Kathi
Senior Member
- Messages
- 104
- Location
- Pittsburgh,PA
January is a double whammy month. On the 28th is my birthday, and two days later is the anniversary of my heart attack. Dr. Teitelbaum's Pittsburgh Fibro and Fatigue Center caused me to have a heart attack, which now puts me in severe cardiac heart failure.
Let me digress...... I got sick in the summer of 2004 through chemical exposure and eating plenty of fish.(I have worked in and out of CFS since 1985 on two occassions according to Dr. Cheney, but this time everything was different.) I declined rapidly and by December of 2005, I was struggling. I could barely walk or understand what was happening to me. But with a strong work ethic, I kept on trying to do my job. I managed to make it through the school year, but spent most of the summer on the couch or on the deck. This was unusual for someone that biked many miles and built their own shade garden in previous years during the summer months. I always put down 14 yards of mulch each summer by myself. It was great exercise and I loved working out in the yard. But this summer was different and I had no idea why. In August, two weeks before school started, I was finally able to get off the couch by using a shot a day of B-12. I had come across Dr. Teitelbaum's information and book and started communicating with him by email. He was very compassionate and seemed to have a sincere interest in helping me. In April I saw him in person when he was publicizing the Pittsburgh Fibro and Fatigue Center in Robinson Township. I couldn't make it myself, so my inlaws drove me to the seminar. Dr. Teitelbaum suggested I see Dr. Pierotti, as he was an excellent physician trained in CFS. I tried to make it through the school year, taking off over 20 sick days just to make it to May. ( We were in a federal audit year and I did not want to let my school in the lurch by leaving and having to get someone else in my position that couldn't handle an audit) Finally, on Memorial Day weekend, I had to concede that I couldn't work the last few days of the school year, but at least I had gotten all my work completed before leaving my job. I knew by then, even though I knew no one else with this illness, that Dr. Teitelbaum was right when he said I would have to quit working for awhile. He told me I shouldn't go back to work until I had that " Yippee Feeling" Ok, I finally got it, and took a half year sabbatical, which would take me to mid January of the following year.Surely by that time I would be better. In October I started using Vitamin C to bowel tolerance levels and finally started feeling a little bit better. I had terrible herxing, but for the first time I could finally walk and seemed to have a bit more energy. I continued with the C, as suggested by Dr. Teitelbaum and was growing stronger little by little. But I had read Bruce Campbell's information and knew how to stay within my energy envelope. All the above helped, along with B-12 and other vitamins.
By November, I realized that my sabbatical would be over in January and Dr. Teitelbaum said I could relapse if I went to work too soon , if not fully recovered. So I decided to finally check out the Pittsburgh Fibro and Fatigue Center. Dr. Pierotti was unable to diagnose me properly, even with 24 pages of questions and answers in their diagnostic questionnaire. He was arrogant and rude. He betrayed confidentiality to his receptionist and wouldn't let me use nearly 100 sick days that I had accumulated as a speech/language pathologist, when I got sicker after taking his medications. I started them on Christmas Day and within a few days I was in bed with a high fever and sore throat. Dr Pierotti said I was detoxing. No, he didn't even get it that I was having a reaction from the hydrocortisone. A doctor prescribing medicine and he didn't even know the side effects. I finally took myself off the hydrocortisone and recovered after a week of being in bed with a high fever and sore throat.I had used echinacea when I was ill in the past and got well. Echinacea didn't even touch what was happening to me this time. I did a test with one hydrocortisone pill several weeks later, and the same thing started to happen, so I knew it was the medication. Dr. Pierotti also gave me T3 thyroid hormone. This hormone cannot be regulated by the body, and if given too much will cause a heart attack. Dr. Pierotti was supposed to gradually increase my dosage, but didn't even know that you had to incrementally increase the dosage as the body tolerated. He told me htat T3 therapy was used in cardiac and trauma patients in the ER in an email, and I believed him. This is not true by any stretch of the imagination. I have verified that the T3 should have been given incrementally with doctors and the Medaus Pharmacy. So when I was given 100mcgs off the bat, my body was pushed to the extreme. When he added 100 mgs of pregnenolone to the mix, within a week I had a heart attack. It started with atrial fibrillation and vomitting and intense pain. Dr. Ray Sahelian of California says high doses of pregnenolone can cause atrial fibrillation. It is Ok at low doses, but high doses can cause problems.
