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any experience with Dr S. in Florida

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Posted 4/11/2011 12:31 AM (GMT 0)
First I am putting the full name of this doctor because he publicly advertise everywhere, so I dont think he is "hiding" or anything.
With that said I have been diagnosed with Lyme, Bartonella for about a year now, I have been taking Doxy+plaquenil+Azithromycin. I had month where I filled great and almost forgot that I was sick and weeks where some of my symptoms come back plus new symptoms and go away again. This time it is different. I have been having strong migraine for 3 weeks now, I have to take pain medicine almost every day, I also have tingling in my feet and hand and my joints pain are coming back...At this stage I am not sure if all the med I am taking are working, I have been taking them for 5 months now, so I would exclude Herxing because I never really herxed before an I dont think this will start at the middle of the treatment. Maybe it is time to try something else and change meds? My LLMD is too busy to see me, the next appointment is like in 4 weeks and I got it like 2 weeks ago.
Meanwhile I came across a lot of article about Dr James Schaller in FL, there are a lot of positive review on him, people with Lyme that he helped and a lot of good article on him, However I was able to find a Warning from lymeinfo.net about him, but there were not much info regarding the warning. I am very susceptible of doctors & LLMD because from my experience, at the end of the day most of them seems to be after your money!! Before I invest money going to Florida I was wondering if someone in this forum (a real person) had experience with this doctor?
I would like to get this disease under control and would do anything in my power for that and I need your help with this.

Please if you had experience with this doc or know someone who had please let me know, if you dont want to write it here please PM for me to make a good decision..
If you have any other suggestions there are welcome..

Post Edited By Moderator (Traveler) : 8/14/2015 9:12:40 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/11/2011 3:59 AM (GMT 0)
Email me.
Posted 4/11/2011 12:46 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Lyanna,

 

I had month where I filled great and almost forgot that I was sick and weeks where some of my symptoms come back plus new symptoms and go away again. This time it is different. I have been having strong migraine for 3 weeks now, I have to take pain medicine almost every day, I also have tingling in my feet and hand and my joints pain are coming back......At this stage I am not sure if all the med I am taking are working, I have been taking them for 5 months now, so I would exclude Herxing because I never really herxed before an I dont think this will start at the middle of the treatment.

 

In regard to your above statements:  Could be that you have levelled off on your meds and could use a boost by switching to new ones.  My LLMD has done just that with me... switching meds after a month of certain combinations. And then another switch after that month.

Doxy did not work miracles for me--I felt great at first then got new symptoms right in the middle of treatment.  

 I started calling my Lyme infection: 'Backwards Lyme'  because I was getting many of the worst symptoms (that people initially have before treatment) during treatment.  These symptoms were a real surprise! 

It seemed the antibiotics were bringing these certain symptoms out, so to speak, for the first time.  Really crazy disease for me....and I'm sure others have experienced this also.   

But IMHO....I would say that the return of your symptoms could be herxing and that your meds are kicking in....but a change in abx might be in order as I said.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the Doc you mention.  But it sounds like you need a really great LLMD who you can trust.

Posted 4/11/2011 3:48 PM (GMT 0)
Lyanna,
I am so sorry to hear of your troubles! Even though your doc is too busy to get in to see, what about calling and talking with his/her nurse?

I am in no way attempting to discourage anyone from from changing docs if they feel they need to, but an increase in symptoms is a herx. A herxheimer reaction is a "healing crisis", so it can occur at any time, with or even without abx.

Are you detoxing? The abx will kill off the bacteria & such, but as they die off they release toxins. It's these toxins that are responsible for the increase (or worsening) of symptoms. Dry skin brushing and detox baths will help your body to eliminate these "left-overs". There is a very informative post explaining how easy it is do detox baths in the "New to Lyme?" thread. It's the 4th post down, I believe.

