Is anyone a patient of Dr. Holtorfs?

[Michael Dessin]

I was wondering if anyone is a patient of doctor Holtorfs as I just wanted to hear your experience.
Kindly
Mike

 

[Cort]

basically I got to try out hormones for the first time. Dr. indicated that I had very low cortisol levels. Dr. Cheney had found low cortisol levels as well and zero growth hormone levels. I couldn't afford manyof the tests they wanted to perform unfortunately. Anyway, the cortisol just made my heart race and made me jittery. Didn't notice anything from the testosterone. Thought the anti-arasite drug - can't remember it's name - did help a bit.

Just went twice - too much money - didn't get great results but then again only saw them twice. I had to get them to sign a letter stating that I still had chronic fatigue syndrome for this lowincome County health program - I think they charged me $75 to sign it - love our health system!

 

[Shellbell]

Hormone question?

Hi Cort and Mike,

I thought about going to the center myself, since I am not too far away. Cort, you said that you tried hormone therapy. I have hormone issues with adrenals and thyroid, along with the rest of my hormones. I am hormone replacement due to early hysterectomy. Since becoming ill this last time, I cannot balance them. Everytime my hormones dosages are changed, I crash. The last 3 doctors that I have seen said until I get my detox system up and running efficiently, I won't be able to make changes. My problem is that two pathways in my genetic make-up process estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone. The big concern is that I can't process the excess out, which is building my levels up quite high, complicating my situation. The doctors have said that this is greatly increasing my chances of breast cancer and stroke, both of which run in my family. Unfortunately, I haven't had any success in repairing my detox system to date.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Shelly

 

[Dreambirdie]

I went to the Holtorf clinic too and I give them an F. That's where I got
an HC prescription that made me HORRIBLY sick.

When I started having SEVERE anxiety symptoms and cardiac arrhythmia
from taking hydrocortisone, I told the doctor. He had to look up the side
effects in his book! When he did, he told me, "HC won't give you anxiety,
but it will give you psychoses." (And he was not being funny... )
He also told me that "HC wouldn't cause arrhythmia." Wrong! It sure did!
I had atrial fibrilation from taking it, which I have NEVER had from any-
thing I've taken before.

As it ended up, I had to do the recovery from the HC on my own. It was
a hellishly long process. Now, six months later, I'm still not back to the
place I was before I took the HC.

I've heard complaints about the Holtorf clinic from other patients as well,
especially thyroid patients, who have been very frustrated with this clinic.
They have VERY slick advertising on their site, and are WAY OVERPRICED.
The only doctor that anyone really recommends from there is Kent Holtorf
himself, and he's not taking new patients anymore.

 

[SaraM]

Hormones

Cortisol helped me with the adrenal fatigue symptoms -e.g. irregular rapid heart beat 24/7 after a car accident.

Shelly, I too have too much estrogen in my system causing a myriad of symptoms. What did you doctor suggest for Detox?

Cort, can we have a thread for Detox? Or, one called "What worked for you"?

Thanks

 

[Dreambirdie]

Cortisol helped me with the adrenal fatigue symptoms -e.g. irregular rapid heart beat 24/7 after a car accident.

Sara--I'm glad it worked for you. That goes to show how different we all are.

My comment was actually more about the doctors RESPONSE to my bad side effects, which I thought was rather dismissive and very unhelpful.

 

[SaraM]

Dreambirdie, you are right about doctors. I have had my own share of this. I only mentioned my experience with HC thinking it might help others.

take care,
Sara

 

[Shellbell]

Hey Sara,

The doc I am seeing right now won't even address the estrogen and other hormonal issues until he solves the detox problem first. I started neural therapy (biopuncture) and acupuncture treatments a couple of weeks ago and just finished my 7th treatment today. It has been a real up and down ride, which he said is normal, especially considering how bad my condition is.

The last doc I saw also has some real concerns about my hormone levels too. He wrote in my future plan to take Calcium D-Glucarate and Indoplex to help detox the excess out when the time was right. He just doesn't want me on them yet. My new doc agrees. He believes that once the detox system is running efficiently, this will start to come down on it's own. But because I am on hormone replacement for an early hysterectomy, changes in my hormone dosages will have to happen at some point. He said then he will place me on some hormone detox supps for a short period of time to get them down quicker without causing my system to go into overdrive. He also told me that once my immune system calms down (as I am severely Th2 shifted), my body won't react horribly to changes, like it does now.

I am sort of leaning toward the new doc because the other one is way out of town and the one I have here seems to have a really good understanding about the sequence of things in healing.

