Do you think this person is a doctor and if so is she legit?

[Scarlett]

She has these letters after her name.  PhD RDN LD LMFT

My friend's Dallas psoriatic arthritis doctor referred her to a dermatologist in Boston.  That was a wasted trip IMO (except they did need the vacation) and the Boston doctor referred her to a doctor here locally to help my friend with her gut issues.  This new doctor has a PHD in Natural Medicine, and those other letters all refer to dietician and therapy. She put her on a carnivore diet for 3 weeks.  (Friend lasted like 5 days and got so so sick she had to stop)    She has introduced  my friend to tapping.  And she wants her to start sessions in hyperbaric chamber.  I believe all of those things are at the least not helpful.  Maybe harmful.  Woo. 

In the middle of all of this....friend's GP sends her for a CT and she is diagnosed with abdominal wall cellulitis.  They put her on antibiotics......one dose and she is covered in head to toe in a painful red rash.  They try another antibiotic....same reaction.

So she is still going back to the doctor with all the letters attached.....and I have tried to gently tell her maybe this is not what she needs right now.  Yesterday she had an appointment with her and afterwards texted me "Yes she is a licensed functioning doctor! I made sure of it today".

So does anyone have an opinion on this situation?  I feel like she is so desperate she is just willing to try anything.  

[Alicia64]

Just my .02 but we know what a PhD is.

An RDN is a Registered dietitian nutritionist.

I don't know what an LD is.

I think the LMFT is licensed marriage and family therapist.

You're a good friend staying so supportive.

 

[Jean in Newcastle]

All the naturopathic doctors I have seen have ND after their name. Some are ND and MD. 
 

Some naturopathic doctors will assume that MDs have already looked for the standard solutions and will then go for less standard ones. 
 

Diet change isn’t necessarily woo especially when the gut is involved. Which diet though might be trickier. 
 

Her immune system sounds totally overwhelmed. I was there once (six months of one antibiotic after another one year and seven months the next year to the point where my body was reacting to everything. My MD had to go outside the normal solutions to help me (specific to another part of the body so it won’t help her). I would see if she would be able to see an immunologist. 

[Katy]

Well all of those things can both be helpful and harmful. 

I honestly don’t know what I would do… restrictive diets like carnivore can be very helpful for some people with extreme allergies. And very harmful for people who have a meat allergy or a genetic reduction in ability to break down protein.  And if she has significant Native American ancestry she might also have less insulin receptors in her smooth muscle cells.  Eating a bunch of saturated fat can push that type of person into diabetic blood sugar levels without eating anything but meat.  

I’m not sure tapping is anything more than a placebo effect, but if it helps who cares?  Hyperbaric oxygen can be very helpful for healing s variety of things. 

The thing about not eating foods you’re not allergic to is you can lose the probiotics you need to digest them at all and then develop an allergy. 

I guess I would try to encourage her as much as possible, commiserate when not, and when her cellulitis has been treated try to get her on a good probiotic.  I like Elixa because that’s the one that cured my food allergies. 

[Scarlett]

Just now, Jean in Newcastle said:

All the naturopathic doctors I have seen have ND after their name. Some are ND and MD. 
 

Some naturopathic doctors will assume that MDs have already looked for the standard solutions and will then go for less standard ones. 
 

Diet change isn’t necessarily woo especially when the gut is involved. Which diet though might be trickier. 
 

Her immune system sounds totally overwhelmed. I was there once (six months of one antibiotic after another one year and seven months the next year to the point where my body was reacting to everything. My MD had to go outside the normal solutions to help me (specific to another part of the body so it won’t help her). I would see if she would be able to see an immunologist. 

I agree diet is not woo, but I think a carnivore diet is.  

There is no ND or MD after her name.  And the website for this clinic refers to 'clients' instead of patients.  

[wathe]

I think it depends what you mean by "doctor". She has a PhD, so she is entitled to use the title "doctor".  Her RDN credential makes her a health care professional.  So she is someone who sees patients in a clinical context, and uses the title "doctor", but isn't a (medical) doctor in the colloquial healthcare sense.  

Under which regulatory body does she hold her licence to practice?  That will probably answer your question.

