I think you should flip a coin. I'm mostly serious.
They both have helped people, and we know that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to these illnesses.
I have not met either of them in person, but because of his online presence and fairly thorough website, I have a much better idea of MR's approach. He seems
open to herbs and other treatment options if you are nervous about
pharmaceuticals. But I'm sure both doctors' approaches have merit. They both have been doing this a long time and must have reasons for doing what they do....
This is a tangent, but what makes someone a "top" Lyme doctor? I've been thinking a lot about
this lately. Is it the people whose books have been published? The people who speak at the most conferences or have the best websites? The ones whose practices advertise the best so they come up on searches when people are looking for doctors? I don't think anyone keeps track of patient outcome statistics like remission rates and length of treatment, so I assume they are not being judged in that way. When I think of the doctors who are the most well-known, they're not always the best with patient care, even if they're great at research or writing books. When I think of how I have learned about
Lyme doctors, it's usually through searches online or through newsletter links - so nothing to do with patient outcomes. How do you determine who seems like the best? I have read that a lot of people are "top" Lyme docs and I'm curious how people determine this.
There's one Lyme doctor whose book I recommend constantly, as it helped me a great deal. In that sense I'd consider him a prestigious Lyme doctor. But I would never want to be his patient. From the book you can tell his ego is enormous. He even says that he rejects people as patients if at their first appointment they express concern about
one of his recommendations or if they arrive without first having researched his background. He explicitly says this! That to me is horrible patient care.
My Lyme doctor sees patients 60 hours per week and charges half what other Lyme docs in my area charge. He's too busy to write a book or maintain a website. He charges by time but always goes over if we have more to discuss. He responds to my concerns, actually cares when I'm struggling, knows about
a variety of treatments (not just pharma and herbal), is easy to get an appointment with, and understands how individualized this illness is. I value all of that highly.
My point is to go with your gut. Go with the practice that you get the best vibe from. I think responsiveness, knowledgeability, affordability, and flexibility are the most important criteria.