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    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, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

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Need doctor in upper midwest - MN, ND, SD, IOWA, WI

A

alwayshopeful

Messages
80
I live in MN and trust me, there isn't much going on in the way of CFS doctors. Which is ridiculous considering the U of M is a huge teaching hospital and the Mayo clinic is based here!! I saw one doctor claiming to have CFS as one of her specialties and her best advice was for me to exercise every day----Wow, really?! I am seeing a good holistic doctor that I am reasonably happy with. At least he is willing to run lots of tests. We have talked about the methylation protocol and I think he would work with me on that if I decided to go that route. Not sure how far you are coming from, but he would maybe to a phone consult with you so you could ask some questions. Dr Michal Dole at Dakota Medical Clinic in St Louis Park
 
F

freshveggies

Senior Member
Messages
196
Thank you for the lead. Traveling to the cities is around 5 hours fo me and that is not too bad of a drive.
 
xrayspex

xrayspex

Senior Member
Messages
1,111
Location
u.s.a.
I see it the same way as AlwaysHopeful for WI--there is someone who is more alternative like the Dr Dole she mentions, private msg me if you want her name, she is respectful and will run tests and experiment if you have the $ and she is reasonably priced and smart and nice but I dont think is a big expert in the latest on CFS
 
ArgyrosfeniX

ArgyrosfeniX

Messages
55
Location
River Falls, WI - USA
I live just over the border from the Twin Cities in River Falls, WI. There isn't much in the Twin Cities at all, I've been looking for quite a while. I lucked out that the local clinic has an Internist that has been treating ME/CFSers for over 20 years even though it has been mostly symptom relief treatment. He has been willing to listen to me and we're now on a second round of Valcyte (the first was almost 3 years ago).

If you can't find someone who knows things, it at least helps to have someone that will help you when you know more about your disease than they do... His name is Dr. Jeffery Larson and I'm sure that the only reason I'm not bed-bound is due to his willingness to help me.
 
ArgyrosfeniX

ArgyrosfeniX

Messages
55
Location
River Falls, WI - USA
alwayshopeful said:
I live in MN and trust me, there isn't much going on in the way of CFS doctors. Which is ridiculous considering the U of M is a huge teaching hospital and the Mayo clinic is based here!!
Click to expand...
For what it's worth,
I've actually been told by other ME/CFSers to steer clear of the Mayo Clinic, that they don't know what they're talking about. That they base their treatments off of depression algorithms.
 
R

richvank

Senior Member
Messages
2,732
Hi, fresh.

Dr. Karen Vrchota in Winona, MN, was one of the first physicians to start using the methylation protocol. She has a lot of experience with it. She actually used to work for Mayo before she started her own practice. At a preconference seminar before the 2004 AACFS conference in Madison, she gave a talk, and reported that when she worked for Mayo, they used to send all the "fat chart" patients to her. The "fat chart" patients were those who had been to lots of docs and had lots of tests run, but hadn't been helped. Dr. Vrchota decided to start her own practice after a while.

Best regards,

Rich
 
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