(Just like those with PhD's in nursing can use the title "doctor" and treat patients, but they are practicing as nurses, they are not medical doctors).  It can be confusing for patients.  ETA here they could get themselves into trouble if not very careful, the title doctor is protected here in the context of healthcare.

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by wathe

[catz]

Tapping is helpful for some people with anxiety.  Mental health can definitely spiral with physical health in particular in people with autoimmune disorders.  Actually, if she has been going through all this and has not pursued mental health care alongside the physical, that is what I might encourage if she is asking your opinion.  It's hard to heal if your body is constantly releasing a bunch of stress hormones and not coping well.

I had progress on some chronic health issues after pursing a more ND angle after following up on a bunch of western medicine.  I will say,  did mental health care on the side too. She may hit on something that works for her.  I guess unless she is asking what you think, I would assume she's done her homework and needs to try some other roads.  She's been struggling with this for a long time and hasn't gotten relief to this point right?  

[Pen]

Sounds like she’s registered to see patients as a dietitian and therapist and also has a doctorate level degree. 
 

so not MD, OD, ND , but doctor level graduate studies and two fields of care - one of which sounds relevant to gut health

[Pen]

21 minutes ago, Alicia64 said:

Just my .02 but we know what a PhD is.

An RDN is a Registered dietitian nutritionist.

I don't know what an LD is.

 

licensed dietitian, afaik for this context 

21 minutes ago, Alicia64 said:

 

I think the LMFT is licensed marriage and family therapist.

You're a good friend staying so supportive.

 

 

[Carrie12345]

38 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

  I feel like she is so desperate she is just willing to try anything.  

Based on all you’ve shared in the past, I don’t blame her.  I’m really not very woo at all, but I’d swim in woo if proven science had nothing left for me. I can’t imagine where that toll on my mental health might take me otherwise.

[Arcadia]

Antibiotics can be very tricky. I am allergic to penicillin but not all brands/forms of penicillin.   My doctors tell me that being allergic to certain manufacturers of antibiotics was common among people and if I want I could always take note of the manufacturer of those antibiotics I often get prescribed and regard them as a safe list. 

I think dietitians experience varies. I didn’t have a good experience with the dietitian assigned to me because she was going all generic and didn’t look through my blood work results. My oncologist actually gave me better diet advice. I have friends who are dietitians working in hospitals so maybe my expectations were higher.

[Scarlett]

16 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

Tapping is helpful for some people with anxiety.  Mental health can definitely spiral with physical health in particular in people with autoimmune disorders.  Actually, if she has been going through all this and has not pursued mental health care alongside the physical, that is what I might encourage if she is asking your opinion.  It's hard to heal if your body is constantly releasing a bunch of stress hormones and not coping well.

I had progress on some chronic health issues after pursing a more ND angle after following up on a bunch of western medicine.  I will say,  did mental health care on the side too. She may hit on something that works for her.  I guess unless she is asking what you think, I would assume she's done her homework and needs to try some other roads.  She's been struggling with this for a long time and hasn't gotten relief to this point right?  

That is a good point that she needs the mental health help after these years of unending struggles with her physical health.  I can't just assume she has done her homework though because her brain is very foggy and she can't think very well.  

[Scarlett]

20 minutes ago, Pen said:

Sounds like she’s registered to see patients as a dietitian and therapist and also has a doctorate level degree. 
 

so not MD, OD, ND , but doctor level graduate studies and two fields of care - one of which sounds relevant to gut health

Ok, that is true.  

[wathe]

Thinking further, chiropractors, naturopaths, clinical psychologists and dentists all use the professional title "doctor" despite not being medical doctors, and the public doesn't have any trouble discerning the difference between their areas of clinical expertise - I don't anyone is confusing their dentist for a medical doctor.  They all have clinical degrees and the use of the title doctor is a social norm.

I wonder what her PhD was.  Was it clinical?

The use of the title "doctor" in healthcare is actually a bit of an issue.  In the context of healthcare, it's a restricted title here.  And that's not without controversy.  I think the reasoning is to protect the public from fraud.

[Clemsondana]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

I agree diet is not woo, but I think a carnivore diet is.  

There is no ND or MD after her name.  And the website for this clinic refers to 'clients' instead of patients.  

