If you are reading this review of Dr. Armine you are hopefully trying to *optimize* yourself. If not, you are likely are as sick as my daughter and I. I feel for you, and am so sorry for what you are going through. Please know that there is hope in Dr. Armine! For both myself and my daughter it is not an easy road to recovery (we are still on it), and it is not as quick as we would like, but we are finally ON that road, and so grateful to be on it. With our primary care physicians and specialists there simply was no hope. My Internist really “cared” about me, but could not come close to even figuring out what could be wrong with me (fatigue, scary neurological symptoms, brain/cognition issues). As an aside, I just saw my Internist last week for something unrelated and she said “oh, I see you have been coming to us for a few years now with fatigue as your chief symptom… let me get you a TSH test”. Seriously, that was the extent of her “help” (she meant well). My 9-year old daughter on the other hand had spent 3/4 of a year with specialists at Johns Hopkins and Hershey Med (both top east coast teaching hospitals), and we got nowhere (she had incredibly severe gastrointestinal issues). We were both at dead ends, and the specialists were at the end of their options. I was desperate.
It was a huge leap of faith seeing Dr. Armine… I really sweated whether I was making the right decision… for financial reasons (if we had been wealthy it would have been a no-brainer). I also worried about the “woo woo” factor, because I have a (super smart) sister who is a doctor (Internal Medicine), and I had such faith in the medical profession… especially because it is “science based”. I simply didn’t know if Dr. Armine’s approach was going to be too weirdly holistic (please no offense!). Well, for us Dr. Armine’s approach worked. Now, 4-5 months later, I am better educated and consider conventional medicine to be “woo woo” (chronic conditions only… acute care is a different story, I think our medical system excels in that arena).

Here is how it went for us: we spent 2 hours on our initial consult, and Dr. Jess ordered some lab tests – some of which seemed unusual to us, but we gained faith during this visit that we were on the right track… just by some of the questions Dr. Armine was asking we could tell he was hitting the right ‘buttons’! We went home sick, but somehow the trip felt “right”… as though we were finally on the right path. We still had reservations, but we had a glimpse of HOPE. We left with a small list of supplements to get and a few labs (we took them to either Quest or Lapcorp or did them on our own and popped them into the mail, depending upon the test). The bill for Dr. Armine’s services and all the tests was a few hundred dollars… our insurance picked up a little of the lab work (maybe half). Please don’t let that scare you if you don’t have $… I have some ideas for you at the end of my review. 🙂

The tests began coming in – for some of them he just called us with the results (no charge) and when they were all in, we took another trip to Philly (we live 2 hours away). We were floored by some of the revelations Dr. Armine had for us. For example, upon looking at one of my daughter’s tests, he said that I should ask her about the “voices” in her heard… it turns out he was right, I was STUNNED… she heard “voices” and they were causing so much noise in her head, that it mimicked ADD (no wonder the ADD meds don’t help!). My daughter’s chief complaint when we started with Dr Armine was gastrointestinal… it turns out that when you begin to heal neurotransmitters/hormones/etc… the gut heals too! I am sickened at how many visits and procedures we had at Johns Hopkins that never even came CLOSE to figuring out my daughter’s issues (and it makes sense… why would a Pediatric Gastroenterologist consider that my daughter’s gastrointestinal issues were party caused by her *brain*… she is a gastroenterologist not a neurologist). And yet here was the “Teddy bear doctor” (as my daughter calls him)… a chiropractor/nurse/doctor working on his own in the outskirts of Philly, who cared about finding the CAUSE for her problems… and not just covering up the SYMPTOMS. (Let me repeat this: Dr. Armine’s goal is to find a *cause* for your problems. Think about your own doctors… are they doing that? Mine were not… they were matching my symptoms with their pharmacy references, trying to help me with symptoms). Anyway, at this visit, we did some adjusting of supplements (based on symptoms) and ordered a few more simple labs. We felt like we were “honing in” on some key issues. I read for hours a day on the internet to educated myself (I had been doing that for a year already, which is how I came across Dr. Armine’s name).

Now, I have to also state this: this road is difficult. For Dr. Armine too! We had some huge “hits” and some “misses” too. For example, Dr. Armine missed one important lab test at the beginning. When he realized it 2 months into our process, he called immediately and said that he should have tested for Lyme earlier (not Elisa, by the way, but Western Blot – if that means anything to you). I was amazed (and strangely relieved) that a practitioner would call to flag a mistake he had made. (I am so grateful he did – I think that is what my biggest problem is… I tested positive and I think I have neuro Lyme…). I keep in mind that we are on the forefront of medicine here; in 20 years what Dr. Armine does will be mainstream medicine. There is no handbook for Dr. Armine (or us) to consult. This work of healing involves some level of trial and error, and there is a lot of work we patients have to do too (in terms of reporting symptoms, keeping up with supplements, and staying educated along the way).
So, at this point (as of this review) we are 4-5 months in. For me, some of my fatigue lifted, but I am still suffering with neurological symptoms, and Dr. Jess referred me to a neurologist (conventional medicine has an important place in what he does, too, and he will work with the neurologist’s results, likely greatly improving my outcome). Dr. Jess and I have some more work to do together on myself; more lab tests are on the way. But I have to say that FINALLY we are getting an idea of what is wrong with me… the picture is becoming clearer and that is such a relief. Sometimes just knowing what you are fighting is so very important. It is not just wishful thinking that Dr. Armine will figure this all out with me… I truly believe it because I *see* we are getting close. And my body feels different (we are doing some “ground work” to gear up for the battle ahead). It is impossible that I would be at this point with a conventional doctor… had I developed full-blown MS, then my docs would have paid attention to me… but that is too late in my opinion; my goal is to head that off at the pass!

