https://www.paleohacks.com/chris-kresser/tell-me-about-your-personal-experience-with-chris-kresser-14256
arrogant, indifferent, excess costly supplements, costly sessions, aggressive biz practices/fees,
I would like to go see him for hormone and possible autoimmune reasons but his reviews online are less then stellar. Then again Ive had some good luck following some of his articles. Is this a case of good researcher but bad practitioner (as some college professors are known to be) or have people seen great personal benefit from seeing him? He is super expensive ...$550 ish for first apt so want to make sure its worth it.
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I tend to be more of a lurker than a poster, but I think it's important to share that I didn't have a good experience with Chris Kresser, either. The other reviews here touch on all the same problems I had: he is very expensive, 'prescribes' excessive amounts of expensive supplements without checking in on their efficacy, comes off as arrogant and didn't seem to really like talking during our phone consultations, seems fairly indifferent to patient health issues, and has unpleasant and sometimes unresponsive office staff. I saw another review on another site where the poster said he was uncomfotable with Chris's "aggressive business practices" and I very much agree. We all need to make a living, but this seemed to bleed a little bit too far into the realm of taking advantage of people.
Most importantly, many rounds of testing and more than $1000 later, (yes, I'm a fool, but I felt desperate) he didn't enlighten me to anything that led to any resolution of my symptoms. My impression of him is one of someone who speaks with great respect and deference to people he wants to impress, such as other big names in Paleoland, but treats others, like his patients who are paying him huge sums of money, with a dismissive and somewhat condescending attitude. The indifference leave me feeling a little violated, having shared such intimate details of my health, in the sincere hope that he could help.
If you need help, I don't think Chris Kresser's practice is a good place to look.
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I contacted Chris Kresser when I started obsessing with diet after detecting that some joint problems I had improved when I cut gluten and processed foods. By the time of the case review, I had started on a (low-carb) autoimmune Paleo, and a lot of weird symptoms had started to show, like racing heart at night (resulting in insomnia) and during the day, puffy face, fatigue, chest pain, lack of mental focus, dizziness etc. I did not really have these problems pre-Paleo. The case review revealed some wacky patterns. Follow-up tests confirmed anti-bodies to the thyroid. Chris never questioned my diet. From what I told him, he thought it sounded just right. He recommended LDN, which I tried. He did not recommend other supplements, and asked me to wait with dessicated thyroid even though my T3 was very low (on or just below the lab range). I tried the "support your immune system" measures on his website. After 6 months of feeling like shit, including 6 months of amenorrhea (had never had menstrual problems before going low carb Paleo), I started looking elsewhere.
What frustrated me the most, is that when I mentioned the big picture in consultations, namely that all my bad symptoms started after going Paleo, he did not take me seriously.
I think Chris is a decent guy. He is friendly during consultations. I think he did a pretty thorough job with the case review. The thing is, I do not buy into his "theory" of hypothyroidism at all, namely that "it is all about the immune system". I have a pretty low stress job and life. I think I had a pretty healthy "lifestyle" before I got messed up. In retrospect, I am sure low-carb Paleo crushed my T3, and consequently messed up my estrogen to progesterone balance and a lot of other stuff. I think my anti-bodies to the thyroid is related to estrogen excess, not that my immune system attacks my thyroid gland. I think Chris missed the hormone connection completely. After implementing some of Ray Peat's recommendations, I got my period back and feel way, way better.
On the positive side, I am happy with the process of getting tests done through Chris. I live outside the US, so getting the ASI and Metametrix GI panel from a local doctor, would be be way more expensive and complicated. Chris' office manager is an absolute darling. Very efficient and easy to work with.
For thyroid related symptoms and hormonal issues, I am skeptical to Chris' approach. However, maybe my case was unique. Maybe he has had good results with others. As for the other problems he specializes in, I have no idea whether his approach is really addressing the "real" underlying cause of the problem or not.
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I think I might actually be able to offer some useful info based on my experience. I haven't actually had my case review appointment with him yet. It's scheduled for late next month. I started the whole process way back at the beginning of this year, but took me a while to get my tests done (still have to go get blood drawn for a final one, but need to drive to another state for it because of Massachusetts laws).
I don't make much money these days, but I had a bit of a windfall and decided to take the plunge and do a case review with Kresser. I've had horrible acne for over a decade along with some depression and anxiety issues. Paleo has been the first thing that really helped, but I'm not 100% better yet. More importantly, I don't feel that I have a clear sense of the underlying issues that I'm dealing with. Like other answerers, I turned to Chris hoping for some clarity and encouraged by his focus on testing and his expressed skepticism towards easy answers (which I've had handed to me by conventional and alternative docs alike).