From what I was told, if you try any of the above, start really slow as it can cause uncomfortable symptoms as hormones are moving out that may take a couple of weeks to settle. As far as dosage, it is individual per patient. One thing that they said I can do now is eat a diet of foods that help regulate estrogen (broccoli, cabbage, flax seeds and oil, etc.), but be careful if you have low thyroid function. Also, my doc has me on a diet of foods that help liver regeneration and also helps detox out the excess as well. So far I am doing ok with these.

I will be posting later about my neural therapy treatment. I am sort of holding off for the time being to see more progress, plus my long term plan was just presented to me today and things will be added and will change as I go along. He was moving slow at first, but really kicked things up the last two treatments.

I hope this helps!

Hugs,
Shelly

 

[dannybex]

I went to the Holtorf clinic too and I give them an F. That's where I got
an HC prescription that made me HORRIBLY sick.

When I started having SEVERE anxiety symptoms and cardiac arrhythmia
from taking hydrocortisone, I told the doctor. He had to look up the side
effects in his book! When he did, he told me, "HC won't give you anxiety,
but it will give you psychoses." (And he was not being funny... )
He also told me that "HC wouldn't cause arrhythmia." Wrong! It sure did!
I had atrial fibrilation from taking it, which I have NEVER had from any-
thing I've taken before.

Was that Holtorff himself, or one of the other docs at his clinic? Either way, that's just idiotic, and frankly borderline malpractice. None of us here are doctors, yet we seem to know more about cortisol and the adrenals than these guys who went through medical school!

I've heard complaints about the Holtorf clinic from other patients as well,
especially thyroid patients, who have been very frustrated with this clinic.
They have VERY slick advertising on their site, and are WAY OVERPRICED.
The only doctor that anyone really recommends from there is Kent Holtorf
himself, and he's not taking new patients anymore.

I remember when the F&F center were just starting up, about 4-5 years ago. They claimed on their website to have successfully helped hundreds of patients, yet only had three testimonials on their site. One was from HOLTORFF, the 2nd from his business partner, and the third...who knows, perhaps someone who was actually helped.

Anyway, I question if he ever had CFS or Fibro...rather than just being hypothyroid or whatever. It was pretty clear that their emphasis, at least early on, was for hormone replacement.

Perhaps he should change his name to Dr. Hormone?

kidding...

Hope you continue to feel better as the days and months go on.

 

[dannybex]

Hey Sara,

The doc I am seeing right now won't even address the estrogen and other hormonal issues until he solves the detox problem first.

I'm not a doctor, but that's what sounds smart to me. Toxins, heavy metals, pesticides, etc., can all screw up hormone and immune function...so doesn't it make common sense to address those issues, and then see if the hormones correct themselves???

just my two pennies.

d.

 

[Dreambirdie]

Was that Holtorff himself, or one of the other docs at his clinic? Either way, that's just idiotic, and frankly borderline malpractice.

Perhaps he should change his name to Dr. Hormone? Hope you continue to feel better as the days and months go on.

Hello Dannybex--

Thanks for your good wishes.

The OVER-STIMULATION I experienced on HC was so bad that I had to lie in bed very still for about 6 weeks to keep my body
from freaking out on me into a panic of palpitations. Then it took another additional 4 MONTHS to recover my adrenals (from the
crash that resulted from the over-stimulation.) Now finally, after a lot of effort and handfuls of supplements, I am almost back to
where I was before I took the damn HC.

It was not Holtorf, but rather one of his associates, who made the amazingly idiotic comment. It really does sound like a joke.
He had NO CLUE about any NATURAL REMEDIES for the absolutely hellish anxiety I experienced as a result of being on the HC.
I got those from, AS USUAL, a friend who works at the local health food store. So if anyone wants to know what saved me from
the worst anxiety of my life it was: 6 capsules of HOLY BASIL every hour, as much MAGNESIUM GLYCINATE as my bowel could
tolerate and acupuncture 3 times a week--for 6 weeks. Also, breathwork that I learned from a Rodney Yee yoga video, which I
think is called Breathing For Meditation and Relaxation, was very helpful too.

I know HC is really helpful for some people. I had every indication (from my blood cortisol, my spit cortisol and my long list
of adrenal exhaustion symptoms) that it was the right thing for me as well. But that just goes to show how complex this disease
is, and how cautiously you have to approach treatment. For me, the natural way--with foods and herbs and sunshine and yoga
is the ONLY way. I am so totally done with doctors who haven't studied alternative medicine. I will never consider them an
option again. My joke now is that the ONLY standard "doctor" I'd be willing to see is Dr. Kevorkian. If you want a doctor
to kill you, you might as well get it done right!