I know a couple of people with lots of weird food allergies like lettuce and barley, but I don't know anybody who has an allergy to meat, so I can see trying all meat to see if it helps just because it's easier than eliminating things individually over a long time period.  If the carnivore diet helped, then maybe she could try adding things back 1 at a time, but if it didn't then eliminating individual food items would likely be pointless unless there was a reaction to eating just meat somehow.  

I hate that she is dealing with this - health issues can be very complicated and from what I've seen doctors tend to throw a bunch of stuff at a problem all at once, and then it's hard to figure out what helped, what made it worse, and what had no effect.  I understand why they do it, but altering a bunch of variables at once messes with my 'I spent years making sure that experiments had legitimate controls' brain.  

[EKS]

Here is something that explains how one becomes a functional medicine practitioner.

https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/the-path-to-becoming-a-functional-medicine-physician/

Registered dietician is one of the qualifying credentials.

[Miss Tick]

4 minutes ago, Clemsondana said:

I don't know anybody who has an allergy to meat,

Total aside here, but i heard a really interesting podcast by a person who suddenly *did* develop an allergy to meat. In the end they determined that it was a side effect of a tick borne illness and it cleared up when that was treated. I can't remember the details, but the woman was a hoot to listen to.

[Clemsondana]

11 minutes ago, SusanC said:

Total aside here, but i heard a really interesting podcast by a person who suddenly *did* develop an allergy to meat. In the end they determined that it was a side effect of a tick borne illness and it cleared up when that was treated. I can't remember the details, but the woman was a hoot to listen to.

Interesting!  You can develop an allergy to any protein, so it's interesting that we don't hear about meat allergies often - maybe the proteins are similar to our 'self' proteins since we're made of muscle, too?  There are plenty of fish and shellfish issues, though.  I'm sure somebody knows and I should probably do some research - I'm sure I could fit it into Bio 2 somewhere.   🙂  

[Scarlett]

19 minutes ago, SusanC said:

Total aside here, but i heard a really interesting podcast by a person who suddenly *did* develop an allergy to meat. In the end they determined that it was a side effect of a tick borne illness and it cleared up when that was treated. I can't remember the details, but the woman was a hoot to listen to.

Well that is super interesting because my friend's issues all started from Lymes.

[Jean in Newcastle]

23 minutes ago, SusanC said:

Total aside here, but i heard a really interesting podcast by a person who suddenly *did* develop an allergy to meat. In the end they determined that it was a side effect of a tick borne illness and it cleared up when that was treated. I can't remember the details, but the woman was a hoot to listen to.

I was going to mention this but you beat me to it!  (Not the podcast, but the link between meat allergy and tick borne diseases.)

[regentrude]

40 minutes ago, Clemsondana said:

I don't know anybody who has an allergy to meat

Red meat allergy after tick bite is a thing. A friend of mine has it.

Eta: just saw pp beat me to it. 

Edited June 18, 2021 by regentrude

[Catwoman]

13 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Well that is super interesting because my friend's issues all started from Lymes.

Has your friend seen an actual Lyme specialist? 

If her issues started from Lyme (and possibly other undiagnosed tick borne illnesses, as well,) I think she should look far and wide for the very best possible Lyme specialist, rather than dealing with “doctors” like the one you mentioned here, who probably don’t have a clue about Lyme Disease.

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Catwoman
Forgot a word!

[Corraleno]

12 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Well that is super interesting because my friend's issues all started from Lymes.

What treatment has she had for Lyme? Has she seen a good Lyme literate MD? My son had Lyme that went undiagnosed for 2 years, and he ended up on doxycycline for 18 months but finally got rid of it.

[Catwoman]

5 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

What treatment has she had for Lyme? Has she seen a good Lyme literate MD? My son had Lyme that went undiagnosed for 2 years, and he ended up on doxycycline for 18 months but finally got rid of it.

I was on doxy for over 2 1/2 years, but it was worth it to finally be rid of all of my bizarre Lyme symptoms. (And I had other doctors tell me that taking all that doxy for so long would mean it would never work for me later on, if I needed it. They were wrong — it still works fine!)