With that being said, a switch of abx, as Cat said, may help. Also, if you can't communicate with your doc in between appts, then switching to a doc that you can communicate with would definitely be worthwhile IMO.
Posted 4/12/2011 3:57 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks to yall, I emailed 1bitten2xshy & bucci.
Posted 4/12/2011 2:00 PM (GMT 0)
Best of luck to you! Please do let us know how things go!!
Posted 8/29/2012 9:58 PM (GMT 0)
I tested pos for lyme recently and am looking into this Dr. as well. If anyone has any info on experiences w/him I would appreciate hearing from you!
Posted 8/29/2012 10:18 PM (GMT 0)
I go to Dr. C in Tampa. I love him. His staff is a bit prickly but I don't care since he is a miracle worker. He is slowing down his practice to spend more time speaking and working with several Lyme associations. Email me if you want more info.
Posted 8/30/2012 12:37 PM (GMT 0)
I have had a telephone conversation with Dr Schaller and what made me decide against him was that he explained to me that he doesn't actually treat people. His method is that he partners with your PCP and you and the PCP have to follow the protocol as he prescribes it to you. I felt like that was just going to be a huge headache. He also told me he regularly "fires" patients if they don't follow his protocol to the letter.

Now, he may have changed his methods since I spoke to him a couple of years ago, but that was my understanding at that time. I wasn't looking for an advisor, so much as an actual doctor. I wasn't interested in that type of LLMD.
Posted 9/14/2014 4:21 AM (GMT 0)
http://jamesschallermd.com/posts/reported-death-in-kansas.html


I cant find the original thread where someone suggestec googling yhis dr so I did. However my spidey senses are going off, is this guy legit? This is what I found when googling him, it goes on abouf a sad lyme story that seems like he is provoking people s emotions to get them to consult with him. Cant tell ftom the sad story if he was even involved with the person who died.

We dont need more charlatans if he is one, we have enough trouble with regular doctors.
Posted 1/2/2015 1:25 AM (GMT 0)
I'm poking this thread to see if anyone is willing to share their experience with Dr. Schaller, by posting or private messaging.

I have an initial phone consultation set up, and I'm familiar with some of his published work. He's very expensive. I'm very sick. His published work indictates he's qualified to treat the multiple illnesses others docs can't.

I'm so tired of specialists who can't deliver. Is this worth my (tiny) life savings?

Your response is immensely appreciated.
Posted 1/2/2015 2:20 AM (GMT 0)
We've seen him once.
Caveat emptor! shakehead

Post Edited (washem) : 1/1/2015 7:34:00 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/2/2015 4:54 AM (GMT 0)
what do you mean, lymeflorida?
Posted 1/2/2015 5:23 AM (GMT 0)
Please be very careful how you answer that, Lyme Florida. We don't want a lawsuit here. :-) You might even consider sending a private email.
Posted 1/2/2015 8:00 PM (GMT 0)
@lymeflorida, could you email me?

I'm new to this forum and don't see a private message function (or do I post my email under my profile?)

Moderators, feel free to chime in. :-)
Posted 1/2/2015 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
Also if you could email me
Posted 1/2/2015 8:07 PM (GMT 0)
Gypsygirl, you can enable your email in your profile. Go to "my profile" ----> "edit profile". Enter your email, scroll down just a touch and be sure to click on "show my email" - then be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the 'submit" button to save your preferences.
Posted 1/2/2015 9:26 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you, Traveler! Updated.

...so this is a repeated shout out to anyone willing to email their experience with Dr. Schaller. Please put Dr. Shaller/forum response/healing well or something like that in the subject line so I don't mistake it for junk mail.
Posted 8/14/2015 6:47 AM (GMT 0)
I am interested in reports of patient experiences with Dr. James Schaller in Naples, FL.

Please send a private message

His books are quite good.

I did the free phone consultation with him for about 5 minutes. The fact that he charges a lot of money, expends large amounts of energy on self-promotion, forces his bored secretary to answer his phone with some grandiose preamble about what an awesome world-renowned doctor he is, aggressively insists that almost EVERYONE has tick-borne disease (but don't realize it), and that part of the phone conversation was a credential-dropping sales pitch gives me a moment of pause.