Dr. Pierotti told me that I could only have a FMLA on my third visit, because I wasn't entitled to use my sick days. My district knew me for nearly 30 years and said that was not the route to go. I was excellent at what I did, and never had any problems with my employer. Dr. Pierotti refused to speak when I wanted to tell him what my district said to me. He wouldn't talk to me when I called and he never wanted to talk to me. Hiis secretary told me to go back to work or I would never go back to work. Well, I am never going back to work because I am now in severe cardiac heart failure. Can you imagine what it was like when you had pushed yourself for several years and to be told by Dr. Teitelbaum's expert CFS doctor that you weren't allowed to take your sick days!!!!!!! You were not sick enough and he would not let you take time off, only if you didn't get paid on a FMLA. Can you imagine what that felt like?????? They didn't even take my vitals the last visit , nor did he schedule me for a new appointment. I wasn't buying their supplements because I could get them on my own for half the price, so he didn't want to see me anymore. How was that for a place that was supposed to know about CFS, be compassionate and understand this illness???????
In the meantime I contacted Dr. Teitelbaum about his" expert doctor" and asked what was he trying to prove with this not so knowledgeable doctor??? Dr. Teitelbaum knew I was no malingerer and told Dr. Pierotti I should get my leave on sick days. Too late, I had already gotten my slip from my PCP. What I found out later when I requested my file was that Dr Pierotti had removed information from my file that would show he was told upfront how ill I was. He removed my anecdotal records from December to January of all the days I was ill on their medications.He was also on probation for passin hiself off as a board certified doctor at one of the local Pennsylvania hospitals. He was fined $10,000.00 admitted to guilt and had his year suspension reduced. He was required to take course work too. I also found out that he cannot secure a license in Ohio due to difficulties during a residency.
Back to my story..........A week later I went to the ER..... and it was down hill from there. The cardiologist put in three stents when there wasn't any coronary artery disease. Another medical mishap!!! He tried to give me 40 mgs of statin when my cholesterol was 119. Do any of you see a problem with this doctor too????? Why would anyone take 40 mgs of statin when their cholesterol was barely there?????The hematologist asked the cardiologist why he did that and he had nothing to say...........
I worked with Dr Teitelbaum after the MI by phone. We managed my case through my PCP.I cannot tell you how awful my recovery was. No one knows what a heart attack is like until they have been there and walked in those shoes. I could barely put one foot in front of myself , when before my visiting the Center I was walking nearly a mile once a week. That was coming from someone who couldn't even walk 10 feet when they first left work. When Dr. Teitelbaum told me to start to walk in August , that only made me 10 times worse. That SHINE protocol does not work when it includes exercise. I thought he was an expert????? If he has the same illness I had, then he would know that walking only makes matters worse when you are as ill as I was. Maybe at some point you can walk, but I wasn't at it and got worse.
When Dr. Teitelbaum realized he couldn't help me with an ejection fraction of 30%, he told me to go to Dr. Cheney. Dr. Cheney was a God send. He validated what happened to me and said it was nothing short of blatant medical malpractice. The T3 had put such a strain on my LAD, that it collapsed. My cardiologist had never seen anything like it in his life. I had been someone who exercised all her life, juiced, ate right and had no heart issues prior to Dr. Pierotti. So my friends, please read this with thought...........Are you putting yourself in the hands of someone who will cause you more harm than good when you are treating your CFS???? Is the business model the correct model when treating someone with this illness??? Will an excess of hormones cause heart issues for you too. I am not the first one with heart issues. Maybe no one went into the full blown heart attack, but there have been several that I know of in heart distress of either congestive heart failure or atrial fibrillation on T3. Oh yes, there was one lady in Florida that died because of T3 treatment. Her family got $250,000.00 minus the lawyers cut. I guess that isn't very much when you consider all things in my eyes.
