Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome back to Integrative lyme Solutions with Dr. Karl Feldt.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: I am so excited about the show that we have ahead of us. We have some phenomenal information that could save lives. You're gonna need to tune in to what's going on today. The information is jam packed, so don't step away.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Hello.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Thank you so much for joining Integrative lyme Solutions with Dr. Karlfeld. I am your host, Dr. Michael Karl Fe Belt. I've been in clinical practice since 1987. I've seen pretty much everything under the sun, worked with so many different Lyme patients, and I know what a devastating disease this is. That's why I'm doing this podcast to make sure that you are armed with the information that you need in order to be able to be successful in your struggle with Lyme. We'll be featuring authors, doctors, professors, and also people like yourself that have gone through the journey that you're going through, that have been where you've been and is now on the other side. And they get to tell their victorious story as to how they battle Lyme so that you can implement that in your life as well. Be sure to like us and write a review on whichever platform that you're listening on. What that does is it enables other people to see us more so that they have access to this information as well. So I'm so excited that you're tuning in and get ready for this upcoming show. It is going to be amazing. Well, I'm so thrilled to have both Kevin and Jamie.
They are the co founders of Rabble Health, but they. And we're going to get into what Ravel Health is all about and what they stand for, but they have a powerful story that brought them to this point. And Kevin, Jamie, thank you so much for being with me here today.
[00:02:04] Speaker D: Thanks for having us.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: So, Kevin, tell me a little bit about yourself. You're a journalist and tech entrepreneur and so you're kind of in one world and on all of a sudden things kind of changed for you. Do you mind telling me a little bit? Kind of the. The whole, whole journey, so to say.
[00:02:28] Speaker C: Sure, sure. Yeah. So for me, things started in 2007, was in really good shape, playing a ton of sports, hiking, skiing, biking. Had just finished a half marathon.
And then about two weeks after that, I started getting these weird, you know, pains and palms of my hand and the soles of my feet and kind of like weird muscle contractions. And then from there it moved into my legs and my arms. So, I mean, sort of the standard Migratory muscle pains, which I wasn't aware of at the time, you know, and it would get so bad, almost like a Charlie horse. And, you know, my leg and I'm like, all right, what's, what's going on here? And I'd be playing volleyball and my knee would just give out. Um, I would start losing. You know, I wasn't able to get a second wind. Just, you know, really just was getting tired. And I noticed it, you know, playing sports at first. And then from there it just sort of progressed. Um, so from the muscle pains, it moved into a lot of GI issues. Had a, like a big knot below my sternum. Couldn't quite take a full breath.
Had, you know, I got full immediately, you know, nauseous all the time.
And then from there. And this is all over the course of probably two to three years. Things I guess moving relatively slowly for me as they got worse, but then started getting a lot of neurological issues. So a lot of brain fog, memory issues, dizziness. I was getting 25, 30 bouts of kind of waves of dizziness. So not vertigo, but waves of dizziness daily. I would hear a loud noise, I would get really dizzy and just had no idea what was going on.
And again, really tired. You know, I'd be done by, you know, noon most days.
And then at its worst, I had, you know, difficulty walking. I had to really start thinking about it. I thought I had Ms. And then it was probably around 2012 and things just sort of plateaued. Still can't, couldn't tell you why. And all during this time, you know, I'm going to see, of course, you know, my primary other specialists, same story. You know, I'm sure you hear frequently none of them had any idea what's going on. There was, you know, an element of medical gaslighting. It's all in your head, it'll be fine.
But I think most of them, you know, did want to help. They just had no idea. They just, they did not have the background or experience to be able to understand what was happening. So fast forward for me about probably three more years. You know, I was trying, you know, different things during this time, you know, up and down. But I got on a wait list for a prominent functional medicine provider in Colorado who had a two year wait list at the time. And so I got on there just thinking, oh, well, you know, we'll see if I still need help at that point, still thinking, I'm gonna figure out what's going on. But of course, you know, two, I think it was like Two and a half years actually went by, you know, when they reached out to me, like I still have no idea what's going on, you know, went to that appointment and got the diagnosis of, of Lyme. So that was 2017, so, so 10 years later.