He also recommends taking really high doses of Mepron, which some have told me can be quite toxic.

So, before I expend significant money, time, and treasure on Dr. James Schaller, I'd like to hear from some former or current patients of his.

He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to keep honest records of his treatment successes and failures. He seems to be all about grandiose self-promotion.

But his books are quite good and seems to be very well researched.

Please let me know about him

Thanks

Post Edited By Moderator (Girlie) : 8/14/2015 8:58:48 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 8/14/2015 10:59 AM (GMT 0)
I did some reading on the web--OHMY. Please use your best and most careful judgement. Hope you are able to find an LLMD near you soon. Thinking of you..
Posted 8/14/2015 3:02 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Dan, welcome to our community! I edited your post to remove your email address - as non forum people can see it, and you will get a ton of spam.

Members can send their emails by clicking on the envelope...

You can also start a new thread titled "Looking for LLMD in/near_________" and get responses from forum members on who they like.

When you have a moment, you might be interested in reading through the "New to Lyme?...Start Here!" thread at the top of the page.
Full of good information - symptom lists, info on probiotics, detox suggestions, and much more.
Posted 8/14/2015 3:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Dan!
Welcome to our community!!!

As Girlie has said, when you can, please do read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread as it's packed with really helpful and important information.

Then if you would email me, I will share with you some of the things that have been said to me about this LLMD.

I do agree that his writings are incredibly packed with good information!! My doctor read through a lot of his articles about the infections before she started treating me.
Posted 9/9/2015 10:31 PM (GMT 0)
I contacted this doctor over the phone. His answering service said he will contact me via email. He sent me an email asking about my health issues. He attached links to his books and had mentioned that they are also available on Amazon. He also mentioned that he is a mold re-mediator, but without a license. Even though this put me off, I emailed my detailed health history. He has not responded yet.
Posted 9/10/2015 12:40 AM (GMT 0)
Hi SamWild!
Welcome to our community!!

If you haven't ​yet​, it would be helpful for you to start with reading through the thread at the top of the forum titled,"New to Lyme?...Start here!!", as it is packed full of important information, symptom lists, helpful links and pdf's, how to detox when one has these infections, information on probiotics and much more.​

If you are uncomfortable with this doctor, there are others in your area as well. For information on finding an ILADS trained​ LLMD in your area, you will need to enable your email option in your profile in order to receive any recommendations, as we don't allow doctor's names and contact info to be posted on the forum for several reasons. You can enable your email option in your profile, under 'edit profile'. Be sure to click the submit button to actually save your preference.


​You can send me an email by clicking on my screen name or the small blue envelope under my screen name. I may have contact information for some LLMD's in your area as well.​ ​Please include your state and area that you would like to find a LLMD in and I will see how close I can get to your location.​


You can start a new thread titled something like "Looking for LLMD in the (insert the nearest larger city & state) area". Members can email you about the LLMD's that they see in that area if you have your email enabled. We don't allow doctors names to be posted though.


You can email the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance at​[​​url]​[email protected]​ for LLMD referrals and you can go to ​tbdalliance.org​​ to learn more about these infections.


You can also go to The Lyme Disease Association and search for LLMD's 3 times in a month. You have to register first. Here is the link:www.lymediseaseassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=74​​


ILADS has their own referral system as well:ilads.org/ilads_media/physician-referral/


​ You will want to find an ILADS trained doctor, as ID Docs (Infectious Disease Doctors) believe Lyme is hard to catch and easy to treat, and don't believe in the reality of chronic Lyme. Go to the ILADS site to read the new (2014) Treatment guidelines to get you started on your healing journey:
http://www.ilads.org/lyme/treatment-guideline.php
Posted 10/2/2016 8:29 PM (GMT 0)
Hi All:

Any Updates or opinions/experiences with this Doctor ???

Please let me know.
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