Scarlett, does your friend have weird symptoms that come and go, and that make her think she might possibly be going insane because they make no sense and they aren’t always consistent? And do her symptoms affect all different parts of her body so it seems like she must have lots of different things wrong with her?  If she does, it could very well be the Lyme Disease talking. 

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Catwoman
Typing is hard

[momto3innc]

I have a good friend who developed an anaphylactic allergy to beef and pork after a tick bite. Crazy, but true. I have chronic Lyme and thought I knew tick effects, but had missed that one til he got that 3-4 years ago.

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, Catwoman said:

Has your friend seen an actual Lyme specialist? 

If her issues started from Lyme (and possibly other undiagnosed tick borne illnesses, as well,) I think she should look far and wide for the very best possible Lyme specialist, rather than dealing with “doctors” like the one you mentioned here, who probably don’t have a clue about Lyme Disease.

 

Oh yes.  She has been to every specialist in the book.  I am not exaggerating.  They 'cured' her Lyme but Lyme and the cure caused a lot of problems.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Scarlett

[Lecka]

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/alpha-gal
 

I’m not sure if this is the same podcast linked before — but it is either the same, or another, cool podcast about developing a meat allergy.  

[Pawz4me]

25 minutes ago, Clemsondana said:

Interesting!  You can develop an allergy to any protein, so it's interesting that we don't hear about meat allergies often - maybe the proteins are similar to our 'self' proteins since we're made of muscle, too?  There are plenty of fish and shellfish issues, though.  I'm sure somebody knows and I should probably do some research - I'm sure I could fit it into Bio 2 somewhere.   🙂  

I thought ALL food allergies were reactions to protein molecules? Even if you think you're reacting to (for example) a grain it's really the protein molecules in the grain that's causing the allergy. So it would certainly make sense that meat allergies would be very common. And it's why there are hydrolyzed protein diets for dogs with lots of food allergies.

[Faith-manor]

Without knowing what the PHD is in or where it comes from, I would be dubious. My sister in law is "graduating" with a PHfakeD in natural medicine from an unaccredited university on Michigan's quack watch list. She fully intends on using the title Dr. because "PHD".

What she is getting is an expensive, worthless certificate of voodoo and hocus pocus. She is an absolute nut. I am not even sure this " degree" included an anatomy and physiology class. I am pretty certain it included some flat earth and chem trail crap! She is opening a natural medicine business, and I fully expect she is going to get some unsuspecting person killed. I mean, she has only ruined my brother's health and taken him to the brink of death with her nonsense for a condition that was EASILY treatable once he was in the ER and had follow up with an actual doctor. We have several of these such businesses in the area, and they are all pretty shady "thieves oil cures everything in the world" kinds of places.

Since there are numerous, unaccredited, diploma mills around for natural medicine, without ND on the title list from an accredited medical college, I would assume this "practice" is a snake oil salesman situation until all of the degrees and their sources can be verified.

[Scarlett]

Ugh.  I had no idea she had gone to this doctor for her Lymes 

https://lymescience.org/chronic-lyme-literate-doctor-ronald-wilson-ilads-iladef-disciplined-unprofessional-conduct-texas/

[Pen]

7 hours ago, Scarlett said:

Ugh.  I had no idea she had gone to this doctor for her Lymes 

https://lymescience.org/chronic-lyme-literate-doctor-ronald-wilson-ilads-iladef-disciplined-unprofessional-conduct-texas/

N

Edited June 19, 2021 by Pen

[Scarlett]

42 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Without knowing what the PHD is in or where it comes from, I would be dubious. My sister in law is "graduating" with a PHfakeD in natural medicine from an unaccredited university on Michigan's quack watch list. She fully intends on using the title Dr. because "PHD".

What she is getting is an expensive, worthless certificate of voodoo and hocus pocus. She is an absolute nut. I am not even sure this " degree" included an anatomy and physiology class. I am pretty certain it included some flat earth and chem trail crap! She is opening a natural medicine business, and I fully expect she is going to get some unsuspecting person killed. I mean, she has only ruined my brother's health and taken him to the brink of death with her nonsense for a condition that was EASILY treatable once he was in the ER and had follow up with an actual doctor. We have several of these such businesses in the area, and they are all pretty shady "thieves oil cures everything in the world" kinds of places.