Like I said, I haven't actually had my case review appointment with Chris yet, but I made the decision to do this months ago. I think my experience so far is actually worth sharing.
Even my initial 15-minute skype call with Chris took place a few weeks after I signed up for it, so I had some time to think about what I wanted to express to him and what he might ask me. Now, between Chris' podcast, website, and interviews on those of others, it wasn't hard to come up with a short list of obvious things that I might start doing to address my situation. If I'm willing to pay so much money for the guy's advice, I may as well start by acting on the advice he's giving out for free, right? I can be a pretty academic guy, so I sorta felt like I was preparing for inspection by a professor. I didn't want to seem like an idiot for not doing the obvious things.
The call went by quickly. Chris kind of explained the context in which he was going to look at my situation (gut-brain axis kinda stuff, obviously), and he told me what tests he recommends to get started. Rather than doing the standard comprehensive case review tests, we started with the more specific tests (organic acids and intestinal biota) to save time and money.
And I continued in my efforts to do as much as I could pre-case-review. On top of an already strict autoimmune paleo diet, I really became uncompromisingly committed to avoiding tyramine and histamine. I emphasized gut-healing foods like bone broth and ghee. I started taking L-glutamine, marshmallow, slippery elm, probiotics and experimented with other supplements as well. I even tried small amounts of fermented foods despite their amine content but backed off from them again. I redoubled my stress-management efforts, bought dark curtains for my bedroom, read the GAPS book, the Perfect Health Diet, and others to try to learn as much as possible.
The point is, just by making the commitment to the case review, I ended up doing a hell of a lot of work on my own that I might not otherwise have done. This alone is really worth the cost for me.
And then, I got some of my test results. Orgnanic acids and gut biota. The latter came back pretty clean, which was surprising but also a huge load off my mind. Here I was thinking that I might have a gut full of candida or something, and it seems that I'm actually in pretty good shape in that department. The organic acids results were initially mystifying, but I've done a lot of research and note-taking and am slowly starting to comprehend them. Even though I'm not sure just what to do about them, I'm starting to feel like I've caught a glimpse of those underlying mechanisms that I mentioned earlier. The worst part about having a chronic illness for me is not the illness itself but the sense of not knowing what to do about it. I at least now have some clues to go on.
And my problems? Well, they're not gone yet. At the moment, my skin is looking better than ever. My mental issues are day to day, but on the whole I think they are improving. Everything could all go to shit tomorrow, I know, but I think I'm in a better place than I've ever been with respect to my health.
At the end of the day, few other people will care as much about your health as you do, and nobody else is in a better position to really understand your health issues as you are. If you go to someone like Kresser hoping that he will lift the burden of your own health from your shoulders, I think you'll be disappointed. That's the same hope that people drag into conventional doctors' offices every day. It's the same hope that prompts people to buy processed foods covered in health claims.
In a way, Chris can't satisfy me. If he comes to my case review with a super specific answer about what's causing my problems, I will feel cheated, because I know that he can't really know for sure what's going on with me. On the other hand, if he can only offer some vague pronouncements about glutathione and methylation, I might also feel cheated, because I didn't pay all of this money just to hear him reprise one of his podcasts episodes on the phone. Now, of course, I think he will have some valuable information to offer, especially in regards to eliminating possible causes of my condition from consideration. But I know that this probably won't be the end of my travails. I'll probably continue to have these problems for some time, and my work with Kresser will be a small part of the big picture that I'm trying to assemble. I won't fault Kresser for not being able to give me the final word on my issues.
The realization and the commitment to the idea that I am the person who is going to change my own life are really the best things I've gotten out of this whole process.
And one other thing I should consider here is that I've only been paleo for 6 months or so, and I slipped up a few times in the beginning. I've had my problems pretty much my whole life, so the progress I've been making may well just have been a matter of time. And making more progress might just be a matter of patience, not the result of some epiphany that I receive from Kresser or anybody else. One way to look at working with Kresser is just as a coaching experience to keep you committed to what you're doing and to affirm that getting better is a priority for you.
I was surprised to find that I had something to say about this, and writing this has been helpful for me. I'll shut up now! :)
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People, please, save your money.
