroid Disease
  • Celiac Disease
  • Crohn’s Disease
  • Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (Hypothyroidism)
  • Graves’ Disease (Hyperthyroidism)
  • Lupus
  • Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.)
  • Type I Diabetes
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Sjögren’s syndrome
  • Ulcerative Colitis

In addition there are 40 more diseases that have autoimmune involvement. In fact, autoimmune diseases have become an epidemic and their treatment eclipses cancer care costs. The NIH estimates the cost of treating autoimmune diseases to be around $100 billion, almost double spent on cancer.

How Are Autoimmune Conditions Diagnosed?

Diagnosing autoimmune disease requires a thorough evaluation of your symptoms and history. From there, a diagnosis can be confirmed by ordering the right lab tests.

Conventionally, an Antinuclear Antibody (ANA) blood test and disease specific antibody tests are used to screen for autoimmune conditions. At Wellness.Balance.You. all patients are screened for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, because it is the most common autoimmune condition. In addition to these tests, there are specialized blood tests that screen for a much broader spectrum of antibodies.

Why Take the Functional Medicine Approach?

Traditional Western Medicine, or conventional medicine, focuses on diagnosing and treating symptoms, generally with prescription medication or surgery. This approach works well with acute medical illnesses, like a heart attack or trauma, but is often less successful when dealing with chronic autoimmune conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis

 In recent years, breakthrough pharmacologic drugs that suppress the immune system have come to market with the goal of  ameliorating symptoms associated with autoimmune diseases. These treatments have improved the lives of many who have suffered from pain and disability. But the treatments often have side effects and long-term risks to health and ultimately do not get to the root of the problem.  

Taking a functional medicine approach to uncover the triggers and correct underlying imbalances, Cherise FNP-BC emphasizes an understanding of the causes of physiologic imbalance for each individual patient-true personalized medicine.  She combines the latest in autoimmune research to treat even the most complex autoimmune conditions keeping her patients healthy.  Nutrition, botanical therapies, diet, lifestyle and a novel prescription called Low Dose Naltrexone can all be game changers in arresting and even reversing autoimmune disease. 

Are you constantly struggling,

knowing things could be better?

TAKE CHERISE'S OVERALL WELLNESS QUIZ

And Get Exclusive Access To Her Basic Wellness Plan