Someone tell me the DAN Doc is worthevery penny! I need encouragement--if we go through with the appt, we will need to put it on our credit card. They said our ins. will reimburse 80 percent but I am not holding my breath Will I regret this trip? Or thank God for it? Welllll... we took Matthew to a DAN dr back in August. I loved her, she was wonderful. She was expensive but thankfully she had one set charge for the whole visit and not per hour (she spent almost 3 hrs with us). She was very interested and concerned about Matthew and unfortunately you don't get that alot with dr's now a days. She put Matthew on a ton of vitamins and the vitamins have helped with his stools, his concentration, and his sleeping. Now I think this should answer your question......we will be seeing her again. Ruth thank you Ruth. Did you purchase the vits and stuff while there in her office? Need to plan for that, too... Anyone else? Yep she had a nutrionist on staff that sold the vits and other suppliments. So yes definetely plan for an extra few hundred on that as well. Ruth extra hundred? Oh my. I have in the past used my credit card for worthless things. WHY am I fretting over this? This is WORTH it! I hate debt. Haven't been in debt in ten years, till now Ruth, did you use the Doc in Jacksonville?
No we actually went to Richmond VA as we heard really great things about that dr and had never heard anything about any of the ones in FL. We saw a woman by the name of Dr. Mary Megson. Here is her website if your interested in reading about her and what she does: We were blessed at the time and able to afford to go but trust me I know all about debt. We are definetely in debt now and hanging on by our teeth. I am sure you probably won't be able to go to see Dr. Megson but some of the articles on her site are pretty interesting. Some of it you may even want to ask the dr you are going to see. Ruth
Bonnie, I so understand what you mean. Two years ago, I was just frantic that DS be seen by a DAN Dr. then when I had to decide, do I put us in debt to the point that we could get into real trouble or do I not!?! I saw a little ASD child, his parents fly with him (I forgot where) and spend thousands of dollars on DAN, supplements, vitamins, he has RDI and ABA, private therapists, tutors, sensory programs that cost thousands of dollars, hyperbaric chamber therapy, you name it, this child has had it. I am sure if not a couple hundred thousand, it doesnt like much. He is a sweet lil boy, cute as a button, and he has autism... I wish I could give me child all these things, but I cant, not and be able to give him food and clothes and a roof over his head. Now, if our Dr told me, oh yes, this is just a must, then I would go in debt for it and to heck with it...if it would really truly, beyond a doubt help my son.......but until...I cant afford it...Now, I ordered him some things from Kirkmans labs, I asked our Dr if it would hurt (folic acid, B12, magnesium) she said just calculate the dose and try it...I tried the DSM last year and it really caused major aggresion.... Just want you to know that you are not alone in wanting the best for your child, but also needing to keep the ol budget under control.....I have thought that I might look into finding a more holistic type Dr, perhaps that even the HMO would help with???? I will put that on my to do list  My daughter and I took Gia to a DAN doctor. The visit was $300.00. Gia has also been taking SuperNUThera from Kirkman and a few other things. Dr. told us there was too much B6 in SuperNu and that was making her hyper. Dr. said she needed more B12 (lots more) and more calcium and magnesium. So, we bought all that stuff. Gia seemed more focus but crazy (if that makes sense) very very aggressive - stopped using her words. She is potty trained (she's 6) and she started having poop accidents. I called dr. to see if any of her behavior was caused by change in supplements. Dr. said no that Gia needed more supplements and we needed to start the chelation soon. I started researching and realized Gia was now taking way way more magnesium and that is a stool softner (stopped that and she is now fine with her bowel movement - which made her crazy pooping in her pants - god only knows what her stomach felt like!!!! I hate to sound negative and I'm sure there are some great ones out there - but it gets so frustrating to spend money constantly chasing a rainbow. Now, we did get CalmChild and gave it to her last night - she slept really well - she did wake up at four but she goes to bed at 7:30 and she was actually rested. It will be interesting to see how her day went. My daughter tried the stuff first and she said it calmed her. I'm going to take it tonight as I'm very sensitive to any supplement or medication - just to see what Gia might be feeling. Sorry to go on so long but I have been so frusterated with this doctor stuff!!! Good Luck and keep us posted!!! For those of you taking your child to a DAN! doc, do you have to go also for counseling? I stopped taking Hunter there because they also required us talk to a therapist before see Dr. Beth. Hunter doesn't have behavioral problems. I was only taking him to her, the drive is an hour one way, so I could get some tests done right after his diagnosis. If I didn't also have to drive back and forth to the therapist on different days, I'd probably would have kept taking him to her. Our insurance paid for our visits in full. Yolanda, how lucky for you that your insurance paid. Ours is fighting us every step of the way about paying even the least little amount of the bills for our DAN dr. As for whether we had to see a counselor, NO. She did make us see her nutritionist after seeing her though so we could buy the suppliments. Ruth sorry...I meant NE to mean North East (should have put N.E.)...Dr. Ken Bock is located in Rhinebeck, New York Hey Bonnie...I was sitting on the fence about going to a DAN doc and was basically thinking like you. I went ahead and made an appointment for Jan. 2006 (6 month wait list to get in so I thought I could give it more thought while I waited). It turns out that the new neurologist that I am taking my son to is a friend of this particular DAN doc and she said he was fabulous and that he was one of the best (hence the long wait). Anyway...she agreed to work with the DAN doc and run any of the metabolic tests that he wanted to do (and could get away with as a neurologist) so that our insurance will cover it. I will luck out with some savings (still very expensive). Maybe your pedi. can help you with some of the tests?? or maybe another "mainstream" specialist that you have in your corner?? I had heard so many negative comments about DAN docs from other medical professionals (I envisioned men in gold nugget jewelry selling snake oil out of the back of vans )and was
so pleased that my new neurologist believes in the protocols. Just to
temper all of this, she not only practices pedi. neurology with a
specialty in autism, she teaches pedi. neurology at Harvard Medical
school and lectures at DAN conferences all over the world (didn't know
that when I made the appointment).You are a smart lady Bonnie and I think that as long as you do the research on the doctor and what it is s(he) is doing - or trying to do, I think you will be fine. Best of luck to you...I know for my son, there is a bio-med piece to his "progress" because we have been so fortunate to see positive results from vitamins/supplements/diet (in addition to ABA). Dr. Bock is another good DAN doc. located in the NE http://www.rhinebeckhealth.com/rhc/index.php Can you please give me the first name of Dr. Bock in Nebraska and the city he practices in? Thanks, Pam ((Jean)) I pray that you will be led to just the right Doctor for your little boy, that your HMO will pay for... |
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) We then took her off the B12 to see if her aggression would stop. Yes, it did. Her aggression had got so bad that her floortime therapist quit (she was a jerk anyway!!!).