So at that point, you know, I think again, not knowing nearly as much as I know now, you know, I was excited, finally have a diagnosis, I can start working on getting better. Of course that's not how it works. So it was a lot of one step forward, three steps back.
You know, tried a lot of different things, worked with different providers.
A lot of frustrations during that time. But I did slowly improve, you know, over the course of a few years. And then relatively recently, like within the last year and a half, you know, I'd started doing some things on the, the mold, you know, side of the equation and then also some, some brain retraining, NeuroFeedback, and those two things really, you know, helped move the needle pretty good for me to where, you know, still not 100, of course, but, you know, feel much better now than I, than I did at the time. But, but during that span in 2021, that's when I met Jamie and we were introduced by a mutual friend.
Obviously a lot of overlap in our stories. Both very passionate. We were actually both working on our own line related companies at the time and decided to join forces on what is the current iteration of Ravel. And I will let her take it over from here and tell her part of the story.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Well, yes, and before, before we go to Jamie. So what was, you know, what was the kind of the biggest thing that you, you said working on the, the mold. That is what really kind of turned around for you. I mean, what, what are some of the things that you had done prior to, I mean that, that you feel worked and what that didn't work.
[00:07:17] Speaker C: Sure. So. So I started out with, you know, antibiotics, so just sort of the standard doxy, which I was on for a couple months, I didn't really do very well in doxy, changed over to zpax that I was on for quite some time.
Didn't really notice any changes in particular with that was also doing a lot of herbals, you know, in conjunction with that and I was with that.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: And who was guiding you? Was, was it a, you know, you said you kind of jumped from provider to provider. Was there somebody that was guiding you that you felt they then knew what they were doing or were you just kind of doing a little bit here and a little bit there?
[00:07:59] Speaker C: I was working with a limelight provider out of Montana at that time who was, who was guiding me and during that. So that would have been probably, yeah, 2017, 2018 maybe. That was when disulfiram just sort of came out as, you know, potential wonder drug for. For Lyme. So I actually started doing that.
And I remember it, you know, one thing I didn't mention earlier with the lime, I had, I guess, to be transparent, a lot of, you know, rage issues. I would get, like, really angry for, like, really small reasons. And I. And I knew I was doing it. I just couldn't control it, you know, and I don't know, I mean, that's probably more co. Infection part, you know, related, but, you know, again, I didn't know any of this at the time. So the disulfiram actually made me really even keeled. Like there was a very noticeable difference neurologically with that.
But at some point as I was titrating up and I don't know if it was, you know, I hit. I was on relatively low amounts, but ended up, you know, becoming very sensitive to pretty much everything, kind of like a muscle response.
But yeah, I was, I was actually home visiting my. My parents, which I've since found is a trigger because I think it's, you know, mold haven and. And just started to feel really bad.
And I couldn't get a hold of my provider at the time, even though I was a patient. It was extremely frustrating experience a lot of these things. Kind of the frustrations of going through all this led to the creation of Revel.
But yeah, I ended up stopping cold turkey, which I shouldn't have done, and I ended up getting really bad fibromyalgia or just like nerve pain, almost like a pre vals palsy. Like, my face was doing weird things. And that lasted for like a good six months. Like, it was. It was a little rough coming back from that. So it was, you know, a lot of ups and downs with. With everything. And then from there, I randomly came across another doctor who was more of a surge provider, chronic inflammatory response syndrome, and started, you know, did a bunch of diagnostics on that side of things, started following the shoemaker protocol.
The. I didn't get very far. The. The cholestyraine for me was just way too, too strong.
I. I was on super small doses of that too, and like, started feeling really bad. And it took me a good three, four months to figure out what's going on there. And it turns out it had just completely like, stop my motility basically, like I had a blockage, and that was.
That was even worse than the. The disulfiram stuff. So.
