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Holistic Practitioner Recommendation Please?

Messages
11
Hi Everyone. I am looking for a REFERRAL. I am wondering if anyone has had a great experience (or please report if even you’ve had a NOT so great experience) with a HOLISTIC ONLY/Functional Medicine type, very experienced practitioner that is skilled in healing longstanding fatigue conditions (due to heavy metal toxicity and pathogens, etc.)? I am looking for a great referral, Pacific Standard Time zone ideal, but is not required.

What IS required is that they accept and respond promptly to EMAIL questions or problems after becoming a patient, post appointments, etc. Also what is required is that they have a live staff person answering the phone during regular business hours that can help answer protocol questions if there are probs (herxing, etc.), or can interface with the doctor/practitioner during the day and get right back to me.

I am seeking a health practitioner that is skilled, and has available staff to assist while they might be unavailable with patients. Ideally an ND, MD or the like, but it’s not an obstacle if not. In my dreams come true, the practitioner would be an ND or MD that does remote muscle testing and employs herbs and nutraceuticals.

My challenge is that at my worst I am not able to make calls (due to lethargy, sound sensitivity/brain inflammation, etc….I know as my peeps, YOU GET THIS, right?!?), so I need to be able to email in if I need to, and count on swift replies. I have previously paid a practitioner, then had problems with the protocol, and she blew off answering me via email (sheer laziness) and INSISTED that I call instead, which I was never able to do. Anyone have this going on, where you need the practioner/staff to just promptly email you back in a timely way without having to call?
This is time sensitive, so I appreciate you all in advance. {It’s times like these that I REALLY again miss Rich Van K.v :( } Thank you all.

Tag @Learner1
 
Last edited:

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
Hi @Holisticgal . I sure wish for doctors like that, too. The problem is that the best practitioners tend to be very busy and have other challenging patients.

I will PM you a couple of names. I hesitate to post doctors here, because it can possibly make them a target.

I hear what you are saying, And definitely think it is possible to have a remote relationship with a doctor, although it's best if you can see them once in a while in person. Hopefully as you improve this will be better.

Though I've had muscle testing by an experienced practitioner, I am not a fan. The problem is, even if it is correct and identifying whether a substance is " good " or " bad ", which I am highly skeptical of, substances don't stand alone, and need to be used with cofactors, and if you have bottlenecks, you could get a very skewed look at what's going on. When I was tested, I thought "Wow I could manipulate this process very easily and even inadvertently, leading to a false result."

I'm more of a fan of testing, using the appropriate type of test for the metabolite being tested, urine, serum, plasma, RBC, etc. As well as imaging when appropriate. The best functional medicine practitioners I know do this.
 
Messages
11
Hi @Holisticgal . I sure wish for doctors like that, too. The problem is that the best practitioners tend to be very busy and have other challenging patients.

I will PM you a couple of names. I hesitate to post doctors here, because it can possibly make them a target.

I hear what you are saying, And definitely think it is possible to have a remote relationship with a doctor, although it's best if you can see them once in a while in person. Hopefully as you improve this will be better.

Though I've had muscle testing by an experienced practitioner, I am not a fan. The problem is, even if it is correct and identifying whether a substance is " good " or " bad ", which I am highly skeptical of, substances don't stand alone, and need to be used with cofactors, and if you have bottlenecks, you could get a very skewed look at what's going on. When I was tested, I thought "Wow I could manipulate this process very easily and even inadvertently, leading to a false result."

I'm more of a fan of testing, using the appropriate type of test for the metabolite being tested, urine, serum, plasma, RBC, etc. As well as imaging when appropriate. The best functional medicine practitioners I know do this.
Thank you, @Learner1 !! I agree with all you've said! (And yes, the MT CAN be influenced, that is true.) I desire a practitioner that does *both- labs in conjunction with MT (i.e., as a check in on which labs are best, what are the body's priority areas of healing, etc etc.). I appreciate you wanting to pm info to me, and I should have indicated that was ok in my request. You are right about the protective discretion, for sure. Thank you again for all of your time. Please let me know in your response whether you or anyone you know personally has been treated and helped by the physician, and if you know about fees, or by chance have any email addy, etc., that will be useful.I wish to email thir offices my initial inquiries. Appreciate it, thank you.
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,335
Location
Southern California
Hi @Holisticgal - I'll PM you the name and contact info for a doctor I've recently found in southern California. She's very bright and knowledgeable, she's a regular MD but the medical practice she's with could be called integrative or functional medicine. I've seen her a few times via tele-appointment and also visited the office twice in person. Amazingly, a live person answers the phone and so far, the staff has always returned phone calls the same day. I've contacted the doctor via their private message portal and she has generally taken about 3 days to get back to me. However, I believe if it was an emergency, she would respond sooner. It would be simple to call the office and tell the staff you need to talk to her ASAP. The staff has been very responsive.

This is huge for me. The last office I dealt with, it was impossible to get the PA's assistant to call me back - literally. I ended up getting a wrong prescription because she wouldn't return my calls.

She takes straight Medicare (no Medicare Advantage plans), but there is a "surcharge" for appointments for services not covered by Medicare. So for an hour (yes, an hour!) appointment, the surcharge is $150. It's $75 for a half hour appointment. Because I have straight Medicare with no supplemental policy, I also have to pay a Medicare copay of 20% of the approved charges.

I think they also take most other insurances.

She listened to me during the appointment. She didn't blow me off. She also seems to be open to new things (such as me trying an oxygen concentrator).

I don't think she does muscle testing, though I've had it done by several chiropractors and it has helped me in numerous ways.

Anyways, I'll send you a PM with her name and contact info.