Since there are numerous, unaccredited, diploma mills around for natural medicine, without ND on the title list from an accredited medical college, I would assume this "practice" is a snake oil salesman situation until all of the degrees and their sources can be verified.

This one is in Natural Medicine Quantum University.

[Faith-manor]

7 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

This one is in Natural Medicine Quantum University.

If this is a degree from Quantum Integrative University it is totally bogus. The guy who operates the university is a federal fugitive. It is on the quckwatch list for Michigan.

The Seattle Times did an article on it, but I can't seem to get my kindle to copy and paste properly.

[Clemsondana]

2 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

I thought ALL food allergies were reactions to protein molecules? Even if you think you're reacting to (for example) a grain it's really the protein molecules in the grain that's causing the allergy. So it would certainly make sense that meat allergies would be very common. And it's why there are hydrolyzed protein diets for dogs with lots of food allergies.

Right..food allergies are to specific proteins, which are part of the cells that made up the food that we eat.  But, most food allergies aren't to meat - the most common ones seem to be for nuts, wheat, etc.  I was hypothesizing that the reason that meat wasn't more common was that we are eating muscle, and the proteins in animal muscle are probably more similar to the proteins in our body than the proteins in a nut or wheat plant.  Obviously people can/do have meat allergies, but they don't seem to be the most common, which is perhaps why they suggested a meat diet.  If meat allergy is a known thing wtih Lyme disease and also if a meat diet made the patient worse, it seems like further Lyme treatment might be worth pursuing.  And, in response to the OP, I saw a show where hyperbaric treatment was used with Lyme patients, but I have no idea whether it's common.  

And, I hesitate to say all just because most issues are with protein but people can be allergic to non-protein things - there are people allergic to water, which seems crazy, and I knew of a person allergic to aspirin.  And there are situations where people are allergic to haptens, which is the combination of a small molecule with a protein - the protein and the small molecule are OK, but the combo isn't.  The hydrolyzed protein dog food could hydrolyze lots of proteins - those found in meat and in grains/veggies, if those are in the food, depending on the method used.

[Corraleno]

3 hours ago, Scarlett said:

Ugh.  I had no idea she had gone to this doctor for her Lymes 

https://lymescience.org/chronic-lyme-literate-doctor-ronald-wilson-ilads-iladef-disciplined-unprofessional-conduct-texas/

Unfortunately, many doctors do not believe that "chronic Lyme" exists; they believe that a 30-day course of antibiotics will cure all cases, and that if patients still have issues beyond that, it has nothing to do with Lyme. The linked website is from a group that considers extended antibiotic treatment — the treatment that in fact cured Catwoman, my son, and many many others — to be malpractice. IMO, refusing to acknowledge the reality of chronic Lyme, and not only refusing treatment but telling patients (mostly women) that their symptoms are "all in their head" is the real malpractice. So I would not be concerned that the doctor your friend saw is on this website's "bad" list.

 

 

[Scarlett]

2 hours ago, Corraleno said:

Unfortunately, many doctors do not believe that "chronic Lyme" exists; they believe that a 30-day course of antibiotics will cure all cases, and that if patients still have issues beyond that, it has nothing to do with Lyme. The linked website is from a group that considers extended antibiotic treatment — the treatment that in fact cured Catwoman, my son, and many many others — to be malpractice. IMO, refusing to acknowledge the reality of chronic Lyme, and not only refusing treatment but telling patients (mostly women) that their symptoms are "all in their head" is the real malpractice. So I would not be concerned that the doctor your friend saw is on this website's "bad" list.

 

 

I was more concerned with the penalty he got from the medical board.  

[Farrar]

I think I'd be more concerned that she came out of the conversation saying she's a doctor with zero qualifying understanding. I'm totally open to the idea that a person who is not an MD or ND could be a totally useful medical practitioner to see... but the idea that such a person would not be super clear what the PhD is in and that they're a qualified medical practitioner and have a doctorate - maybe even in a related field - but that they're not the same as a medical doctor... would concern me. 

[Pen]

13 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

I was more concerned with the penalty he got from the medical board.  