So from there, yeah, I kind of took a pause and just sort of reset and, you know, did more, you know, kind of went away from, you know, drugs and supplements and for a little while.
And I tried other things, you know, during this time too, you know, hyperbaric, you know, which really didn't seem to, you know, have an impact for me personally. But I was using a soft chamber versus a hard chamber. I know, you know, all that kind of makes a difference.
But then I started doing mold remediation on, you know, on our house. And at the same time, that's when I started doing some of the neurofeedback and both of those.
You know, initially I thought it was more the neurofeedback than the remediation. Now I think it was, you know, definitely a combination of the two. And for me, you know, those seem to. I. I realized after, you know, a really long time, way too long, that, you know, nervous system dysregulation for me was a massive component of what was going on. So once I was able to start tamping that down a little bit, you know, get out of sympathetic and more into parasympathetic and, you know, kind of that rest and digest, things started to turn for me pretty, pretty nicely finally.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: And. And. And when they, you know, you had that doctor that you waited two and a half years and they diagnosed you with Lyme, did you have any kind of inclination that it was Lyme prior to. And then when he diagnosed you, you know, how. How did he diagnose you? Was it like, hygienics or what. What.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: How.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: How did you find out?
[00:12:29] Speaker C: Yeah, so, I mean, I did have an inkling, you know, that Lyme was a possibility. I grew up in upstate New York, so I wasn't, you know, not aware of it. I just knew that the testing typically was, you know, expensive and not necessarily accurate.
Unfortunately, you know, not.
Not a ton has changed there necessarily, but.
But I ended up doing a vibrant at the time, and that's what they used to make the diagnosis. And. And I think at that point it was Lyman Babesia, and. And then I ended up doing a couple galaxy tests for Bart. I think one came back positive, so I was a little inconclusive on that.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Okay, great. Great.
[00:13:14] Speaker E: Hello, dear listeners. This is Dr. Michael Karlfeld, your host of integrative Lyme solutions. Today I'm excited to share an exclusive opportunity from the Karlfeld center, where we blend Healing power of nature with groundbreaking therapies to combat Lyme disease and its associated challenges. At the Karlfield center, we're not just fighting Lyme. We're revolutionizing the way it's treated with cutting edge therapies like photodynamic therapy, full body ozone IV therapy, silver IVs, brain rebalancing, autonomic response testing, laser energetic detoxification, and more. We aim to eradicate Lyme. Our approach is comprehensive, supporting your body's immune system, detoxification processes, hormonal balance and mitochondrial health, ensuring a holistic path to recovery. Understanding Lyme disease and its impact is complex, which is why we're offering a free 15 minute discovery call with one of our Lyme literate naturopathic doctors. This call is your first step towards understanding how we can personalize your healing journey, focusing on you as a whole person, not just your symptoms. Our team, led by myself, Dr. Michael Karl Filtz, is here to guide you through through your recovery. With the most advanced diagnostic tools, individualized treatment plans, and supportive therapies designed to restore your health and vitality. Whether you're facing Lyme disease head on or seeking preventative strategies, we're committed to your wellness. Take the first step towards reclaiming your health. Visit us at thecarlfulthscenter.com or call us at 208-338-8902 to schedule your free discovery call. At the Karlfield center, we believe in healing naturally, effectively and holistically. Thank you for tuning in and to integrative lyme solution with Dr. Karlfeld. Remember, true health is not just the absence of disease. It's achieving the abundance of vitality. Let's discover yours together.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: And Jamie, I mean, you're marketing advertising. Yeah. You're kind of, you're in the corporate world, sort of say, doing all these things. And do you mind kind of sharing what. What your story looked like? I mean, where, where, where did it all begin for you?
[00:15:34] Speaker D: Sure.
It began about 15 years ago. I just started feeling a lot of the symptoms and I didn't know what was wrong with me. I just kind of kept on.
I went to all different kinds of doctors and I was told to, you know, go see a psychiatrist, eat a burger, drink some red wine, go for a run, you know, relax, like that kind of stuff.
