Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

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anne from california
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Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by anne from california »

I saw functional medicine physician Ann Hathaway (San Rafael, CA) yesterday after a four-month wait. (I made the appointment back in December.) She is Bredesen-trained. I made the appointment as a non-Bredesen patient, but some Bredesen protocol was discussed at my appointment, and she worked from the ReCode list. She is currently only accepting Bredesen protocol patients as new patients, but will continue seeing existing non-Bredesen patients.

I made an appointment with her because I felt that, within my geographic vicinity, she had the most expertise in bioidentical hormone therapy, something that I'd had trouble with in the past. I went in with three goals: to optimize bHRT, to optimize and maintain cognition, to solve a pesky nausea problem. That I also have some autoimmune conditions (ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis) made the conversation even more interesting--we ended up focusing on hormones, cognition and gut. We met for close to two hours, and my bill going out was $780, before any testing. Tests she suggested: Comprehensive metabolic panel plus metals, CRP, hormones, vit Bs, D, zinc; NutrEval by Genova (to identify nutritional deficiencies); GI Effects (stool samples--fun!); 23 and Me (for genetic markers). We also talked about exercise, sleep, stress reduction and cognitive tests that I might want to employ in the future if genetic testing or my own sense about my cognition dictates it. Neither of us felt compelled by my history or symptoms to pursue mold, toxin or Lyme testing, or brain MRI.

She was on time, professional and direct, asked lots of questions. She said she's involved in numerous studies right now, which makes me feel like her patients will benefit from what she's finding out about along the way. Office assistant Simone was knowledgeable, helpful and followed up as promised with information about insurance coverage. (Luckily, my insurance allows the big tests, so my out of pocket on the NutrEval and GI Effects will be $189 each--vs appx $500 each otherwise. It does not cover the basic blood work, so I'll have to figure out how to get that done via my PCP, or at least some of it.)

The office itself was modest and understated, more like a psychologist's office than a medical office. Aging and comfortable--much like the offices of other alternative practitioners I've seen.

This is an expensive undertaking, for sure, but I plan to see it through. I feel like I was in good hands with Dr. Hathaway.
60 years old, ApoE 3/3, mother and grandmother have/had late-onset dementia, eager to save brain and optimize health.
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Re: ann hathaway/marin county, CA

Post by CarrieS »

Thank you Anne for sharing your appointment experience!
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Re: Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by chrisscott »

I am waiting to see her in October. She was seen by my long time accupuncturist. He said that she was thorough but very "just the facts" and not empathetic. I saw her at a day long seminar she gave. It was about $350 for two people to attend. IT was very informative, and she sent a helpful followup on diet as well as copies of her powerpoint. She seemed to generally read from her power point other than to answer questions at the end of the first two sessions - but then just stopped at the end of the day with no questions. Her assistant was very nice. I didn't find her cold, but she was pretty humorless - perhaps just not a comfortable public speaker.

Her information was generally very detailed, including specific suggestions for particular ways to purchase such things as bone broth and other supplements.

Not totally up to date: she recommended cocoa nibs and seemed not to be aware of data that they had high levels of cadmium - they are the subject of a class action settlement process between lawyers for consumers and the big chocolate companies. I sent the information from consumer lab to her assistant, and she seemed helpful.

I'm generally keeping an open mind and will report more after my visit.
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Re: Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by Lucy5 »

He chrisscott and welcome!

I am familiar with Dr. Anne Hathaway's work and was fortunate to meet her at a conference back in 2017. After her presentation, some of us were able to chat with her a bit, and I found to be delightful with a wonderful sense of humor, actually. I'm glad to hear you're keeping an open mind and am looking forward to your insights after your appointment with her. I believe she is an expert in her field, with a keen grasp of HRT's potential impact on ApoE4 carriers.

If you haven't had a chance as yet, I'd like to recommend our site Primer written by Stavia, a member physician. The Primer offers a comprehensive introduction to the ApoE4 gene with specific information/strategies to optimize health. Included is a section discussing hormones with links to some of Dr. Hathaway's presentions here that you may find interesting. For more site discussions on a wide variety of topics, you may want to check out our Wiki. Our How-To-Guide is a helpful tool to navigate our site, as is the Search function found under the magnifying glass along the top of this page.