It sounded like u were essentially accusing your friend or whoever it is of having chosen fake doctors repeatedly. 

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

I think I'd be more concerned that she came out of the conversation saying she's a doctor with zero qualifying understanding. I'm totally open to the idea that a person who is not an MD or ND could be a totally useful medical practitioner to see... but the idea that such a person would not be super clear what the PhD is in and that they're a qualified medical practitioner and have a doctorate - maybe even in a related field - but that they're not the same as a medical doctor... would concern me. 

This is what I am seeing and I don’t know what else to do except just try to point things out when I can.  She did do the hyperbaric chamber treatment and is going to do 2 more.  She said it felt amazing.   So I figured anything that makes her feel amazing at this point is worth it. 
 

oh and she put her on a less extreme diet so I am glad about that.

[Terabith]

9 hours ago, Clemsondana said:

I know a couple of people with lots of weird food allergies like lettuce and barley, but I don't know anybody who has an allergy to meat, so I can see trying all meat to see if it helps just because it's easier than eliminating things individually over a long time period.  If the carnivore diet helped, then maybe she could try adding things back 1 at a time, but if it didn't then eliminating individual food items would likely be pointless unless there was a reaction to eating just meat somehow.  

I hate that she is dealing with this - health issues can be very complicated and from what I've seen doctors tend to throw a bunch of stuff at a problem all at once, and then it's hard to figure out what helped, what made it worse, and what had no effect.  I understand why they do it, but altering a bunch of variables at once messes with my 'I spent years making sure that experiments had legitimate controls' brain.  

This is interesting, because while meat allergies (outside of the tick borne illness) do appear to be rare, fish is one of the top 8 allergens.  

[GoVanGogh]

I haven’t read previous posts of yours re: this friend. But I have had chronic health issues for several years and was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s about 18 months ago. I was “lucky” in that my primary doctor suspected my health issues were neurological and sent me to a well respected neurologist that specializes in movement disorders. It often takes years of being sent to specialists before many are finally diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Chronic health issues are so exhausting. Not getting answers is even more exhausting. From my perspective, you hit a point where it doesn’t matter how “woo” something is, you need something to embrace, anything to get relief. If it is placebo or real doesn’t even matter at some point. With Parkinson’s, there is no cure, the meds only treat symptoms. It isn’t like cancer where time is crucial. I have fully embraced Eastern medicine, including yoga, meditation and acupuncture, along with tapping and extreme diet changes. I wouldn’t question your friend’s decisions. They are her decisions, not yours. This is her journey and only she knows what is going on in her body. And yeah, chronic health issues are so taxing mentally. If she gets relief from tapping, so be it. It is harmless to try it. 

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

I was more concerned with the penalty he got from the medical board.  

He was penalized for prescribing an extended course of antibiotics, which the Texas Medical Board refused to accept as a legitimate treatment.

A Texas state senator, Chris Harris, was appalled when he discovered that the only way his doctor could treat his Lyme disease was to contact 17 different colleagues and get each one to write a 1-month antibiotic prescription, or else risk being censured and fined by the medical board exactly as Dr. Wilson was. So Harris introduced a bill that would force the Medical Board to recognize the legitimacy of extended antibiotic treatment for Lyme Disease. It was opposed by various lobbyists, and was replaced by a bill stating that doctors could take a specific training course on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme, and if they chose to prescribe more than 1 month of antibiotics, they could cite this additional training as a defense against censure by the board. This was a work-around to placate opponents of the original bill who were concerned that giving doctors carte blanche to treat Lyme with extended antibiotics would somehow lead to doctors using extended antibiotics for other diseases under false pretenses. That bill (SB 1360) passed both houses and was signed into law in 2011 — one year after Wilson was censured and fined. 

The irony is that it's perfectly acceptable to prescribe several months of doxycycline for acne, but the anti-Lyme group claims that prescribing more than 1 month for a potentially severe and life-changing illness is malpractice. It actually has nothing to do with best practices, and a lot to do with insurance companies lobbying hard to prevent "chronic Lyme" from becoming a medically recognized diagnosis, so they don't have to pay for prolonged and often complicated treatment.

[fraidycat]

I can't speak to the hyperbaric chamber, though I have heard good things anecdotally. 

