I do not recommend these practitioners at all.
I started seeing Flattery about 9 years ago for Lyme Disease. For the first two years we did several expensive treatments (none of which worked). Around 2.5 years into it, I was in a serious car accident and almost broke my neck. The Lyme had already affected my back and neck, therefore I was at a pain level of around ten at all times for about a year solid. I had lost 30 pounds, I was bedridden and I was suffering tremendously. Lyme is a pain syndrome that is astounding. It's almost indescribable.
I essentially begged Flattery for pain medication, but he always made me feel like I was a pathetic junkie. One day I even confessed to him in tears that I was ready to end my own life because I was suffering so badly. Eventually I developed a street connection for Oxycontin until I was able to get my situation under control by stopping Flatterys treatments and doing the Buehner Protocol. I have since recovered about 90% and I haven't taken any pain medication in about 5 years.
When my car accident attorney requested my records from Flattery, almost every report said the same thing, something to the effect of, Chris looks and seems sad. It was almost as if he was cutting and pasting the summaries.
Another impetus for me stopping the treatments was that I had burned through my life savings. It felt like all the interest in helping me was gone once the money was gone. Flattery started making comments like "I'm not sure if I really believe that you're sick" or other jabs about me being a drug addict. Having a Naturopath that approaches Lyme in that manner is not at all comforting although it did empower me to take my situation into my own hands. It was an incredibly lonely time.
At that point I was working with Flattery only to refill my prescriptions. One of them was for Gabapentin. It was not uncommon for me to have to place 4 to 5 phone calls begging for refills. Sometimes it would take as long as 20 days for the refills. One time I ran out of Gabapentin on a photoshoot and my withdrawal symptoms were so severe that I literally thought I was going to die. It was the worst panic attack I have ever experienced and it was in front of a new client and some very wealthy homeowners.
Eventually I started seeing another practitioner in his office named Keith Bell hoping that I would be able to get the scrips refilled in a timely manner. As of this writing, I have placed 4 - 5 phone calls to their office begging for a refill for ointment for mysterious skin rashes. It has been almost 17 days since the pharmacy sent the first request over and still no luck. It looks and feels like my hands are going to rot off and I have a rash on my shin that's the size of a donut. It's incredibly unsettling. The ointment gets rid of them but I don't have any left. It is not uncommon for me to have to stop by their office, make several phone calls and wait several days to get Bell to do a refill for me.
This has caused me a great deal of unnecessary stress. About 4 years ago, I developed a hand infection from the rashes and was hospitalized, had surgery and almost lost my hand.
The last thing a person should stress over is something as simple as a refill. My experience with Lyme and the medical community (even the Naturopaths) has been mostly resentment, humiliation and hopelessness. It is absolutely no way conducive to healing. It's demoralizing.
Tomorrow I will be ending my relationship with the center for integrative medicine and leaving with what little dignity I have intact. read more
