Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease affecting over 1.3 million Americans. The immune system, which generally fights invaders and infections, mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissue and organs instead.
RA targets the synovial lining of joints, producing pain, swelling, morning stiffness, and over time structural damage. It is systemic rather than local, and fatigue is often as limiting as the joint symptoms.
Conventional treatment suppresses immune activity to slow progression. It is effective at that and does not address why the immune system turned.
Dr. Kellman treats autoimmunity as a failure of immune regulation, with the gut as the primary site where that regulation is established or lost.
Testing looks for gut permeability, microbiome disruption, food reactivity, infection, and toxic burden. Treatment addresses the drivers found while supporting the tissue repair that inflammation has interrupted.
No. Those decisions belong with your rheumatologist. Dr. Kellman's integrative work targets the inflammatory and gut-immune drivers alongside your existing treatment.
Diet shapes the microbiome and the inflammatory environment, both of which influence immune regulation. It is one input among several — Dr. Kellman uses testing to determine which inputs matter most for a given patient rather than applying a standard protocol.