Dr. Cochran has been my physician since 2017. I came to him originally with MAJOR autoimmune issues…read moreand no diagnosis...after almost a year of being kicked around from specialist to specialist at a large WA based hospital. By the time I found Dr. Cochran I was sick as a dog and had zero answers. Right off the bat Dr. Cochran listened, and actually looked at my medical history...for more than 5 seconds. What truly sets him apart is that he empowered me to be my own advocate. In my experience, most MDS don't encourage their patients to educate themselves, to learn about the human body, or a specific disease, or different ways to treat it. Dr. Cochran absolutely does. He really is a wealth of medical knowledge, and always seems to be learning more himself. In other words, he isn't complacent, which is usually what I experience meeting with an MD at most major clinics.
My health battle most certainly has had its ups and downs. It's taken time, energy, money and some experimentation at times, but I can seriously say I have a life again. I was basically bedridden when this all started, and now I can do things I thought I'd lost forever, and I actually have Hope.
I'd say the only true "downsides" to functional medicine, is that the cost tends to be high depending on the therapies you choose, and there can be a lot of trial and error depending on what your medical issues are...but this isn't really an IHC issue, it's this way across the board unfortunately, and contrary to popular belief good and qualified Naturopathic doctors aren't trying to "rob you." They have high costs too, just to run their clinics at all, and they don't typically get the same assistance that major hospitals and clinics receive. I feel like I could talk for hours about why this is and how broken our larger medical system has become but at the end of the day, you just have to ask yourself, how much is your health worth? I truly believe that health is...everything, and when you lose it, you lose a lot of what makes life truly beautiful too, what makes life worth living...so finding the right doctor who cares about your health as much as you do, is HUGE.
I would absolutely refer anyone to IHC, sick or not! PS, Dr. Cochran is amazing, but the rest of the team and staff are too, It's just a really warm, empathetic and welcoming environment all the way around...which in my opinion counts for a lot when you're feeling like total crud.