ISO Functional Medicine sliding scale, affordable or Medi-cal
Hello,
I am the primary and sole custodial parent of a 13 year old, and a DV survivor. I was diagnosed with IBS in 2018. Is started overnight on day, so I strongly doubted being handed my doctor's "chronic illness with no cure" sentence. I have since treated for SIBO three times (2x antibiotics, 1x herbal) and am currently treating for Candida. My hunch is it could be both, also with some Vagus nerve disregulation due to prolonged stress and trauma. We live in West Oakland, and I have just discovered air pollution can cause this. I feel neglected by the medical system and potential bait for endless, expensive, exploitative alternative services. Does anyone know of a highly experienced, skillful functional medicine doctor who can provide care on a sliding scale or find a way to use my insurance? I am not at the beginning of this journey. My level of health knowledge and action is high. My dysfunction is currently disabling.
THANK YOU!
Parent Replies
I had so many health issues and chronic fatigue and hashimotos, RA, and other problems. I have seen many different doctors over the years. No one doctor whether functional, regular, well known, or well regarded had been able to do it all. What has worked for me is picking on thing like chronic fatigue and researching everything on it, working out my hypothesis for what may help and searching for doctors likely to work with that approach. Then doing the same thing for the next ailment. I have a doctor who helps with my thyroid, an obgyn who helps with hormone imbalances and sleep, a gp for anemia and other standard testing, etc. I have read so much over the years and realized that the common thread was over use of antibiotics and gut microbe imbalances which I have worked hard to improve and (touch wood) and in better health than I’ve been in in years.
Hello. I can very much empathize with a lot of your post, and I truly hope that you find the person(s) to help you on this journey to better health. While I have not been treated by her since the start of Covid, I was a patient of--and can recommend--Dr. Christine Dao in Alameda for several years and had great success in treatment for SIBO (among other health challenges). She's really knowledgeable, is caring, and offers acupuncture, a wide variety of testing, and herbal supplements. IDK if she does sliding-scale or handles insurance at this point, but it would be worth a call/look at her site.
Best of luck and here's to your health!