Functional medicine has changed my life. As of Nov. 2018 I am a 29 year old mother of 3. I was…read morediagnosed with Crohn's Disease in October 2014 after struggling with debilitating symptoms for 4 months with little answers from my GI at Silver Cross. He had me on a high dose of prednisone for almost 1 year straight while experimenting with various treatments.
Between 2015-2017 I stopped all medication because I was experiencing scary side effects. I had several months of relief during and for up to 1 year after a pregnancy. In the spring of 2017, out of the blue, I developed a large abscess in my abdomen as a complication of the Crohn's. It was a visibly clear protrusion on the right side of my stomach the size of a large orange. I underwent the same surgical procedure TWICE at Silver Cross to help clear the abscess because it failed the first time around. It was the most traumatic experience- I recall being awake and conscious during the first procedure screaming in pain as the surgeon drained the abscess. I was in extreme pain for a week afterward leaving me mostly on bed rest. I demanded to be put under during the second procedure and was SHOCKED this was not the norm.
In June 2017 I went to Loyola to have a bowel resection. I was terrified of undergoing surgery, but I was reassured by GI's at Silver Cross, Advocate, University of Chicago, and Loyola, that this was my only option. Recovery took a solid 6 weeks. I was strongly encouraged by a new GI to begin taking Humira to prevent further damage to my small intestine. I did not have peace about this option because this drug basically blocks the immune inflammatory response- it does NOT address why the immune inflammatory response is triggering in the first place (allopathic medicine does NOT do this).
In the spring of 2018 I had still not begun Humira, but was experiencing Crohn's symptoms again. After one of my friends had success under the care of Dr. Beyer, I decided to go for a consultation. I was so scared of having to take a strong pharmaceutical tha I had zero peace about OR risking needing to undergo another surgery. Dr. Beyer assured me I didn't have to settle for either.
I remember sitting in his office in tears because he validated the things that my previous GI doctors brushed me off for- the depression I experienced from the different pharmaceuticals, the weight gain, the concerns I had about Humira, and the fact that EVERY GI told me that diet has no impact on my condition.
I began a 9 month program with Dr. Beyer and it has been worth EVERY PENNY AND MORE! I truly mean this with all of my heart because I am HEALTHIER than I have been in years!
My Crohn's is in REMISSION without any pharmaceuticals. In fact, at my last GI appointment my doctor was very pleased with how low my inflammatory markers were.
Functional medicine seeks to find the underlying triggers to chronic illness and remove or remediate them through diet, lifestyle change, and properly targeted supplementation. Allopathic medicine does not do this- it can only treat symptoms. Dr. Beyer gets to the root.
Dr. Beyer ran extensive blookwork, saliva/hormone tests, food intolerance tests, and a stool test. He identified things that were off ALL over my body that were contributing to my disease. My GI's focused merely on the diseased area of my gut, but Dr. Beyer explained to me how the body is like a machine that needs all parts functioning properly in order to maintain health and prevent disease/keep it in remission. Within 2 weeks, my Crohn's symptoms began to subside and within a month I was feeling so great. I lost over 20lbs and other annoyances like tingling toes and eye twitches disappeared.
Dr. Beyer helps his patients achieve optimal health through his approach. He is the kindest, most genuine, and most generous doctor I have ever known. Alexa, the nutritionist, is the most thorough, patient, and understanding person. She does an incredible job of helping patients understand the best way to take care of their bodies through diet. These two have helped me more than I ever thought was possible, as well as my husband and 3 children. Both Alexa & Dr. Beyer are extremely generous with their time, they are very responsive to their e-mails, and the entire staff goes above and beyond to help accommodate our family whenever we visit.
There were a lot of supplements to take up front. Dr. Beyer assured me that eventually I wouldn't need so many and he stayed 100% true to his word. I now only take a daily multivitamin, a fish oil, and Vitamin D if I don't get sunlight one day.
The supplements he carries are more expensive than what you might find in Target, but the quality is unlike anything you can get there. The prices of the supplements he stocks in office are the exact same prices you would find online for the same brands.
He does accept insurance, and he is VERY up front about the costs of the patient specific program before agreeing to treatment.