Sponaugle Wellness experiences

I saw on lymebabe's thing that she went to Sponaugle Wellness.

I wonder if I am wasting my time on all these antibiotics that seem to be making it worse. Is Sponaugle Wellness a place I should look into going?

Does it really make people better?

Do they use antibiotics?

I had thought I had a great doctor but I am seriously doubting and looking for the most effective treatments.

Is it worth it to go to Sponaugle Wellness?

I called Sponaugle Clinic the other day for some other options
for LD tx. I saw them online and called and LymeP is right, they are VERY expensive but you can get in, in July, and they can almost
guarantee you will be well in abt. 4 mos. So that is a good option.

I also called a Lyme & TBD Ctr in New York at Columbia Univ. Hosp.
I can get an appt in 6 mos for an intensive 2 days of tests to get a
second opinion. I would love to have experienced care for this illness and I figure that NY is a top state for LD so I am not dealing with a hit and miss medical team. For me that sounds like a plan and
being a large hosp. they should take my insurance.

I would just keep checking online if I was you. If you are not happy with your care or progress, there are choices if we keep looking.

What they do is all individual. I did detox IVs the first three days until my appointment with the dr. He decided to put me on ALA and glutathione IVs right away and I was on them for 3 weeks. The ALA was pulling Lyme, mold, heavy metals, etc. out of my nerves. The level of toxins in my body was so high that i had neurological reactions so they did not want to put me in a kills because I was not going to be able to handle it. Then I knew that I was going to have to leave so they did several kills (vitamin C and hydrogen peroxide) which breaks down the biofilm. After that they did detox and then I went home. Other people were on detox for a week then ALA for a week then a kill for a week. What you get depends on your labs and the level of toxins your body is producing. There is not set protocol. Also, there is more in the IVs but it is proprietary so we did not get to learn all the "ingredients". I was told I need three more months in my exit interview. In one way or another I will get the funds to go back just don't know what I am going to do yet. If it was not for them I believe I would have never gotten better. I cannot recommend them enough. If you have any questions please ask!

@katebirch,

you can also look into alternative practitioners that use the IVs. My lyme doc did chelation IVs, Myers cocktail IV's (which I did get) and those were only $180/pop so it was doable. I also know people that did the hydrogen peroxide IV's at their drs office as well. So if you want to try a different approach you don't necessarily have to jump into a clinic. You can search around and tailor treatment yourself. Just an idea!

~beth

I would call and ask. They will assign you a patient coordinator that will spend a free hour with you and explain everything. They just bought a new building and will be moving so I would wait with going until they are moved. You are in a recliner attached to an IV. You can take the bag and go to the bathroom but don't expect more than that. Some IVs do make you feel sick, some make you feel giddy, it all depends on what you are getting.

You stay at a hotel that is literally one block across the street from the new location. I did not rent a car and always found a ride wherever I needed to go. The patients there are a very tightly knit group and they truly take care of each other. You pay for hotel (special rate for patients) and your food separately. It usually takes at least a month between the initial interview and your appointment because of extensive lab work. I called Martin Luther King's day and was given an appointment first Monday in March. The hotel was full so the next available date was April 7th. You have to pay $1,000 non refundable fee in advance when you sign up.

It is a ton of money, I am in debt, I cannot go back to my job and next Friday is my last paycheck. However, without going I would have never gotten well and I would have never know what is wrong with me. So I am glad I went regardless of the cost and regardless of my circumstances.

Hope this helps!

Everyone is different, i get upset that drs can charge soooo much when someone is so desperate and already exhuasted all their resources and have to turn to others to give it one more shot. That expensive aspect, so not fair, somewhere in the middle i feel,

If you ask me the problem really is the insurance. They should be paying for this. They will pay thousands of dollars per month to keep you on antidepressants and every other medication that "helps" the side effects these drugs and creates more problems. But they will not pay for the solution. Are you kidding me?

If I didn't have small kids, I would head down to sponagule. I only got sick in December and started treatment in March and still can't get well. I've been healthy for my whole life. It shouldn't be this hard for me. Ive been doing a pretty good job of home detoxing, but I could probably do more. I'm still not well. I've probably had lyme dormant in my system for a long time and need time to clear it all out. I also have a FIR sauna at home. But some people need more help to pull all this junk out.

I also think when your immune system tanks, it takes some specialized work to get it back in action.

My lyme doctor literally will hand me any abx I need, but he isn't really trying to figure out how to get "me" well and maybe you need a special kind of place to do that.