I got to a point where I thought maybe I was actually going through early menopause. I had really just. I mean, I knew something was wrong, but I just could not. There were so many things that I just couldn't pinpoint any one of them. And I think that's what kind of led more of the conventional provider to say, oh, you're fine. It's all in your head. And, you know, that, like, medical gaslighting that, you know, we all experience. So about five years late, but I never took. I didn't suspect Lyme, even though I had been bitten by a tick as a child. I grew up in New Jersey. I've grown up around dogs. I have camped and hiked and done all these things. I just never. It never occurred to me that it was Lyme, even after all that. And about 10 years ago, I was bit by a dog that punctured my forearm. And it was like Lyme just came alive after that. And so I was living in Colorado at the time, and I searched a lot. I mean, I went through. I went a very holistic, herbal route. I have, I have not taken antibiotics. I didn't take antibiotics before that, and I didn't start with antibiotics with Lyme.
So I was really looking, you know, I kind of probably clung to some, you know, people that promised cures and they had the answers. And I think at the time probably made me worse than better.
But then I finally found a good group in Colorado and I was able to stay on the, you know, herbal, more holistic path.
I do think that takes time. It's, you know, it. I just, like. As Kevin went through, you know, like a decade or more, I do think that herbals kind of take a little bit more time and some patience.
But I really changed my life. I changed everything that we do in the house. I took chemicals out. I. I did a ton research, and I just took as many chemicals as we could out of the house. There's no plastics in our kitchen. If we can avoid it. There's, you know, we took all the cleaning products away, looked at our skin care, looked at our laundry detergent, looked at everything that went on the body in the body, really cleaned up my diet, really. We don't. I just went completely gluten free, don't drink alcohol, no sugar, no dairy.
And.
Yeah, I.
Yeah, I don't know.
I think that, like, it just takes.
It took a really big commitment, but, you know, we're 10 years in, you know, 10, 15 years in, but about eight, 10 years of, of, you know, knowing that it's Lyme. I did the DNA connections test. I never did the western blot or igenics or anything like that. But at the time, the provider, I was seeing an integrative provider in Denver. She had me do the DNA connections test, and it lit up for Lyme, Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia.
So I spent several years at that clinic working on Lyme with them, but going the herbal route. And then I did other modalities, too, where not just detoxing, you know, what we were eating and putting on in the body, but working with a shamanic healer, working with mental health therapists, working with lymphatic drainage. We have an infrared sauna in the house.
Detoxing through Epsom salt baths and dry brushing, coffee enemas. I mean, I just fell down the rabbit hole of how to heal and how to take care of yourself. And, you know, one of the things that, you know, I think I learned a couple years into being diagnosed was I was, like, clinging to everybody else to help me. And I realized one day I was, like, sitting in a waiting room for. For, like, a treatment that I was getting. And they had a quote by some here by a healer that was saying, if you're waiting for me to heal you, the healing comes from within. Like, I'm here to, like. It was something like that. It was like. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something about, you know, the healing comes from within and, like, not to cling to others. And it really hit me because I had been just hoping that everybody else would help me get better, and that's not how it worked for me. So I really had to change a lot of things.
And I. You know, there's still good days and there's bad days. I mean, I don't. I'm not a hundred percent. I'm not where I was 15 years ago. I'm not running half marathons, but, you know.
Yeah. I mean, I feel a lot better. It's just like. It's just a different life now.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And for either one of you guys, I mean, OC through this journey, I mean, what were some of the frustrations and what were some of the things that you wish you would have had seen, gotten, you know, that. That you felt was not there?
[00:21:40] Speaker C: You want to start on that one, James? Really want me to?
[00:21:42] Speaker D: Yeah. I mean, something that wasn't there, I. I think it's.
I mean, Kevin touched on it a little bit. I think it's really frustrating in this chronic illness community. I mean, not just even with Lyme, but just in the community itself.
