• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Going to see a Dr Fry in Scottsadale, Az - any feedback?

sianrecovery

Senior Member
Messages
828
Location
Manchester UK
I'm going to see a Dr Fry in Scottsdale, AZ, in two weeks. I live in the UK but will be in Phoenix. I'm going to test for a variety of bacterial pathogens. I'd heard via a Lyme group he is good. Has anyone else seen him? Thanks, sian
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
Not sure, I will send an email to a person i know that lives in Arizona, perhaps she is familiar with him?

GG
 
Messages
18
I used to live in Arizona and took my teenage son to see him once. He refused to go back to him calling him an arrogant !@#$%. And my son has seen a lot of docs and has never refused to see one. People in Arizona either love him or can't stand him and chose to travel out of state for treatment.

He is controversial in that he tells his tick born disease patients to avoid all magnesium. Even the amount in the bottled water here. He believes it feeds biofilm. Meanwhile, I spoke with many patients of his who had a lot of symptoms that were low magnesium: anxiety, muscle pain/cramps, insomnia, depression, etc. Many lyme docs will tell their tick borne disease patients to supplement magnesium because we are typically low between borelia using it up and the low soil levels here in the US.

He also is controversial in that he tells his patients that he can cure Lyme but it is other infections causing their chronic illness. He only tests for lyme with two bands using a lab that is not known for being a good lab to test for lyme. Then he tests for other infections using his own lab.

Do some patients improve under his care? Yes. But just know that many Lyme patients who live in the area chose not to go to him but travel to California or back east to see Lyme specialists.

If I were you and traveling from so far, I would go another 6 hours to southern California and see a different doc. One who is less controversial in the Lyme community and one well thought of. I don't know what the policy is here about using physician's names so you can contact me if you are interested.

Also know that if you go to the website that Timaca mentioned, they all love Dr. Fry on there. So you will not get a balanced opinion, plus it is only for Arizona residents. The owner will tell you he is great.

While in Arizona, be sure to stay well hydrated as the humidity is very different from the UK. I never left the house without a container of water. In the Phoenix area it was my experience that when you visited someone the first thing they would ask you when you arrived is if you wanted a glass of ice water. They understood the importance of staying well hydrated.

Have a good trip. I am jealous. Wish I was going. =)

Best,
Karen
 

sianrecovery

Senior Member
Messages
828
Location
Manchester UK
thanks for your responses. I read his paper on magnesium and biofilms and I have to say, if he turns out to be right, I want to know - I've spent years stuffing myself with various omega oils and magnesium on the advice of ME docs and practitioners - if I've just been contributing to the growth of tougher, more prolific biofilms, I will be deeply pissed off!
 

PhoenixBurger

Senior Member
Messages
202
Okay I just went through the whole Fry thing 3 weeks ago. I landed probably on the same page you did about the biofilms. And this unknown pathogen he supposedly discovered. Please keep something in mind: The land of Lyme doctors is a land full of frauds and scam artists. Some of which dont even have medical licenses, and many, if not all, don't work with insurance. They just want cash. That should be a warning sign right there.

Fry has been talking about this pathogen and biofilm thing for years. If you go into pubmed and try to find one single published study about that pathogen you will see there is absolutely nothing. That means he has a grand total of zero % legitimacy as of yet. He has done absolutely nothing to verify his claims, yet he sees patients and currently treats them for this pathogen for thousands of dollars.

I got so excited when I saw Fry's interview that I literally mass mailed it to a bunch of neurologists. Then I looked like a fool because this guy has done nothing to verify his claims. And this fits right in with my impression of most Lyme doctors. They dont like to use legit labs. They dont like to use legit tests. They want thousands of dollars for office visits, cash out of pocket. The list goes on.

I would be extremely careful about who you see for your health problems, and I would focus on doctors recommended by other legitimate doctors, who have published work.

Read this: http://relative-risk.blogspot.com/2012/04/real-quacks-imaginary-bugs.html