Diet plays a large part in health. "You are what you eat" and all that, though pure carnivore diet seems pretty extreme as humans are not carnivores, but it may just be an extreme form of an elimination diet in which other foods will be re-introduced quickly. 

As far as tapping goes, it is clinically proven in over 100 peer-reviewed randomized control trials, clinical outcome studies, and fMRIs to measure what happens in the brain. It down regulates an overactive nervous-system stress response in the amygdala and body (lowering cortisol, adrenaline and other stress hormones, as well as lowering heart rate and other physiological flight or fight response markers). On the fMRI study it showed a change in areas of the brain that were activated with distressing images before and after tapping (deactivating amygdala, reactivating pre-frontal cortex). It is recognized by the VA as safe for use in veterans with PTSD and is used by medical doctors, licensed therapists, and laypeople around the world. The pre-cursor to tapping is TFT which was developed by a clinical psychologist working with patients with severe phobias. It was effective, and EFT (tapping) is a simplified version of TFT which uses more complicated sequences on the pressure points for various symptoms.

If your friend is stressed out by her illness and the LFMT initials stands for licensed therapist, then she might just know a little bit about how to help your friend deal with all of the stress which can exacerbate her physical symptoms. It sounds like she is treating the whole person rather than one symptom at a time.

Edited June 19, 2021 by fraidycat

[TravelingChris]

11 hours ago, Clemsondana said:

I know a couple of people with lots of weird food allergies like lettuce and barley, but I don't know anybody who has an allergy to meat, so I can see trying all meat to see if it helps just because it's easier than eliminating things individually over a long time period.  If the carnivore diet helped, then maybe she could try adding things back 1 at a time, but if it didn't then eliminating individual food items would likely be pointless unless there was a reaction to eating just meat somehow.  

 

Actually there are a lot of people= my son included.  They react to alpha-gal in an anaphylactic reaction.  This is an allergic type reaction that comes from ticks - my son has been bitten with a tick that trasmitted this twice.  He is followed by an allergist and cannot eat mammal meat.  Except if he could get his hands on the specially bred pigs for transplants that have no alpha-gal (because transplant people reject organs that contain alpha-gal), then he could eat some pork anyway.

[TravelingChris]

7 hours ago, Clemsondana said:

Right..food allergies are to specific proteins, which are part of the cells that made up the food that we eat.  But, most food allergies aren't to meat - the most common ones seem to be for nuts, wheat, etc.  I was hypothesizing that the reason that meat wasn't more common was that we are eating muscle, and the proteins in animal muscle are probably more similar to the proteins in our body than the proteins in a nut or wheat plant.  Obviously people can/do have meat allergies, but they don't seem to be the most common, which is perhaps why they suggested a meat diet.  If meat allergy is a known thing wtih Lyme disease and also if a meat diet made the patient worse, it seems like further Lyme treatment might be worth pursuing.  And, in response to the OP, I saw a show where hyperbaric treatment was used with Lyme patients, but I have no idea whether it's common.  

And, I hesitate to say all just because most issues are with protein but people can be allergic to non-protein things - there are people allergic to water, which seems crazy, and I knew of a person allergic to aspirin.  And there are situations where people are allergic to haptens, which is the combination of a small molecule with a protein - the protein and the small molecule are OK, but the combo isn't.  The hydrolyzed protein dog food could hydrolyze lots of proteins - those found in meat and in grains/veggies, if those are in the food, depending on the method used.

It isn't Lyme disease at all.   It is a completely different reaction and carried by a number of ticks around the world but a common one here is yellow dog tick, which is considerably bigger than the deer tick of Lyme disease.

[gardenmom5]

nm 

Edited June 19, 2021 by gardenmom5

[ieta_cassiopeia]

LD - licenced dietician.

It's probable that this is a genuine doctor specialising in nutrition. but that your friend needs either a different doctor in the same field - or a specialist in a different field (as it's not obvious that the issue is necessarily to do with diet, and there's nothing in those postnominals to suggest this doctor is specialised in non-diet medical matters). Unfortunately I have no further advice to offer, and can only wish your friend the best in the search for treatment.