There are just more sick people than there are providers to help us. And the idea that there's a two and a half year wait list, I mean, we've heard worse. We've heard patients tell us four years, five years, or, you know, we've, we've talked to some very well known Lyme providers around the country that have just, they don't even have a wait list anymore because it got so long that they had to just close down the wait list. And that's, that's really upsetting and super frustrating. And I think, you know, I, it is, it's hard for patients to find the right provider.
So I, I don't know if anybody could have told me something different, but I think that was a little shocking for, for me. And that is something that, you know, we really connected on when Kevin and I met that how could it take so long to get in to see somebody? And I don't think that it's gotten better in the last few years. So.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: And, and, and you mentioned, yeah, you met this doctor, that doctor. They had, you know, said they had the cure and it just made things worse. I mean, what did you mean by that? I mean, are there doctors out there that profess that I can do all these things, but they really don't have the knowledge?
[00:23:18] Speaker D: I don't know if it's. That they didn't have the knowledge. I think it's more that every patient is different and we all. I don't think there's a silver bullet. There's not one cure out there for Lyme disease. I don't know, maybe some blind providers will kill me for saying that, but there's not, there's not one thing. Just like, just like in cancer, there's not one thing. Everybody is different and combinations of things work for people. And I think that's why I don't really ever say I try not to get into too much of what I've done and didn't work because. Just because it didn't work for me, it doesn't mean that I don't believe in it. It doesn't mean that it's not going to work for somebody else. It just. At the time that I tried it, there are things that Kevin has done that I've also tried. But at the time that I tried it and where I was, where my headspace was at, what my body was doing, what I was detoxing, it did not work for me. And he's had a lot of success with things that have not worked for me.
But, but I'm incredibly grateful that it's worked for him. And I know it works for patients.
So it, it's. And there were a lot like I, I followed a lot of people in the first, probably two years because you kind of scramble around looking for the, the one, you know, who's, who's, who's going to help you. And I probably fell down some rabbit holes doing that.
Um, and it took my husband to kind of pull me out of a few things. You know, you're so overwhelmed. You've got brain fog. You're so fatigued. I could barely think straight in some of these appointments. And he finally one day was like, I had been following this one person for a while. We were spending quite a bit of money, and he finally was like, what are we doing? Do you really think this is how, like, is this working? Is this, is this helping you? And it. I just, I had to, like, snap out of it. I was like, oh, I, I didn't see it from his perspective.
So, yeah, I, I, I think it's important for somebody to be at appointments with you. That's one thing I would say, especially in the very beginning, it's important for someone to be there or just record it so that you can listen to it later. It's impossible to retain it all. You're so overwhelmed sitting in those first few appointments.
[00:25:46] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. I mean, here you're dealing with brain fog, you're dealing with pain, exhaustion, and then, you know, obviously you're, you're wanting just to find, like, you're saying the, the thing that's going to fix it all, and it, it is not the thing, you know, because here you're dealing with a combination of, of so many potential pathogens. And, and in addition to, then we have different terrains in each individual, so those pathogens are going to express themselves differently in all these different terrains. So there is not this one thing. It's always kind of looking at the system and then also the terrain of that system. So, yeah, it's complex. I mean, Lyme disease is a complex disease.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: 100%. Yeah.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: And Kevin. Yeah. What would. Yeah, so one of the frustrations, and they're just not enough Lyme literate doctors out there.
What are some additional kind of frustrations on your journey that you wish you would have seen and gotten and didn't and needed but wasn't there? Yeah. What, what, what did you experience?
[00:27:10] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's. And we kind of touched on, you know, some of this already because I think it's, you know, similar to a lot of Jamie's frustrations.
You know, when you're, when you're feeling that sick and, you know, again, you know, Brain fog. You don't have a lot of energy. The last thing you want to do is try to research, you know, spend however long, you know, online, you know, trying to find someone who has the experience and knowledge to actually try and try and help you. So I think, I think that in the beginning, like I just didn't know where to go. You know, my primary had no idea they specialist wise, you know, I think it's, it's tricky, right? They're really good at whatever it is they do, but that's the, the lens through which they look at everything. And because this is multi systemic, there's so much going on, you know, they sort of just threw up their hands as well. So having to, you know, spend that time researching, having to start over with every provider and having to tell, you know, your story every time was incredibly frustrating to me.
