Integrative Medicine & Lifestyle Medicine

Dr. Jorn Heeringa, Internal Medicine Specialist Immunologist/Allergist

A personal integrative approach to health

As an internist, I am trained to look at the patient with a broad perspective. However, most treatments we use are limited to prescribing medication. In acute or serious situations, this can be absolutely necessary, but for many, primarily chronic conditions, this often only suppresses the manifestations of an underlying problem while there is insufficient time and attention for the cause.

In my view, this can and must be different. In our society, chronic conditions are a growing problem, where the current delivery of care has insufficient attention for the factors that underlie them.

In my practice, I therefore aim to focus attention on uncovering the cause of your complaints and offering tools that give you control over your health.

About me

I trained as an internist-immunologist/allergist at Erasmus MC. This means that within internal medicine, I have further specialized in the immune system, which plays a role in autoimmune diseases, immune disorders, and allergies.

While conventional medicine offers many essential and effective treatments, I noticed a lack of time and attention for the person as a whole in the hospital. This leaves lifestyle factors and aspects that play a role in the interaction between a person and their environment often underexposed.

To be able to offer a broader range of treatments, I pursued additional training in Integrative Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. In my current practice, I combine my medical expertise as an internist-immunologist/allergist with insights from lifestyle medicine and integrative medicine.

Approach

In my practice, I work according to the principle of Integrative Medicine. This means I combine conventional medicine with (scientifically supported) treatments from complementary medicine.

This approach is characterized by a personal approach that primarily focuses on uncovering the underlying problem and where treatment is aimed at removing the causal disruption.

Important aspects include genuine time and attention for you and your complaints, where research is conducted into possible causes and disruptions. The treatments focus on supporting the body through lifestyle interventions supplemented with interventions that help the body in the recovery process.

Services

In principle, you are welcome in the practice with any complaint. Together with you, we can see if the care provided can be of added value. Experience shows that chronic complaints and unexplained complaints in particular can benefit from an integral approach. This can be done simultaneously with ongoing treatment programs with other doctors or paramedics.

See below for examples of some conditions:

Metabolic diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome

Autoimmune diseases and rheumatic conditions such as fibromyalgia and arthritis

Allergies, intolerances, chronic urticaria, and mast cell related conditions

Post Acute Infection Syndrome (PAIS) such as long-Covid, Post-Q fever, Chronic Lyme, and EBV

Gastrointestinal complaints such as irritable bowel syndrome, abdominal cramps, constipation, acid reflux

Skin conditions such as eczema and acne

Chronic fatigue and burnout

Unexplained chronic complaints

Additional Testing

In consultation with you, we can explore whether additional testing might be valuable for investigating underlying issues. This may include:

Blood and urine testing

Microbiome analysis (research of the composition of the gut flora)

BIA measurement (measurement of body composition of fat mass, muscle mass, bones and body water)

Practice vision

A personalized integrative approach to health

In my practice, an integrative and person-centered approach to health is central. I see health as the result of an interplay between biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. Treatment of health problems is therefore aimed at uncovering and addressing a possible imbalance in these different domains.

With chronic complaints, there are often disruptions that have built up over a longer period of time. This naturally includes attention to your complaints, but this approach also focuses on restoring balance and promoting resilience, using lifestyle interventions and where appropriate, additional treatments from integrative medicine.

The principle is that treatment becomes more effective and sustainable, and that patient and doctor work together from mutual understanding, with sufficient time and attention. The treatment is tailored to the individual situation, supported by medical expertise and aimed at strengthening the self-healing capacity.