Also Chris, if at any point you'd like to share something about yourself and/or what brought you to our site, feel free to post in the Our Stories forum. And please don't hesitate to ask questions of the group as they come up! This is a very supportive community; we're all here to share information and learn from one another. Looking forward to seeing you on the Forums!
warmly, Lucy
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Re: Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by Daymoo »

I am due to see Dr. Hathaway soon and am feeling nervous about it for two reasons: 1. She has no place for me to recline or lie down during intake, though she is ostensibly an expert in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 2. I totally bombed the keto diet: massive dehydration despite doing all the electrolytes, terrible brain fog, and now I have nephritis, possibly from all the stress of it. I’d love anyone else’s input on whether or not she is flexible enough for someone in just condition....
Existence/is neither/a right nor//privilege/nor any//thing but
a/miracle. -Cid Corman
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Re: Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by floramaria »

Daymoo wrote:I am due to see Dr. Hathaway soon and am feeling nervous about it for two reasons: 1. She has no place for me to recline or lie down during intake, though she is ostensibly an expert in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 2. I totally bombed the keto diet: massive dehydration despite doing all the electrolytes, terrible brain fog, and now I have nephritis, possibly from all the stress of it. I’d love anyone else’s input on whether or not she is flexible enough for someone in just condition....
Hi Daymoo,
How did your appointment with Ann Hathaway go? I have never seen her as a patient but have spoken to her at conferences. She strikes me as being very competent, very well-informed. Hope things went well. Please give us an update
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Re: Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by Daymoo »

floramaria wrote:
Daymoo wrote:I am due to see Dr. Hathaway soon and am feeling nervous about it for two reasons: 1. She has no place for me to recline or lie down during intake, though she is ostensibly an expert in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 2. I totally bombed the keto diet: massive dehydration despite doing all the electrolytes, terrible brain fog, and now I have nephritis, possibly from all the stress of it. I’d love anyone else’s input on whether or not she is flexible enough for someone in just condition....
Hi Daymoo,
How did your appointment with Ann Hathaway go? I have never seen her as a patient but have spoken to her at conferences. She strikes me as being very competent, very well-informed. Hope things went well. Please give us an update
Hi, thanks, floramia—unfortunately I postponed my appt because of the pelvic injury/lack of a place to recline— and haven’t been able to get in since! Popular doc.
Existence/is neither/a right nor//privilege/nor any//thing but
a/miracle. -Cid Corman
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floramaria
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Re: Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by floramaria »

Daymoo wrote: Hi, thanks, floramia—unfortunately I postponed my appt because of the pelvic injury/lack of a place to recline— and haven’t been able to get in since! Popular doc.
Sorry to learn of your injury and that you had to postpone your visit to Dr Hathaway.
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Re: Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by jhwelp@gmail.com »

Hello all!
I would like to share my experience with this practitioner. She was very helpful to me and very informed, although I felt she was not as up-to-date on lyme (and co-infection) testing. My other concern was the expense. The initial visit is listed as a range, I sent her a concise, summary of my history and was surprised at the charge. As I and others I know who have seen Functional Medicine practitioners, the fee is usually fixed for new patient visit and follow-up. After the initial visit as well as the one follow-up I came to the conclusion she charges for reviewing records prior to the appointment as well as for time writing a summary, something that has not been common with us and our FM practitioners. I questioned the IGENEX tests she wanted as there are many choices, she reviewed and decided to order a different set but wanted to charge me for her time to review and order the test.
Be ware of charges and costs
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Re: Ann Hathaway / Marin County, CA

Post by NF52 »

jhwelp@gmail.com wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 12:55 pm Hello all!
I would like to share my experience with this practitioner. She was very helpful to me and very informed, although I felt she was not as up-to-date on lyme (and co-infection) testing. My other concern was the expense. The initial visit is listed as a range, I sent her a concise, summary of my history and was surprised at the charge. As I and others I know who have seen Functional Medicine practitioners, the fee is usually fixed for new patient visit and follow-up. After the initial visit as well as the one follow-up I came to the conclusion she charges for reviewing records prior to the appointment as well as for time writing a summary, something that has not been common with us and our FM practitioners. I questioned the IGENEX tests she wanted as there are many choices, she reviewed and decided to order a different set but wanted to charge me for her time to review and order the test.
Be ware of charges and costs
Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for sharing your experience with Dr. Hathaway. It sounds like you found her to be informative and helpful overall, but that your experience didn't quite do what you hoped for as far as your issues with Lyme and other infection testing or protocols. It does seem that there's quite a bit of variability in what FM doctors cover and how much they charge. For example, I know of someone who felt that their time was wasted while the doctor spent a good part of the visit reviewing the records. Having worked with some neuropsychologists, my experience was that they view reviewing the file and writing reports as also professional time, and one way or another it's part of the bill.

Your advice to be aware (or wary) of what is covered and what tests are ordered is helpful to us. In an effort to be helpful to you, I'll share some forum resources in case you haven't seen them.

The Primer is written by Stavia, a practicing M.D. with ApoE4/4. It's a great place to see some strategies that you can consider--and she also recommends not trying to re-tool your entire life at once!

The How-To Guide shows how to quote members (use the " icon in the upper right of any post) so they get an email notification of your post. It also shows how to use the Search function for topics, and how to subscribe to topics of interest.

And we welcome forum members sharing their experiences, insights and questions on Our Stories.

This isn't a forum resource, but LabCorp does offer some explanation of the different types of Lyme disease tests and notes that they typically are ordered by a doctor https://www.labcorp.com/help/patient-te ... ease-tests . Of course, you may be well-versed on this already; if so, apologies!
4/4 and still an optimist!
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