You know, and then again the wait list, you know, I thought it was funny at first that it was a two year wait list, you know, for this particular provider. And then, you know, after it being even longer than that, I realized just how, you know, ridiculous that is really like when you're in crisis, you want to be able to see someone, you know, you don't have to wait, wait that long. So, you know, that was, that was, you know, quite a big frustration. And then just, just the, the cost of everything, you know, insurance, you know, really doesn't cover much of anything. Almost everything is out of pocket. Both Jamie and I have spent, you know, way more money than, you know, I same with, you know, lots and lots of patients. You know, I think just the frustration of how much everything costs and how little is covered.
Yeah, I mean those are the big ones and those I think were sort of the instigating reasons for, you know, kind of creating Ravel and the things that we're trying to address in our, in our early days, you know, and I'm sure there are other things over the years too, like block them out.
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Well, so how did you guys connect? I mean, how did you guys meet?
[00:29:31] Speaker D: We met through a mutual friend, somebody who I at the time had left advertising and I, I was working as an executive coach, actually working on, working with teams and when I got, when I got bit by the dog and I, I was having a large, hard time being up in front of the room anymore and you know, managing large groups of people. And so I needed to take a break and heal. And as I was healing, I had a lot of people kind of coming to me asking me about all the different modalities. That I was doing.
And so I decided to create this wellness retreat company to kind of make wellness and healing and spirituality feel more approachable to people. And this woman had come to several of my events, and Covid hit, and all of my live events went, like, up in the air and disappeared, essentially. And she contacted me one day and just said, hey, I have this really good friend, and he also has lime, and he's working on something, and you were working on something. And so for a while, we just kind of talked on the phone because it was Covid, and we both have Lyme disease, so we weren't meeting in person. And then we finally met, and, you know, we, you know, we just kind of built the relationship over the phone, just, you know, talking to each other, we were sharing our stories and, you know, sharing what we were both independently working on. We were not in competition with each other, but we were working on these two things that were coming out of our own healing journeys.
And it just kind of evolved from there. So we have her to thank, putting us together.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: And. And what was kind of the.
The catalyst? Yeah, because usually it's, you know. Yes, you have these things you're kind of getting. You both work on separate things. I mean, Kevin, what was kind of the catalyst that said, let's do this together?
[00:31:48] Speaker C: Well, I think it's really a couple things. So it's really hard to start and run a company by yourself.
At least it was for me. So I had started on sort of an iteration of Ravel, and I don't know, it's. It's. It's hard to keep yourself motivated all the time.
You know, a lot of days, you know, I was waking up, I'm like, is this the right thing? Is this the right model? Is this. Should I even be spending time doing this? And I think having someone to talk through that with, someone who's been through what you've been through, you know, at least a lot of the similarities, you know, of our health journeys, it just makes everything so much easier.
Not that it's easy. It makes it. But it makes it easier.
So I think that, you know, that was a big catalyst for me, sort of having a partner in crime to, you know, to go about this with.
And then, I think, you know, for me, for me personally, you know, obviously we want to create something that can help other patients. So hopefully we can simplify things, streamline things so they don't have to go through all the things depending on where they are in their journey, go through all the things that we had to go through. So we always say we wanted to create something that we would have loved to have had as patients when we were in the thick of it.
And then selfishly, a little bit. For me, I wanted the past 15, you know, I guess more. More than that now, you know, almost 20 years to. To account for something. Right. I mean, it. You know, there's so many people who are so sick and it's, you know, it's sort of taking them in their prime and. Yeah, I wanted that to come for something.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's. That's powerful and. And I'm curious. Ravel. Yeah.
[00:33:42] Speaker C: Why.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: Why Ravel? What. What is that? Why that word?