While I am an MD, I consider myself open-minded and I'll be the first to say that western medicine does not have all the answers. But that doesn't mean that Chris Kresser does.
Reading this guy's blog is sufficient to start--then explore the literature yourself. See what works and what doesn't. But going to see him for an evaluation, blood panel and supplements is just ridiculous and exploitative.
I'd much more highly recommend Mark Sisson's site, Mark's Daily Apple.
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I contacted him some time ago but I would save your money, you can probably get as much benefit or more benefit from seeing a naturopath or functional medicine based doctor/practitioner. I am a big fan of his podcasts, articles and website and he does seem to be having more help and guest posts. Since naturopaths are often covered by most health insurance plans (except medicaid and possibly medicare), you could save a lot by just going to one on your plan and some will even be paid for or covered by insurance upfront (instead of you paying first and then having your insurance reimburse you). I met him in person and hes every intelligent, witty and kind person I think (it was for his book signing).
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I have an nuanced answer as well. Chris has helped me incredibly. He's given me a better understanding of what's going on in my body, but that said, I haven't gotten any better while seeing him and still feel horrible. I know that knowledge is power, so I'm grateful that I know what I know now and am hoping that I'll get better someday. But Chris has a terrible bedside manner. His tone is robotic, and the caring vibe he gives off in the podcasts is very different from how he behaves during a phone call with a patient. I do believe that as an individual you are in charge of your own health, but I'd like to feel like I have someone along for ride who has my back. It doesn't feel like that with Chris. Moreover, his assistant, Diane, is incredibly unfriendly and his office policies are absurdly rigid and I have had a few situations where I have been charged when I should not have been. Not trying to be bitchy, Just tellin' it like it is.
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When Chris treated my SIBO condition, I had no idea that I was going to see so many improvements in my adrenal system, my energy, my sleep and my ability to focus! They were all bonuses and now I understand that it makes complete sense! I never expected a magic bullet to deal with SIBO or CIRS, therefore I say that I feel safe working with Chris, knowing that he dedicates time to the most relevant latest research and has been accumulating substantial clinical learning through his patients.
If you want to learn about your own body and health in general, and make profound and lasting health improvements, from the very root of the problems, then I highly recommend working with Chris Kresser.
I know that many of us have a religious need to find a doctor to take charge of our health. I experience this as being one of the most dangerous elements of our culture. I have lost beloved people in my family due to this. I hope that more and more people begin studying their bodies with the time and focus that it deserves. It is my life mission to invite people to step up to the plate of studentship of their own bodies. If you are expecting a magic bullet for your health, please know that Chris Kresser is not going to perpetuate that culture.
In my experience, Chris was conservative in regards to both testing and supplementation. He gave time for my body to respond with the least amount of intervention first, and then, began looking at other systems of the body as we progressed. In the "alternative health" world it is my experience that people get 6 to 12 different supplements in average from their practitioners. Chris recommended three tests to me initially and I took 4 supplements and implemented lifestyle changes. I saw improvements immediately and he was very present in the next consultations to listen to my concerns, fine tune, and prescribe the next test or two to follow the body's responses. Chris has the tranquility and confidence needed to read the symptoms, look back at your history, and connect the dots in a way that the next step of action makes good sense.
After seeing how the average "alternative health" practitioners work for the past 10 years, I can say that it is pretty common to find them chasing symptoms, for example, playing irresponsibly with hormone prescription, which will leave the client "feeling great", temporarily, and at the same time send a message to the body to shut off its own natural hormone production. This creates a cycle, where the patients are forever ill and dependent on their practitioners. Chris does not perpetuate this culture. Besides him being conservative on supplements, he does not get distracted, he honors and prioritizes bringing the body back to its own optimal functioning by addressing the root causes of imbalance. Always.
I spend time educating myself on the topics that Chris and I are going to discuss prior to the consultation. I make my notes with clear questions. I come out of the consultation with all my answers, as well as a lead to begin studying the next topic to the next level. It takes me in average a week to study and understand what we discussed in a consultation, and come up with the next set of good questions. I have loved the process. I highly recommend working with Chris or any clinician in his practice that are under his supervision.
Regarding the admin aspect of Chris' clinic, I would expect that an incredibly super fast growing practice would be inundated with demands from patients and potential clients. Perhaps there were one or two communications that could have been better. It is very important to me to take care of my mental state. Therefore I avoid reacting if I experience a glitch. I don't mind helping to clarify communications for both sides and find a resolution as needed. In this regard, I have no expectation of being pampered by the clinic's admin staff, since I am the most interested of the two partys in improving my own health and moving the process forward.
