Do patients at Carrollwood Integrative Medicine have to drop their medications to participate?

What conditions does Carrollwood Integrative Medicine specialize in treating?

If I'm not interested in following detailed dietary or supplement recommendations, does it pay to come?

What if my doctor does not support my use of complementary medicine methods?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That is to say, many patients obtain substantial or partial reimbursement of the fees they pay to Carrollwood Integrative Medicine, depending on their insurance policies. However, we do not accept insurance "assignment".

There are several reasons we no longer participate in medical insurance programs. First of all, they drive up costs for patients who are not insured. Many doctors who accept insurance must increase fees, so that steeply discounted reimbursement by insurance companies will still cover their costs. Insurance claim filings require extra administrative staff, this adds substantial hidden costs to your medical care that can not translate to improvements in the actual quality of your treatment.

Secondly, tying medical practice to insurance payments steers doctors to conventionally recognized, reimbursable procedures, to bill for insurance dollars. We believe that patients should be entitled to the highest standards of care, regardless of cost-influenced decisions made by insurance company bureaucrats. Thirdly, while some progress is being made in recognition of complementary modalities, insurance companies and government programs like Medicare lag behind in recognition of such efficacious therapies as nutrition and environmental medicine.

We will give you appropriately coded medical bills and supportive documentation so that you can submit them to your insurance company. Where required, the doctors and their staff will prepare detailed letters explaining and justifying the care we render. In this way, many of our patients obtain reasonable reimbursement.  Sometimes, the costs of supplements or special foods can be applied as health expense tax deductions (consult your professional accountant for the latest tax provisions).

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It is our goal to keep care at the Carrollwood Integrative Medicine direct and personalized. To this end, your visit will always be with the physician.

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Do patients at Carrollwood Integrative Medicine have to drop their medications to participate?

Most definitely not. The ultimate goal for many patients is decreased reliance on medications. But INTELLIGENT MEDICINE calls for the concerted deployment of rational conventional medical strategies side by side with nutrition, herbs, vitamins, lifestyle changes, and supplements. In addition, it may take time for alternative strategies to kick in; meanwhile conventional drugs may be required to hold the line on chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or fibromyalgia.

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The general fee for the initial visit is $250.00, follow-up visits are dependent on the complexity of care and can range from $45-175. Medical workups are individualized at Carrollwood Integrative Medicine. Some patients may require only a few specialized blood tests because their conditions are simple and routine, or they have had very extensive and complete workups prior to visiting Carrollwood Integrative Medicine. (Patients are strongly encouraged to obtain and bring ALL of their prior test results and medical reports). Others may be encouraged to undertake a new series of specialized tests and evaluations to elucidate the underlying causes of their problems. Therefore, the cost will depend on testing done and the number of visits required. Billing is generally based on the medical complexity of care.

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For most patients, ongoing supervision and follow-up are important elements for successful compliance and prompt resolution of health conditions.  Additional visits with Dr. Damian will be scheduled appropriate to the demands of your condition. Once your goals have been achieved, you may be asked to schedule annual or every six-month visits to assure that you stay well.

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A wide range of medical conditions are treated at Carrollwood Integrative Medicine. Additionally many ostensibly "healthy" patients attempt optimization and prevention through our care. We are particularly good at reversing degenerative conditions linked to poor diet and lifestyle. Carrollwood Integrative Medicine is also a resource for many patients with poorly defined health conditions that have not responded well to conventional medical treatments. The benefits of complementary therapies are established in a wide-range of medical specialties including cardiology, pulmonary medicine, infectious disease, psychiatry, orthopedics, oncology, pediatrics, rheumatology, ob-gyn, dermatology, ophthalmology, urology, gastroenterology, neurology, allergy, infectious disease, and otolaryngology.
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If I'm not interested in following detailed dietary or supplement recommendations, does it pay to come?