[00:33:48] Speaker C: So, a few. Few things there. So really like. So, so Ravel is an interesting word. It can actually mean unravel or Ravel. So it can mean sort of fall apart or put back together. So, like the duality of that. But, you know, Ravel, we think of sort of opposite of unravel, like, you know, putting. Putting everything back together, like healing, you know, everything coming back into homeostasis. And then there was a really simple reason too, where there weren't a lot of other companies, there were very few actually that were called Ravel and the URL was available, so.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: And then there's that. Yeah, that makes it. So, Jamie, tell me a little bit about Ravel and what. What does it.
How does it benefit? I mean, how a person dealing with lime, you know, where does Revel fit in their journey?
[00:34:40] Speaker D: Hopefully, at the very beginning, like Kevin said. But unfortunately, I think we're really attracting a chronically ill patient. But, yeah, the goal would be to change the way we're treated. I mean, that's our goal, that's the mission. So we've been around for a year and a half, just over a year and a half being live and having patients and providers on the platform.
But the goal is to, yeah, make this entire process easier for people to have us help match them to a Lyme literate provider based on their needs, their own individual health journey, their own wants and desires for, you know, how they see themselves healing and, you know, what they're interested in doing, what they're not interested in doing. So, you know, creating this algorithm for properly matching them. It takes a lot of the guesswork, a lot of the research, the time, the energy, the exhaustion out of trying to search for a provider. Fill out our questionnaire, it's 10 questions, it takes less than five minutes and we match you.
And we've opened the door to being matched to provider that is not necessarily in your backyard. So we have, we have patients that live all over the country and they're matched to providers all over the country. So you don't have to live in Montana to see our natural path in Montana. So that was just one example. But there, I think that's what we've opened for patients.
And then the other thing that I, and I'll let Kevin touch on this too, but we are a monthly subscription and we did that because of our own frustrations with. Even when you are an active patient with a clinic or a provider, it could take months to get in to see somebody, even when you're an active patient. So that happened to me during COVID I had been with this clinic in Denver for a very long time, several years and I, you know, got, got Covid and it was hard to get in and you know, that doesn't feel fair, you know, as an existing patient. So that's why we did. The monthly subscription is so that you have an opportunity to see your provider on a monthly basis. You get to choose the amount of time you want to spend with the provider.
So you get, you have, the patient has more control over their time and their money, how they want to spend their money. So if you're in the middle of a flare up and, and you know, you need to see someone but maybe for only 30 minutes or maybe you need 60 minutes because you just had a bunch of labs run or you're in like a mid protocol review and, and you want to spend more time with your provider. So you know, there's a lot of options and I, I, that's what the PA like. So those are the two main things that you know, really drove us and I think are huge benefits to, to the patient is that you have access to these providers that you wouldn't normally have and we do a lot of the work for you and then you can see them once a month.
[00:37:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's powerful. So it's, I mean, just having a one place that they can go and then being funneled to an appropriate provider. And like you mentioned, you know, you have these providers that, you know, two to four years wait list and, but here you need it now. I mean you're dealing with pain now you're dealing with brain fog, you're dealing with, you know, all, all these different things. Yeah. Now you're, you don't want to have it resolved two years from now. So I mean, so that, that's, that's huge. That's huge. So for, so, so Kevin Yeah, Jamie was mentioning you, you go through kind of the questionnaire and then you find then a provider. So do they get to see these are the options and then they can kind of feel, yeah, this one feels right and I want to do that. And then you choose what kind of level of care or time commitment that you're wanting. Is that kind of the main factors of the process?