Most recently, Chris' practice has hired many more administrative assistants and they have been highly responsive and accountable. I have received timely clear responses, including phone calls, to help me clarify questions. Congratulations Chris for navigating the growth, responding to the demand, staying cool and continuing to allow us to benefit from all your research and clinical learning! Thank you!
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Also had a bad experience, but to be fair my bad experience was with his front office staff. They constantly lost my name from lists, made absurd claims about him having a "multi-year" backlog, and when my name finally came up on a list they sent one email only. When I didn't reply to that one email they then removed my name from the list and said it would be multiple years to see him again.
Any service provider who claims they have a multi-year backlog is running their practice in a very wrong way. If you are so popular increase your price until supply and demand come into a reasonable balance.
They need to lose the attitude. If you are going to make people wait years for your services, pick up the damn phone and make a reasonable attempt - which means multiple phone calls and phone tag over the course of a month - to reach that person. Sending one email and then cancelling the person off the list not only gets a "F" grade for customer service, but ought to qualify for a 60 Minutes expose on sadistic customer service.
It is inhuman to make a person wait years for your service and then to arbitrarily cut them off at the knees because they didn't answer an email. I lost years off my life and a diagnosis waiting for this person, and in the end had to go elsewhere.
The final complaint is that Chris himself ignores all emails and phone calls from potential customers. He simply forwards these to the same demonic customer service staff who create problems in the first place. Therefore he has the perfect storm here of bad employees designing his customer service process, combined with his complete blindness to any feedback about those defective processes.
If there were a grade "G" after "F" I would probably give the "G". "F" means you utterly failed to help me. "G" means you actively tried to hurt me.
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I've read a lot of his stuff in search of answers for the unique health concerns of me and my girlfriend. He seems to believe that the thyroid is the end-all-be-all of the universe and that he is the only one who understands it. So there's that.
In reading one of his ebooks he mentioned a probiotic that is tolerable for those with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. It doesnt have L. acidophilous in it, making it a unique probiotic. That was useful, and true, and is not a widely publisized piece of information. So I kept him in good favor in my mind. Until recently.
On October 8, 2015, someone named Kelsey Marksteiner published a guest post on Kresser's web site that goes straight to the quackery file. She maintains that long-term dietary changes are not necessary and could be harmful to those with SIBO. Fair enough. We'd all like that to be true. Could be a case of "cure the underlying condition, and the symptom, SIBO, goes away." However her "clinical experience" simply doesn't cut it, in terms of persuading me to go completely in an opposite direction of what's been working. I've actually figured out how to put the demon down! What's she done, really? She quotes weak research, suggests 100 grams of carbs, and says many, many things that go more with conventional wisdom than stuff that's working for a lot of people.
Often, you learn more in the comments section than in the article, as points are explained. Tellingly, the author responds to very few comments, leaving her radical and contentious points unanswered. The only comments she responded to were those of the "Kelsey, thank you so much, you are awesome!"
Yes, your profile pic is cute as a button. I'd guess she's 25 and she is a Registered Dietician.
How much clinical experience does she have in this very niche field of SIBO? To continue this rant in a direction that could be unpopular, have you read through some of those guest posts? How many of them are attractive females that joined Chris with rather odd back stories. One, a medical doctor, trained in radiology. Another Dietitician. All cute as buttons.
Now I'm not saying he's banging them. Far from it. I just think this whole profile pic thing has gone a bit far. From a marketing standpoint, Kresser's smug assertion that his various and sundry--and complicated and expensive and often contradictory to one's personal experience--will produce bright, shining faces...well it tells me I'm in the wrong field. And I need a new head shot. But I'd rather recommend something like fecal transplantation to someone than anything on that site, especially after reading the guest posts from his new batch of dietitician-next-door cronies.
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Chris Kresser is dangerous. He has no idea what he is doing; he just found some "follow the steps" approach to "treating" people and is running with it. He's about money, and in a niche with very little legitimate research or regulations, he's raking it in. If you spend any time picking apart his articles, you quickly see how skewed his "research" statistics are, and how he has an agenda that he is following. He will use any blurb, completely out of context, as long as it backs up his point. One of my favorites is a Cochran Review that he quoted in his home birth article, "There is no strong evidence to favour either home or hospital birth for selected low-risk pregnant women." Well if you go to the results of the study, they explain that the study (of 11 women) was "too small to be able to draw conclusions;" so, of course there is "no strong evidence," and there is no weak evidence, and there is no evidence of anything at all from that study. That didn't stop him from using the blurb to falsely support his agenda. This is the person he is, and this will be the treatment you receive. Beware of people like this; if you really think you have a medical problem please go to an actual doctor first.
