How do I sign up for hormone coaching to balance my energy glands?

On the Hormone Coaching Sessions page there is a link to a one-page Coaching Agreement and instructions on signing up for a coaching session.

Are the Health Coaching Sessions offered in another language besides English?

No. Though the website can be translated into several languages to make it easier for you to read, the Coaching Sessions themselves are in ENGLISH ONLY.

I notice that Karilee Shames is available to do mind-body health coaching. What is that? and what does it cost?

Karilee’s work is viewed as an extension of the more medically-oriented work of Dr. Rich, wherein she makes herself available via phone for those who wish to discuss emotional / spiritual / energetic challenges from hormone imbalance. As a longstanding low-thyroid person herself, as well as a Certified Holisitic Nurse and Certified Clinical Specialist in Psychiatric Nursing, Karilee has worked with this condition, and its many faces, for almost 30 years. She is gifted in helping people access their emotional blocks, even via telephone, and in supporting assertive communications and healthy decision-making that will enable hormone sufferers to feel better more of the time. Her health care consultations emphasize self-care aspects and empowerment. A 50 minute phone or office session with Karilee Shames is $150.

Can Dr. Shames give me a referral for a good local practitioner?

Dr. Shames may indeed be able to recommend a particular practitioner as part of your health coaching session. After speaking with you about your individual situation and needs, he will be much more likely to know your case well enough to make an appropriate referral from his practitioner database.
***DR. SHAMES CAN ONLY MAKE REFERRALS FOR THOSE HE HAS PERSONALLY COACHED.***

What does a health coaching session to balance my energy glands cost?

The initial session (50 minutes time on the phone with the doctor) costs $270. Some people choose to have subsequent health care consultations after the initial one, in order to better understand their complex situation, and make inroads into successful management quickly. The half-session (25 minutes) re-consult is available at a fee of $170, generally preserved for those who have had at least one full consult, and for their practitioners, who may wish to consult with Dr. Shames as well.

Then who will order my tests, and prescribe my medicine?

Dr. Shames will help you learn how to best present his suggestions to your regular doctor in a way that will ensure the greatest likelihood that the tests or medicine you want will indeed be ordered. If your present physician will not listen to you, or consider you as a therapeutic partner in your own health care, then Dr. Shames will recommend a more appropriate physician for you to see in your own locale when possible. He pulls from a variety of databases from which he will choose several practitioners who practice near you and can help you proceed effectively.

If I sign up for health coaching, does that mean Dr. Shames will be my doctor?

Dr. Shames can only be a personal physician for those people who he actually meets and examines – and sees face-to-face on a regular basis in his medical office. Therefore, a coaching session is something different. Instead of being your doctor, and ordering tests and prescribing medicines, Dr. Shames is your health care consultant—your information source point and answer person. He is someone who really listens to you, and offers his best thinking based on 25 years of clinical experience. He will help you to create a hormone recovery plan.

What if I’m already taking medications for these glands?

If you are already diagnosed and currently taking medication, either prescription or over-the-counter variety, Dr. Shames can suggest to you ways in which your present treatment program might be optimized. Many people do better with a change in brand, dose, or type of thyroid medicine; sometimes two or three medicines need to be combined for best results. How and when to make such changes is a very intricate and personal matter, also taking into account your belief systems, life events and current stressors that may be contributing to your present symptoms.

What generally occurs during a health coaching session?

Dr. Shames will go over your pertinent health history, blood tests, other lab data, including basal temperature and scans, family history, associated conditions, and previous recommendations from other practitioners. This composite of your own individual health information is then summarized by the doctor with an eye toward achieving the most beneficial treatment plan. Dr. Shames will make suggestions for additional testing if needed and tell you where they can be obtained.

What is the difference between a health coaching session and in-person medical office visit to Dr. Shames?

When you come into the medical office as a patient, you are being treated as a medical patient of the office. However, Dr. Shames has very limited office hours. When you sign up for health coaching with Dr. Shames, you are receiving health education to help you guide your local practitioner better in evaluating and treating your condition; no Dr.-patient relationship exists with the coaching option. The coaching session are valuable in a different way; you receive the full advantage of Dr. Shames vast experience, can fax him your recent lab results, and get his impression of your status and your best options for the future. Keep in mind that even as a medical office patient, you are required to be working with a primary care doctor; Dr. Shames works solely as a health care consultant regarding your possible hormone imbalances. Office fees are significantly higher in person, and must be paid at the time of booking your in-person office appointment, though often you can be reimbursed for partial expenses. You will not receive reimbursement for health coaching. Still, we considering coaching the model for the future, and often people can get coaching must sooner than an office appointment. – We view this option as a way to help you advocate for better health care for yourself and loved ones.

What is hormone coaching to balance energy glands (thyroid, adrenal and sex glands)?

Hormone coaching to re-balance your energy glands (thyroid, adrenal and sex glands) occurs when a person with these concerns books time with Dr. Richard Shames for over the telephone information specific to his/her own personal situation. It is your time – 50 minutes alone with the doctor.