[Scarlett]

8 hours ago, Corraleno said:

He was penalized for prescribing an extended course of antibiotics, which the Texas Medical Board refused to accept as a legitimate treatment.

A Texas state senator, Chris Harris, was appalled when he discovered that the only way his doctor could treat his Lyme disease was to contact 17 different colleagues and get each one to write a 1-month antibiotic prescription, or else risk being censured and fined by the medical board exactly as Dr. Wilson was. So Harris introduced a bill that would force the Medical Board to recognize the legitimacy of extended antibiotic treatment for Lyme Disease. It was opposed by various lobbyists, and was replaced by a bill stating that doctors could take a specific training course on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme, and if they chose to prescribe more than 1 month of antibiotics, they could cite this additional training as a defense against censure by the board. This was a work-around to placate opponents of the original bill who were concerned that giving doctors carte blanche to treat Lyme with extended antibiotics would somehow lead to doctors using extended antibiotics for other diseases under false pretenses. That bill (SB 1360) passed both houses and was signed into law in 2011 — one year after Wilson was censured and fined. 

The irony is that it's perfectly acceptable to prescribe several months of doxycycline for acne, but the anti-Lyme group claims that prescribing more than 1 month for a potentially severe and life-changing illness is malpractice. It actually has nothing to do with best practices, and a lot to do with insurance companies lobbying hard to prevent "chronic Lyme" from becoming a medically recognized diagnosis, so they don't have to pay for prolonged and often complicated treatment.

Thank you! See this is why I post stuff here to get just that kind of insight.  When I read it closer I can see that is exactly what  they fined him for and that they don’t believe Lyme is real.  

[Scarlett]

8 hours ago, fraidycat said:

I can't speak to the hyperbaric chamber, though I have heard good things anecdotally. 

Diet plays a large part in health. "You are what you eat" and all that, though pure carnivore diet seems pretty extreme as humans are not carnivores, but it may just be an extreme form of an elimination diet in which other foods will be re-introduced quickly. 

As far as tapping goes, it is clinically proven in over 100 peer-reviewed randomized control trials, clinical outcome studies, and fMRIs to measure what happens in the brain. It down regulates an overactive nervous-system stress response in the amygdala and body (lowering cortisol, adrenaline and other stress hormones, as well as lowering heart rate and other physiological flight or fight response markers). On the fMRI study it showed a change in areas of the brain that were activated with distressing images before and after tapping (deactivating amygdala, reactivating pre-frontal cortex). It is recognized by the VA as safe for use in veterans with PTSD and is used by medical doctors, licensed therapists, and laypeople around the world. The pre-cursor to tapping is TFT which was developed by a clinical psychologist working with patients with severe phobias. It was effective, and EFT (tapping) is a simplified version of TFT which uses more complicated sequences on the pressure points for various symptoms.

If your friend is stressed out by her illness and the LFMT initials stands for licensed therapist, then she might just know a little bit about how to help your friend deal with all of the stress which can exacerbate her physical symptoms. It sounds like she is treating the whole person rather than one symptom at a time.

Ok, well you are making me feel better, because my friend is so completely freaked out stressed about her illness that she is near suicidal.  And of course I know stress makes the physical worse. 

[Lanny]

Disclaimer: I have not read all of the previous responses. Only the first one, so probably others have made the same comments.

OP you wrote: "She has these letters after her name.  PhD RDN LD LMFT

My friend's Dallas psoriatic arthritis doctor referred her to a dermatologist in Boston.  That was a wasted trip IMO (except they did need the vacation) and the Boston doctor referred her to a doctor here locally to help my friend with her gut issues."

The "doctor" in Dallas whose letters you posted above, may have a PhD in Basket Weaving or some other topic.  If you mean by
"doctor" a Medical Doctor, she is not an M.D. or she would have those initials after her name.

Now, having lived in or near Dallas for many years, I am familiar with the medical care available there.  My now late Cousin was an  eminent Dermatologist in his sub-specialty.  I believe that if he was still alive that he would find it incredibly rare, and probably unneccesary, for someone in Dallas to go to Boston, unless there was nobody with that expertise in Dallas.

I hope that your friend will be OK.  I suggest that she goes to Medical Doctors.