Holistic support for autoimmune conditions means: medical care for nutrition, lifestyle, micronutrients, and how you feel – complementing specialist treatment, never replacing it. The focus areas of my practice are lichen sclerosus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Anyone living with an autoimmune condition knows the pattern: specialist care carries diagnosis and medication – that is what it is for, and it stays the foundation. Alongside it sit questions that so far have no place of their own. Why am I so exhausted when my values are “fine”? What role do nutrition, sleep, and stress play? What can I contribute myself? This is exactly where my support begins – complementing specialist treatment, never replacing it.

Which autoimmune conditions do I support?

Three conditions are at the centre of my work: lichen sclerosus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis. They are chronic, they affect the whole person rather than a single organ – and they leave a great many everyday questions open between specialist appointments. That is where my support comes in.

Lichen sclerosus

Lichen sclerosus is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that mainly affects the genital and anogenital area. It is considerably more common in women – most often around and after the menopause, though it occurs at any age and in men as well. It is frequently diagnosed late: not because it is rare, but because itching, burning, skin fissures, or pain during sex are experienced as shameful and therefore go unmentioned for a long time. Some patients have years and several practices behind them before the condition is finally named. Symptoms like these deserve to be named plainly rather than talked around – that takes time and an unhurried setting, and both are built into my consultations.

Specialist treatment is and remains the basis – dermatological or gynaecological, usually with topical anti-inflammatory preparations that have to be used consistently to work. Regular specialist follow-up is likewise part of the standard of care for this condition, and I keep an eye on whether it is happening. My support sits alongside that: putting findings in context, going through skin care and everyday practicalities, looking at nutrition, micronutrient and vitamin status, sleep, and stress regulation – and making room for the question of how to live with a condition that touches your sense of your own body, your sleep, and your relationship.

Why the question stays open here. Why lichen sclerosus arises is not conclusively understood on current knowledge. Established treatment aims at controlling the condition. That is exactly why the question why is given room in my practice – without an answer being decided in advance.

Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory condition that shows on the skin but is not confined to it. A substantial proportion of those affected also develop joint involvement – psoriatic arthritis. That places psoriasis in immediate proximity to the inflammatory rheumatic conditions I also support. Metabolism and the cardiovascular system belong in the picture too: high blood pressure, lipid disorders, and impaired insulin sensitivity are more common than in the population at large. This is precisely where a skin condition and preventive medicine meet.

Dermatological treatment – rheumatological where the joints are involved – remains the foundation. Alongside it, the work is about the cardiometabolic risk profile, which targeted laboratory diagnostics can make visible, about a diet oriented towards reducing inflammation, about movement, sleep, and stress regulation – and about raising new joint symptoms early so that they can be assessed by a specialist.

Rheumatoid arthritis

With inflammatory joint conditions – rheumatoid arthritis above all – rheumatological treatment is the foundation: disease-modifying medication and its monitoring belong in specialist hands, and using it early and consistently matters more than anything else. Alongside that I support what else has an influence – eating patterns, movement in a tolerable measure, weight, sleep, stress regulation, micronutrient and vitamin D status – and the question of how pain and exhaustion settle into your daily life.

Fasting and rheumatoid arthritis. Studies on fasting in rheumatoid arthritis go back to the 1990s; they are mostly small and mostly old. Fasting is not a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and does not replace disease-modifying therapy. Whether medically supervised fasting is an option for you at all is something we assess individually and in coordination with your rheumatologist – not least because the effect of medication can change during a fast.

Other autoimmune conditions

These three are focus areas, not an exclusion list. I also support people with other autoimmune conditions – Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, the most common autoimmune condition in Germany, or inflammatory bowel disease, for example. Whether supportive care makes sense in your case is something we clarify in the first consultation.

What does “supportive care” mean in practice?

A thorough stocktake. A detailed medical history and laboratory diagnostics that may go beyond routine monitoring – inflammation markers, thyroid and autoimmune parameters, metabolic values, micronutrient and vitamin status, depending on your condition and previous findings.
Findings explained. We go through your results together – the new ones and the ones you bring with you – and place them in the context of your everyday life and how you actually feel.
Nutrition and lifestyle. Individual, workable recommendations on nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress regulation – matched to your condition and your medication.
Medically supervised fasting, where it fits: whether a fasting period or an adapted way of eating is an option for you is something we examine carefully and individually – more on this under medically supervised fasting.
Coordination instead of going it alone. Treatment by your specialists – dermatology, gynaecology, rheumatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology – remains the foundation. My role is complementary; prescribed medication is never changed without consulting them. If you wish, the specialists treating you receive copies of all findings and recommendations from my practice – this kind of support only works when it is coordinated.

A particular focus: women’s health

Many autoimmune conditions affect women considerably more often than men, and they frequently interact with hormonal phases of life – the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, menopause. Lichen sclerosus is the clearest example: a condition that predominantly affects women, is closely bound up with the hormonal phase of life, and still rarely comes up of its own accord. I deliberately give these connections room in both diagnosis and advice.

I of course also support men with autoimmune conditions – with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or lichen sclerosus, for example.

What does this support cost?

Billing follows the German medical fee schedule (GOÄ), depending on the length of consultations and the laboratory work involved. You receive a written cost overview before we begin – details under fees & reimbursement.

What this support can achieve – and what it cannot

According to current medical knowledge, autoimmune conditions cannot be cured, and responsible medicine does not promise otherwise. The aim of this support is to positively influence how you feel and your quality of life, to strengthen the way you live with the condition, and to make good use of the factors you can actually influence. The same holds for all three focus areas: no way of eating, no fasting period, and no supplement replaces specialist treatment. What is realistically achievable is something we discuss openly in the first consultation. And in every case: support complements specialist treatment, it does not replace it; prescribed medication is not changed without consultation.