I would like to hear more about this, Lymebabe, or anyone else that has been there.
After our first call to Sponaugle, we received an email with more details, and it said that we might expect to stay there 6-9 months if the patient is having difficulty walking, which my daughter has. Also, when watching some of the testimonial videos, the doctor seemed impolite by interrupting someone's story, and at times he seemed obnoxious. We need a compassionate doctor!
Also, mold seems to be an issue or they say that most patients have mold issues and they talk about how to find a place to stay that is mold free or to pay to have the place tested for mold.
We are looking at over $80,000 when all is said and done! With a $1,000 non-refundable deposit, and all the supplements, housing, food, transportation, plus being apart from family and home that long, it sounds daunting!
Before we go into that much debt, we want to hear lots of reviews! Our daughter is worth whatever we have to put into her health, but we want it to work at the same time!

Pilotswife I hear you. It is very daunting. One of the things you can do is find someone locally who tests for HLA, mold, and organic solvents. As far as I know every single one of us had a major mold problem while I was there. Many people also had extremely high levels of toluene and benzene. If you get your daughter tested where you are and if she gets on Cholestyramine you may be able to get her into a better shape than what she is in right now. Also I would investigate local sources of glutathione IVs. Sounds like she needs some serious detox.

I did 10 EDTA IVs with colonics 2x weekly before I went and it made me feel much better to the point where I was able to travel alone and manage in the hotel by myself. Prior to that I was literally crawling around my house. I could not take my dogs out as frequently as they needed to go and they peed on the rug in my kitchen. It was so bad that it delaminated the floor underneath. Now I am at a point where I just got a part time job, I am back to playing the piano and slowly getting back to my harp. Someone actually asked me out on a date LOL!

I am in a ton of medical debt but it was all worth it! I know dr. Sponaugle as an extremely brilliant man with his mind on a totally different plane than everybody else. He is also very generous and caring. Other people may have different perception of him but I feel privileged to have met him and to have been treated by him. He is very dedicated and truly cares.

Is lymebabe a plant? Sponaugle $3,000.00 per week doesn't cover hotel, food, labs, vitamins, supplements , colonics or very much. Everything is separate and a patient only occasionally sees the doctor or the nurse. You can't get a bill, even when you ask and, if you do get what is purported to be a bill , the bill is not itemized and not fit for an insurance company. This clinic will not cure you of lyme but will rudely take all of your money.

Also, I found that they treat you for alleged diseases, that you don't have. The place does not cure lyme nor TBD.
Look at Yolanda Foster, who went there and gives a testimonial on the WEB Site. If you check her tweets , Yolanda spent Christmas in the hospital and still suffers lyme disease symptoms.

I think Sponaugle puts all the good reviews on himself. Nobody I met at his clinic was cured but many are worse.

Haha is Lymebabe a plant. Where do these people come from? No she is real. I have talked with her many times and she continues through a difficult situation ( even though somewhat better ) as you can be read on her blog. 1,260 post would be a dedicated "plant." Good grief. @Mischief perhaps you can expand on your experience? I think that is really what the post was about.

I agree with @Cheetahjade that their are good and bad reviews about all the intensive clinics. I have been trying to research them and gather as much information as possible as I am considering going to one myself. What they all seem to have in common is they are very expensive with no guarantees which is aggravating to people that literally spend life savings. It sounds like most people go to these clinics because they are really really desperate to try anything to get better. Lyme has destroyed their entire lives. I haven't decided as to what I am going to do, but the "unknown" of getting better or not isn't what concerns me, I get it, lyme is very complicated, but how expensive these clinics are.....my LLMD calls them highway robbery. Then again, my HMO spent $50k to tell me I DIDN'T have lyme. Ugh. The impossible decisions....

I'm with you Deeja; I'd steer away from the big-name clinics that charge a lot of money, bc if you spend the money, and you aren't helped, then what? You're just left with a hole in your pocket.

I've heard good things about Hansa, and very mixed things about Sponaugle.

It might be tempting to go to a clinic so you can just kind of turn your body over to someone else, and then, hypothetically, be healed without having to do a lot of work yourself.

Lyme Disease is very complicated though, and I think the best thing is to see an LLMD. There are always exceptions to the rule.

I would stay away from the clinics that have these "glossy" internet ads with all kinds of patient testimonials.

I remember my family doctor when I was little (in the 1960s). He had a small office and a modest waiting room. He didn't charge much (I don't know if health insurance even existed back then), yet he was a phenomenal doctor.

And he did house calls! although I guess a few other doctors were still doing them in those days.

Our neighbor, who was a doctor, would sometimes get paid with eggs or chickens or whatever.

Now how does that compare to a place like Sponaugle?

There still are a few docs out there, although if they're LLMDs, they're bound to be more expensive than the rest. My LLMD is pretty reasonable compared to the big name ones.

Say, you know what I remember from my dating days (not that I've given up, but it's almost impossible for me to date now). Stay away from the good looking men! The better looking the man, the worse he treats you!!

Don't judge a book by it's nice-looking cover, LOL!

M