They're not all good, they're not all bad, but right now it's your best shot at figuring out what's wrong... Might take seeing a couple of different MDs, but just don't buy anything that this guy tells you as actual evidence based medicine. He talks loud and has lots to say, but when you dig through it, you'll find that he's uneducated, unable to glean the important outcomes of research studies and just doesn't care about the truth, unless it's in his corner and in his bank account. In conclusion: scary person, MDs still best option, please don't waste your money; taking a trip to a beach somewhere will be more likely to cure you than him.
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I saw CK and none of my issues have been resolved after spending thousands on tests, herbs and supplements and working with Chris for a year.
Even I felt that the test results from some labs are not correct. Could be a eco system of helping each other make money!
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Holy cow...
Just wanted to thank Charlie, edle, Melanie, and StrekofLean for writing such detailed accounts of your experiences with CK. I'm three months away from a master's in nutrition and will be starting up a consulting business. It's so helpful to read about your experiences so I can learn what does and does not resonate with clients. (I've been to an ND myself, for my own hormonal issues, so I've been on "the other side of the desk," as it were, but it's still very educational for me to hear about other people's experiences.)
Seems like it might be a different ballgame when it comes to me helping people who eat 100% SAD and have absolutely no clue about the connections between food, sleep, and stress on their health and mental/emotional well being, vs. people like us, who've been listening to Robb Wolf, Chris Kresser, Sean Croxton, etc., and feel like we could probably tell our conventional doctors a thing or two.
And Charlie, you're SO right -- no one will ever care about your health more than you. If taking thousands of dollars worth of supplements just doesn't sit right with someone, they shouldn't keep doing it just because someone like CK says so. (Lots of things for me to keep in mind when I start my practice. I'll likely use supplements in many cases, but I certainly understand the budget issues! And I'm all about using them to restore/replete and then dosing DOWN. Kind of like conventional medication, even "natural supplements" aren't things we should need to take for the rest of our lives. (Not if we get our diet and lifestyle in line, that is.) Also great info for me not to treat symptoms, but treat PEOPLE. Just because someone presents with x and y issues doesn't mean they'll respond exactly the same way to whatever protocol I gave the last person who came to me with x and y. In that way, sometimes natural medicine is as narrow-minded as allopathic.
Seriously, you have no idea how helpful this is. Thanks, all!
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I wouldn't ever rely on Chris Kresser for ANY form of guidance. I've read his ridiculously contradictory articles.... such as "The Nitrate and Nitrite Myth" and "The Acid-Alkaline Myth" ...... and find that these are EXTREMELY misleading and do not help or aid the typical uninformed individual that is seeking a healthier lifestyle. I caution ANYONE listening to an individual that supports and references the FDA as a credible health minded entity.
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Wow! Sorry to hear that people haven't had good experiences with CK. Goes to show you that just becasue you're a well-oiled social media machine (and knowedgable- I think very highly of his blog and book) doesn't mean you are a good clinician. I have heard similar "meh" stories of Mark Hyman and other well known, very expensive functional medicine big-wigs.
I always tell people that just bc somebody says they do func med (or anything for that matter) it doesn't mean they know what they're doing! It may not work (not enough street cred points or whatever they call them here), but here is an article I wrote about finding a functional medicine doctor near you.
wolf comment
thanks for putting this together to help those looking for max bang for buck, max insurance handlers, minimum tests and minimum out of pocket FMDs. i too like some of what i've read and he's local, so thought to search 'chris kresser session' and found this. exactly what i needed to know.
and they should have impeccable track record and overall ratings and have high success rate for getting most insurance to pickup the bill. i seek an 200-350/hr. FMD who uses zero to minimal tests and will file the insurance paperwork on my behalf, even if i must pay out of pocket.
so many of these FMDs claim to service average joe yet are so 'out of touch' with 25% of americans who are 'working poor' and 'near poor' who work 25-60+ hours/wk, live on tight budgets, juggle the bills, has poor-people's insurance i.e. medi-cal as they can't afford obamacare, just as many middle class and businesses say they can't.
to be fair, CK maybe should stick to growing his practice and research which he seems to be good at.
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