Dr Christina Von Kockritz in Germany

[Insomniac]

Has anyone seen Dr Christina Von Kockritz in Germany?

Here is her website in German:

https://dr-v-koeckritz.de/chronische-muedigkeit/

She was mentioned by another forum member as someone who does celltrend antibody test, which is the same antibody test Dr Kaufman does.

 

[Hip]

The website is also available in English, but there's not very much info on the site, and no details are given regarding the tests and treatments used for ME/CFS.

 

[Malea]

A friend of mine saw Dr. v. Köckritz for one appointment.

She seems to be one of the better general practitioners in this area but I‘m not sure that she really gets severe CFS/ME. (I think this because she told my friend a personal story in which she defined ME as just fatigue.)

But yeah.. just a random impression from a year ago.

 

[Insomniac]

Thank you Malea. What you say makes sense because on her translated page she talks a lot about fatigue and not the real suffering of this illness.

I thought about Dr Von Kockritz because she does celltrend tests, which are a test for CFS antibodies. World experts in America like Dr Kaufman do celltrend tests.
I want to do those celltrend tests but am too ill to fly to see Dr Kaufman or any CFS expert in Los Angelas.

If you are positive for those tests, you can then get taken more seriously and get access to gamma globulin or some serious treatment from doctors.

What is interesting is that Dr Cheddha orders the celltrend test through a Dr Heidecke who I think is in Germany.


Is there anyone here who speaks and reads German and can do a google search for "Dr Heidecke"?

This would be helpful for German CFS patients too, who are too sick/poor to go to Stanford University or Dr Kaufman/Dr Cheda but would be able to get cell trend tests done in their own country.

I really would like to know where Dr Heidecke is and how to contact him/her.

 

[Malea]

Dr Heidecke is one of the managers of celltrend and if I remember it right, he is not a medical doctor.

For celltrend you don’t need a doctor who sends the sample in for you... if this is in any form helpful for you. If you would have the possibility to have your blood drawn somewhere, you could theoretically just send it in by yourself.

 

[Lisa108]

For celltrend you don’t need a doctor who sends the sample in for you... if this is in any form helpful for you. If you would have the possibility to have your blood drawn somewhere, you could theoretically just send it in by yourself.

I just want to second this.
Here is a link to Celltrend.

 

[Gingergrrl]

I thought about Dr Von Kockritz because she does celltrend tests, which are a test for CFS antibodies.

The Cell Trend autoantibodies test for antibodies against the alpha & beta adrenergic receptors as well as anti muscarinic/cholinergic receptors and two newer tests that I am forgetting the name without finding my results. Some of these autoantibodies have been linked to ME/CFS and others have been linked to POTS (specifically Autoimmune POTS). I suspect they will ultimately link to other illnesses in the future as well.

If you are positive for those tests, you can then get taken more seriously and get access to gamma globulin or some serious treatment from doctors.

I am not sure what country you are in but these autoantibodies alone (Cell Trend) would NOT get US insurance to pay for IVIG. They definitely show that you have autoimmunity, and they were an additional factor in my case, but in and of themselves, they were often dismissed b/c Cell Trend was not a US Lab.

What is interesting is that Dr Cheddha orders the celltrend test through a Dr Heidecke who I think is in Germany.

Dr. Chheda works with Dr. Kaufman (my doctor) at Center for Complex Diseases in Mountainview, CA. Dr. Harald Heidecke is the head of Cell Trend Labs in Germany. I spoke with him on the phone in 2016 (from the US) when I did the Cell Trend tests b/c much less info was available at that time and I had some questions.

Is there anyone here who speaks and reads German and can do a google search for "Dr Heidecke"?

I do not speak German (but Malea & Lisa do who replied below) and Dr. Heidecke is the head of Cell Trend.

This would be helpful for German CFS patients too, who are too sick/poor to go to Stanford University or Dr Kaufman/Dr Cheda but would be able to get cell trend tests done in their own country.

You do not need to be in Germany to do the tests and you definitely 100% do not need to be at Stanford or in CA. I have talked with patients all over the world (here on PR) who have done the testing from the US and many different countries.

For celltrend you don’t need a doctor who sends the sample in for you... if this is in any form helpful for you. If you would have the possibility to have your blood drawn somewhere, you could theoretically just send it in by yourself.

This is correct but in my state you do require a doctor to order the blood draw (but it just required him writing one sentence on the form and signing it) which I showed to the speciality lab the first time I did the tests and to a home phlebotomy service when I re-did them two years later.

Hope this helps!

 

[Malea]

This is correct but in my state you do require a doctor to order the blood draw (but it just required him writing one sentence on the form and signing it) which I showed to the speciality lab the first time I did the tests and to a home phlebotomy service when I re-did them two years later.

Ok, this is different here. In general, we have to go to the doctor, too. But we also have the possibility to ask a lab to do it without seeing a doctor. That costs a few Euros. Not every lab will do it, though.

We also have alternative practioners who are allowed to draw blood and give (non-medicinal) infusions and are paid by the patient. Doctors hate them

 

[Markus83]

In the meantime the IMD Berlin (regular lab) seems to offer this test, too: https://www.imd-berlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Anforderungsscheine/SI_Anforderung_IGEL.pdf (number 323 on the sheet). I think they are using the Celltrend-testkit, but I don't know for sure (better ask them via email). But you certainly can send blood to them on your own and you don't need to travel to Germany. Don't know if a test from a regular German lab is more recognized than if it's done by Celltrend...

 

[Gingergrrl]

Ok, this is different here. In general, we have to go to the doctor, too. But we also have the possibility to ask a lab to do it without seeing a doctor. That costs a few Euros. Not every lab will do it, though.

I didn't have to see my doctor in person for this vs. he just wrote a brief statement and e-mailed it to me to give the specialty lab (since a patient in my state cannot go to a lab and request a blood draw that is not authorized by a doctor).

We also have alternative practioners who are allowed to draw blood and give (non-medicinal) infusions and are paid by the patient. Doctors hate them

We have all kinds of alternative practitioners here as well but I am not sure if they can do blood draws?

In the meantime the IMD Berlin (regular lab) seems to offer this test, too: https://www.imd-berlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Anforderungsscheine/SI_Anforderung_IGEL.pdf

I have heard about this more recently in other threads but I think it did not exist when I did the Cell Trend testing for the first time in 2016 (the lab might have existed but not this specific panel)?

Don't know if a test from a regular German lab is more recognized than if it's done by Celltrend...

It's hard to say and I think most US insurance companies would not recognize a lab outside of the US (but this would NOT mean that the lab is not 100% valid).