Dr. Sheldon Bryan Johnson, DO

If you have autoimmune issues stay far away! I have had repeated bad experiences with Dr Sheldon Johnson AND the clinic he's in. Today was the final straw. For years I had battled fibromyalgia symptoms which continued to get worse and worse. I had no energy, swelling eye sockets, swollen joints, extreme knots on my muscles, memory fog, painful neck (near thyroid), low blood sugar, chronic inflammation, pancreatic attacks, gal bladder issues, gastritis, photo sensitivity, heart pain/palpitations etc. I kept going back saying, I don't think this is mere fibromyalgia. Dr Johnson only ever pushes long terms meds like Cymbalta and Gabapentin that allow your body to continue to deteriorate but that might make you feel better in the short term. I asked to try low dose Naltrexone (which helps with autoimmunity without suppressing the immune system) and he refused. I asked for blood work and he only ordered partial or incompetent lab work and refuses to use Optimal Reference Ranges… for interpreting lab results. I finally got fed up and went to Functional Medicine Dr's at Red River who ordered labs via Lab Corp. I went to Lab Corps location and got the labs drawn there. They showed that I had astronomical RT3 levels (40) and high Thyroglobulin Antibodies revealing hashimotos. High RT3 prevents T3 from doing it's job thus causing hypothyroid symptoms even though your other thyroid levels might look normal. He never checked the RT3. It also revealed volatile blood sugar and low corotisol (with saliva testing throughout the day). Dr Johnson ordered incompetent labs to look for these and then denied the existence of conditions and symptoms. I showed the lab results to Dr Johnson and he dismissed them and continued to try to push medicine that didn't help me. After 1.5 years of diet change I am now free of debilitating muscle pain etc and on no pain meds. He still denies my improvement. While my health has improved with Functional Medicine I still struggle with Lupus like symptoms. Recently I discovered I have central sleep apnea and am very sleep deprived. My heart hurts. I called this morning to get an appointment because school starts tomorrow and I don't want to flunk out because of fatigue. I asked to have my thyroid levels checked and to have my heart looked at because it hurts and beats very very hard when I'm lying down. I get there and the receptionist said that because I was 10 min late they didn't know if they could see me. They ALWAYS make me wait 10-20 min to be seen when I'm on time and they always say if you're 15 min late you may not be seen!!! After speaking with Dr Johnson she came back and said that my thyroid was checked over a year ago and doesn't need it again. She made it sound like I was just seeking attention. She said if you need anything else he will see you. I told her I was there for semi urgent reasons that involved my heart and serious fatigue and that I had explained all of this that morning. She was a mega jerk and I just walked out. I suspect possible pericarditis or congestive heart failure due to the symptoms which don't warrant an ER visit at this point. I wanted however an expert opinion on the situation in case it was thyroid issues causing the heart pain. I am convinced that Conventional Medicine Dr's know that you're sick but wait until your organs fail so that they can prescribe life long medicine so that they can continue to get money from their pharmaceutical sponsors. I have all of the symptoms associated with lupus but for some reason unless one (unreliable) blood doesn't come back positive then it all must be in your head. I will NEVER be back to this clinic as they have always treated my boyfriend and I like crap. Dr Johnson is incompetent and intentionally tries to keep you sick so that he can benefit from prescribing prescriptions. Frankly I think high income and medicine is a conflict of interests and has ruined our medical system. If you have autoimmune issues, do yourself a favor and go see a Functional Medicine Dr.