If you are unwilling to make any changes, Carrollwood Integrative Medicine is likely not the right place for you. We envision ourselves as Health Coaches. Just as a professional athlete requires expert coaching to attain excellence, so too does a highly motivated and intelligent patient require specific techniques and recommendations to recover his or her health. But the "focus of control" for someone's health is essentially their own. Taking personal responsibility for regulating one's lifestyle is a key ingredient in long-term recovery. We at Carrollwood Integrative Medicine can provide expert medical coaching and be on the look out for the need for appropriate emergency care, but we cannot provide your focus of control. Surrender of your personal autonomy, so common in conventional medical care, is a primitive response to the stress of illness - it is ultimately counterproductive to regaining wellness. At Carrollwood Integrative Medicine, we endeavor to return the focus of control back to you, where it rightfully belongs.

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Some patients feel better almost from the time they leave Carrollwood Integrative Medicine with their first supplements and diet recommendations. In general it takes some time for chronic medical conditions to yield to natural interventions. A good rule is that the duration and severity of a medical condition predicts the rate at which it will respond. Bear in mind, however, that soon your "worst days" may seem better than what you previously considered your “best day”.

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Not everyone gets better right away, nor are all conditions amenable to our therapies. Be assured that if you're "stuck" we will endeavor to adjust our therapies to jumpstart your recovery. We are also not reluctant to send patients who do not improve for additional medical workups. If you are not improving, it's important for us to find out why. We may exercise the option to send you to other types of medical specialists to perform tests or deliver therapy that we do not specialize in. An example would be to send a patient with dizziness for specialized "Vestibular Rehabilitation". Another would be to send a patient with fatigue to a high-tech Sleep Lab to rule out such conditions as sleep apnea. If we no longer think we can get you better, you will be first to know, and appropriate referrals will be made to facilitate your recovery elsewhere.

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Yes, Dr. Damian uses innovative testing and treatment for some children and some adolescents. Additionally many children now require care for obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, colitis, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, conditions formerly seen almost exclusively in adults.

We generally prefer to treat children no younger than their teen years. Often, it is our experience that kids respond even more quickly and dramatically to nutritional care than adults, perhaps because they have had less time to acquire "stuck" degenerative conditions.

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While the majority of our patients live in the Tampa Bay area, many of our patients come from other regions, and a few from other countries. It makes sense for some patients to come a long way because the resources we offer may not be available anywhere near where they live. We endeavor to accommodate long-distance patients by coordinating their visits so that everything that requires their physical presence at our center (physical exams, blood and allergy tests, etc.) can be concentrated into as few initial sessions as possible. Then, when results have been compiled and patients are ready for their results visits, follow-up can be arranged by phone. In this way, long-distance patients can be treated and monitored appropriately with infrequent need for repeat visits to Tampa.

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Many patients resort to us for treatment of conditions that have been difficult to diagnose. They may suffer distress, but conventional medicine tells them "We can't find anything wrong with you". While we encourage thorough medical workups and evaluations to make sure that we are not missing a critical underlying problem like hidden heart disease, cancer, MS, or an infectious disease, we find that stress, environment, or nutritional deficiencies can often underlie diffuse and bothersome symptoms.

Medical diagnoses are merely tools to help us classify patients. But their value is limited because many patients do not conform to ideal profiles taught in medical school. By searching for underlying causes of disease and distress, Carrollwood Integrative Medicine often provides hope and relief to patients with challenging and enigmatic conditions.

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What if my doctor does not support my use of complementary medicine methods?

Conventional doctors vary in their responses to their patients' wishes to utilize complementary approaches. At best, it is encouraging to report that increasing numbers of  physicians are learning about the legitimate uses of nutrition and alternative medicine in programs in hospitals and medical schools. Dr. Damian feels it is an important part of their work to educate doctors and medical students in these methods.

If, as a patient at Carrollwood Integrative Medicine, you feel caught in an uncomfortable "paradigm shift", we feel it is important to communicate. We stand ready to explain our findings and proposed treatment plan to your other doctors. We share information in an open, respectful, and forthcoming way. If necessary, we will share scientific evidence with your physician to support their understanding of the care we are offering you.

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