[00:39:09] Speaker C: Yeah, so that's kind of the initial step, if you will. So essentially patients would come into our website. This is usually how we sort of when patients inquire, we kind of instruct them to go to our website. Go to the get started button. From there we have a couple simple steps to get started. They would create account on our patient portal and then fill out that questionnaire. So yeah, based on the answer to that questionnaire, as Jamie mentioned, based on how they fill that out and then our providers, areas of expertise, their background, experience, you know, will, and just a quick note to the, you know, all of our providers are curated and embedded and we can talk a little bit about the vetting process later if, if it makes sense. But, but yeah, so, so based on that and then the state in which they live, we'll match them with up to three Lyme literate providers. And when we say Lime 2 and I'm sure you know, similar for you, when we say Lyme, we use that as a bucket term. So that's, you know, that's Lyme, all the co infections, mold, all the overlapping conditions, you know, even me, cfs, fibromyalgia, all of that. But yeah, so we'll make that match. Once we make that match, we'll send the patients, you know, however many providers, we'll send them their, their bios and profiles so they can review them, see who's the best fit, see who resonates. Yeah, the most. We just added something recently if they want to take that a step further, we do now offer a 15 minute introductory call and we do charge for that. That's $45 for the 15 minutes and patients can ask, you know, any questions they have as far, you know, it's not for, to be diagnosed or to talk about specifics more just, you know, how the, how the provider would work with them, you know, if they have any, you know, any particular concerns. And then if the patient moves forward after that, we would apply that $45 to the initial patient visit. So yeah, so once they make their selection, we do a two hour visit that includes, you know, any prep work, any post work and that's $395. So we do, we know, you know, nothing really is cheap, but we try to be very affordable and quite a bit less than, you know, market rates for most providers out there.
And then, you know, as Jamie mentioned, after that, you know, patients can select from 30 minute, 60 minute or 90 minute appointments and they can upgrade and downgrade monthly just on, you know, based on whatever they need.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that's amazing. And, and kind of the, the team that you, you have alongside, I mean, you have, you know, Dr. Bill Rawls, you know, that's been on this podcast, you know, Chief Medical Officer and you know, Darren Engels, you know, has been on this podcast as well. You know, amazing, amazing doctor. And then also Dr. Monica Embers and Associate Professor, Immunology. So I mean, that's an amazing support team. So it just kind of speaks the quality of care that you're bringing forth. So that's amazing.
[00:42:20] Speaker C: Yeah, we're very honored and humbled to have all of them on, on our team and, and just really excited.
You know, they're, yeah, very well known for what they do and you know, in the community and to be able to learn from them and have our providers learn from them, you know, just to have that direct line of communication is pretty neat.
[00:42:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's amazing. But any, anything else that I'm missing that you feel is important for, for our listeners to, to know? I mean, obviously they should go to Rabble, Ravel Health and kind of learn more and about. So there's plenty of information on your website, but any, anything else that you feel is really vital for people to understand. Yeah.
[00:43:14] Speaker C: One, one really big thing that I don't think we actually mentioned is that we are completely virtual.
So, you know, no brick and mortar or anything. Everything is, you know, from the comfort of home. And we are, as of about a month ago, live in 46 states. So we're essentially nationwide minus California, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii. And we are working on getting those states as quickly as possible.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: That's exciting. Well, Kevin, Jamie, this absolutely pleasure and it's amazing what, what you guys have created and I can just see how this is going to grow and, and bless so many people, you know, throughout the country and then maybe even go beyond that, you know. So thank you so much for, for kind of rolling up your sleeves and, and creating this.
[00:44:03] Speaker D: Thank you. Thanks for having us.
[00:44:06] Speaker C: I really, really appreciate it.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: Thanks so much.
[00:44:16] Speaker A: The information, this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not designed to diagnose or treat any disease. I hope this podcast impacted you as it did me. Please subscribe so that you can be notified when new episodes are released. There are some excellent shows coming up that you do not want to miss. If you're enjoying these podcasts, please take a moment to write a review. And please don't keep this information to yourself. Share them with your family and friends. You never know what piece of information that will transform their lives. For past episodes and powerful information on how to conquer lyme, go to integrativelimesolutions.com and an additional powerful resource, limestream.com for lime support and group discussions. Join Lime Conquerors Mentoring Lyme warriors on Facebook. If you'd like to know more about the cutting edge integrative Lyme therapies my center offers, please visit thecarlfeltcenter.com thank you for spending this time with us and I hope to see you at our next episode of Integrative lyme Solutions with Dr. Karl Feld.