Let me digress...... I got sick in the summer of 2004 through chemical exposure and eating plenty of fish.(I have worked in and out of CFS since 1985 on two occassions according to Dr. Cheney, but this time everything was different.) I declined rapidly and by December of 2005, I was struggling. I could barely walk or understand what was happening to me. But with a strong work ethic, I kept on trying to do my job. I managed to make it through the school year, but spent most of the summer on the couch or on the deck. This was unusual for someone that biked many miles and built their own shade garden in previous years during the summer months. I always put down 14 yards of mulch each summer by myself. It was great exercise and I loved working out in the yard. But this summer was different and I had no idea why. In August, two weeks before school started, I was finally able to get off the couch by using a shot a day of B-12. I had come across Dr. Teitelbaum's information and book and started communicating with him by email. He was very compassionate and seemed to have a sincere interest in helping me. In April I saw him in person when he was publicizing the Pittsburgh Fibro and Fatigue Center in Robinson Township. I couldn't make it myself, so my inlaws drove me to the seminar. Dr. Teitelbaum suggested I see Dr. Pierotti, as he was an excellent physician trained in CFS. I tried to make it through the school year, taking off over 20 sick days just to make it to May. ( We were in a federal audit year and I did not want to let my school in the lurch by leaving and having to get someone else in my position that couldn't handle an audit) Finally, on Memorial Day weekend, I had to concede that I couldn't work the last few days of the school year, but at least I had gotten all my work completed before leaving my job. I knew by then, even though I knew no one else with this illness, that Dr. Teitelbaum was right when he said I would have to quit working for awhile. He told me I shouldn't go back to work until I had that " Yippee Feeling" Ok, I finally got it, and took a half year sabbatical, which would take me to mid January of the following year.Surely by that time I would be better. In October I started using Vitamin C to bowel tolerance levels and finally started feeling a little bit better. I had terrible herxing, but for the first time I could finally walk and seemed to have a bit more energy. I continued with the C, as suggested by Dr. Teitelbaum and was growing stronger little by little. But I had read Bruce Campbell's information and knew how to stay within my energy envelope. All the above helped, along with B-12 and other vitamins.
By November, I realized that my sabbatical would be over in January and Dr. Teitelbaum said I could relapse if I went to work too soon , if not fully recovered. So I decided to finally check out the Pittsburgh Fibro and Fatigue Center. Dr. Pierotti was unable to diagnose me properly, even with 24 pages of questions and answers in their diagnostic questionnaire. He was arrogant and rude. He betrayed confidentiality to his receptionist and wouldn't let me use nearly 100 sick days that I had accumulated as a speech/language pathologist, when I got sicker after taking his medications. I started them on Christmas Day and within a few days I was in bed with a high fever and sore throat. Dr Pierotti said I was detoxing. No, he didn't even get it that I was having a reaction from the hydrocortisone. A doctor prescribing medicine and he didn't even know the side effects. I finally took myself off the hydrocortisone and recovered after a week of being in bed with a high fever and sore throat.I had used echinacea when I was ill in the past and got well. Echinacea didn't even touch what was happening to me this time. I did a test with one hydrocortisone pill several weeks later, and the same thing started to happen, so I knew it was the medication. Dr. Pierotti also gave me T3 thyroid hormone. This hormone cannot be regulated by the body, and if given too much will cause a heart attack. Dr. Pierotti was supposed to gradually increase my dosage, but didn't even know that you had to incrementally increase the dosage as the body tolerated. He told me htat T3 therapy was used in cardiac and trauma patients in the ER in an email, and I believed him. This is not true by any stretch of the imagination. I have verified that the T3 should have been given incrementally with doctors and the Medaus Pharmacy. So when I was given 100mcgs off the bat, my body was pushed to the extreme. When he added 100 mgs of pregnenolone to the mix, within a week I had a heart attack. It started with atrial fibrillation and vomitting and intense pain. Dr. Ray Sahelian of California says high doses of pregnenolone can cause atrial fibrillation. It is Ok at low doses, but high doses can cause problems.