As for my daughter… her ADD is greatly relieved (we are getting the voices down to a “whisper”). Her gut is healing incredibly well. We still have some work to do… we have not yet figured out the cause for her symptoms (remember Dr. Jess is big into finding the *cause* for something)… could it be Lyme (she tested positive, though we are not convinced it is an active infection at the moment), could it be SIBO that we almost eradicated? And so we are still on the path for her… But I would say that her symptoms (which were debilitating for a full year in 2013) are at a level 2 now (on a scale of 10)… when before they were a 9 (often a 10 out of 10 when she was acute). We are TRULY *healing* her… which 9 months at outstanding teaching hospitals could not accomplish.

You may be wondering why this healing process is taking so long… there are steps that must be taken in order. Dr. Armine’s first step with us was fixing some imbalances in the body… especially nutritional, hormonal, and neurotransmitters (with amino acids). Some lab testing occurs at this initial point and others come into play later (when deficiencies are rectified). Often, addressing deficiencies will help pathways in the body (and sometimes open up other issues!). Each step (and each supplement or medicine) needs time to work and for an assessment. These chronic conditions don’t often have immediate answers, I have learnt. But if you take that first step, it will get you closer to the second step… and so on, until you realize that you are doing far better, and that you are finally on *that* path to healing.
Now, to address the elephant in the room: money. Dr. Armine is expensive (you can get an idea from the payment page on DrJessArmine.com). There I said it. He is worth it, and he knows it, and this *is* his income. He does not take advantage. In fact, you will find that often quick phone calls and emails are free. The time he spends researching to become a human medical encyclopedia is “free”. I can totally justify (based on my experience) that he is worth every penny. But none of that matters if you are already struggling to pay bills… I know. I KNOW! Many of us simply don’t have the funds to see someone like Dr. Armine, and it is isn’t fair. And then people tell us to cut corners and “buck up” to get a second job in order to pay for our healthcare… it is simply depressing. I won’t say these same things to you… but I will give you some ideas I have! I am the type of person that when I want something REALLY BADLY (like to heal my daughter) I will do ANYTHING it takes. There is simply *no* stopping a mama on the warpath to helping her child. These are the things that I either do or would do, if I needed to: I would go door to door in my neighborhood or church or work)… not begging for money because people hate that and it makes them uncomfortable…but rather I would write a short book (!) on my family’s struggles… i would let people peer into my deepest soul and be a PART of my story… and ask for prayers and help as you hand them your “book” (I bet you get some serious help if you try this). I would at the same time ask those same people (and strangers too, seriously!) if they have a job that I do could at home, while resting (if I am sick myself). I would do a fundraiser… but not simply asking for handouts… rather I would DO something I am good at (like a simple craft) and make it personal to my situation and then I would sell them (they don’t have to be great – just show that you are invested in this!). I would make a website with my story… full of personal insights/struggles/fears/hopes. I would call the newspaper to see if they are interested in my story (when I adopted my daughter they ran a story on our adoption – we live in a small town it made the front page LOL – and to my surprise I had free diapers pouring in!). I would see if Dr. Armine has past patients that might be willing to help (Dr. Armine may not agree with this, especially with regard to HIPPAA but worth a try)… both emotionally or otherwise. All of these ideas may sound impractical… but if you want this bad enough you can MAKE it happen, even in ill health. Lastly, pray a lot and find your faith… our help came this way too! If you are reading this review, you are where I was 4-5 months ago. Conventional medicine is failing you (if you are sick and not just optimizing). You need someone in your corner like doctor Armine…. please make it happen for yourself, you are so worth it. Best of health to you!

Tips: arrive early, the location is not easy to find (Google Maps is accurate, but we still drove by it twice). You can often print out your labs from your current medical system online now (call to fine out – I was surprised too)… bring these with you so you don’t waste money on unnecessary tests. Dr Armine can use your 23andme genetic results (if you have them) to get a good picture of your health (it helped in our case), but he does *not* treat based on genetics alone… it gives him a great idea of what is going on, but there is much more to the story than which polymorphisms you have (if you don’t know what I am talking about, do not worry!). Lastly, do not be surprised when you see a large teddy bear of a guy walk in the waiting room with a Sherlock Holmes detective hat on… that is Dr. Armine. 🙂

Warmest regards,
Barb (and my daughter “A”)