integrative gastroenterology

Laurinda,
We have not been to an integrative GI for my daughter as not many exist in Canada but we are considering taking her to one (or an integrative MD who has treated GI issues extensively) if need be. There are a few in NYC. I know of a girl with UC/CD who is doing very well after seeing one. She had been on the SCD diet with success for a couple of years but then flared badly for a couple of months. GI wanted scopes/immuran, mother refused. Integrative MD suggested candida treatment, LDN, heavy metal chelation. She's back in remission and going great. They do look at the underlying issues and treat those instead of just the symptoms and yes they do use more natural treatments, though LDN is obviously a drug, it's one that supports the immune system instead of suppressing it and doesn't have any significant side effects at the low dose used for AI diseases. There's also a book coming out towards the end of the year called Integrative Gastroenterology by Gerard Mullin. He's a John's Hopkins GI who came down with a "hard to treat" AI disease and discovered dietary modification, neutraceuticals etc. were what helped him. It's part of Andrew Wiel's Integrative Medicine series and I believe will be published by OUP. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I'd go to one in a heartbeat if there was one anywhere in my state. Unfortunately, they seem to be clustered on the east and west coasts.

Dr. Ronald Hoffman is a highly recommended integrative GI in the NYC area. Check out his Web site: http://www.drhoffman.com/
And his treatment plan for UC: http://www.drhoffman.com/page.cfm/169

princesa posted:
Dr. Ronald Hoffman is a highly recommended integrative GI in the NYC area. Check out his Web site: http://www.drhoffman.com/
And his treatment plan for UC: http://www.drhoffman.com/page.cfm/169

Very interesting. he's got info on all the areas we've discussed on this forum including the SCDiet, l-glutamine, whipworm, etc, etc.
pretty high fees too and he doesn't accept insurance, you have to file it yourself and hope they pay some of the charges.

I guess I'll keep doing my own doctoring. It's been working better than what the medical community has offered me in the last 10 years.

so I called the offices of the 2 integrative doctors in NY to get pricing, and here it is:

Dr. Galland - $750 for first visit, not including the cost of tests. Does not accept any insurance.

Dr. Hoffman - $800 for the first visit, not including the cost of tests. Does not accept any insurance.

This is pretty steep - I am curious to try them out, but has anyone here had success with integrative doctors? What did they actually treat you with?

KrissyUC said...
Talks about fish oils lessening the need for steroids..I still find this very hard to believe..alot of pple here have tried them and saw no difference or negative side effects..

Sounds more like snake oil than fish oil to me!

I live near Tucson and the Arizona Center for Integrative medicine. Sounded neat until I looked into it. Big dollars and little science to back things up. Worse than traditional medicine which I don't think much of.

I think I would travel to India or China and give their version of traditional medicine a try first. Probably cheaper.

I don't think you can get any lower than scamming the sick although I am sure they have convinced themselves that they aren't. Nasty characteristic of the human kind....profit by self delusion.