Dr. Pierotti told me that I could only have a FMLA on my third visit, because I wasn't entitled to use my sick days. My district knew me for nearly 30 years and said that was not the route to go. I was excellent at what I did, and never had any problems with my employer. Dr. Pierotti refused to speak when I wanted to tell him what my district said to me. He wouldn't talk to me when I called and he never wanted to talk to me. Hiis secretary told me to go back to work or I would never go back to work. Well, I am never going back to work because I am now in severe cardiac heart failure. Can you imagine what it was like when you had pushed yourself for several years and to be told by Dr. Teitelbaum's expert CFS doctor that you weren't allowed to take your sick days!!!!!!! You were not sick enough and he would not let you take time off, only if you didn't get paid on a FMLA. Can you imagine what that felt like?????? They didn't even take my vitals the last visit , nor did he schedule me for a new appointment. I wasn't buying their supplements because I could get them on my own for half the price, so he didn't want to see me anymore. How was that for a place that was supposed to know about CFS, be compassionate and understand this illness???????
In the meantime I contacted Dr. Teitelbaum about his" expert doctor" and asked what was he trying to prove with this not so knowledgeable doctor??? Dr. Teitelbaum knew I was no malingerer and told Dr. Pierotti I should get my leave on sick days. Too late, I had already gotten my slip from my PCP. What I found out later when I requested my file was that Dr Pierotti had removed information from my file that would show he was told upfront how ill I was. He removed my anecdotal records from December to January of all the days I was ill on their medications.He was also on probation for passin hiself off as a board certified doctor at one of the local Pennsylvania hospitals. He was fined $10,000.00 admitted to guilt and had his year suspension reduced. He was required to take course work too. I also found out that he cannot secure a license in Ohio due to difficulties during a residency.
Back to my story..........A week later I went to the ER..... and it was down hill from there. The cardiologist put in three stents when there wasn't any coronary artery disease. Another medical mishap!!! He tried to give me 40 mgs of statin when my cholesterol was 119. Do any of you see a problem with this doctor too????? Why would anyone take 40 mgs of statin when their cholesterol was barely there?????The hematologist asked the cardiologist why he did that and he had nothing to say...........
I worked with Dr Teitelbaum after the MI by phone. We managed my case through my PCP.I cannot tell you how awful my recovery was. No one knows what a heart attack is like until they have been there and walked in those shoes. I could barely put one foot in front of myself , when before my visiting the Center I was walking nearly a mile once a week. That was coming from someone who couldn't even walk 10 feet when they first left work. When Dr. Teitelbaum told me to start to walk in August , that only made me 10 times worse. That SHINE protocol does not work when it includes exercise. I thought he was an expert????? If he has the same illness I had, then he would know that walking only makes matters worse when you are as ill as I was. Maybe at some point you can walk, but I wasn't at it and got worse.
When Dr. Teitelbaum realized he couldn't help me with an ejection fraction of 30%, he told me to go to Dr. Cheney. Dr. Cheney was a God send. He validated what happened to me and said it was nothing short of blatant medical malpractice. The T3 had put such a strain on my LAD, that it collapsed. My cardiologist had never seen anything like it in his life. I had been someone who exercised all her life, juiced, ate right and had no heart issues prior to Dr. Pierotti. So my friends, please read this with thought...........Are you putting yourself in the hands of someone who will cause you more harm than good when you are treating your CFS???? Is the business model the correct model when treating someone with this illness??? Will an excess of hormones cause heart issues for you too. I am not the first one with heart issues. Maybe no one went into the full blown heart attack, but there have been several that I know of in heart distress of either congestive heart failure or atrial fibrillation on T3. Oh yes, there was one lady in Florida that died because of T3 treatment. Her family got $250,000.00 minus the lawyers cut. I guess that isn't very much when you consider all things in my eyes.
