Anyone have any experience with Dr. Pamela Compart?

[Anonymous]

An Integrative/Functizonal Developmental Pediatrician in Columbia MD. Or experiences with that kind of developmental pediatrician versus a more traditional one in general. Thanks in advance for your insights!

[Anonymous]

We needed more help than what her natural remedies could provide. We didn't see results until we got our child onto medication. If you're against medication, then it is worth a shot to try this. If you're okay with medication, then you may get better results going to a doctor that will prescribe them.

[Anonymous]

We recently started seeing her. I think she is really knowledgeable and helpful. I am sorry I don’t have much to report yet if the supplements are helpful since we just started the regiment but I do know someone whose child went to her and the treatments made a huge difference. She has written two books which might give you more of a sense of her approach. I am not opposed to medicine for my kids but I wanted to start with this route first and see how far we get. She spends a lot of time getting background history and explaining the neuroscience behind her approach which I appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Oops I hit submit before I got to say we also see a regular developmental pediatrician who we really like but the main difference I see is that our regular dev ped did not spend much time trying to address the biofunctional issues that could be contributing to the challenges we are dealing with. With Dr. Compart there is a big focus on figuring out underlying deficiencies or things the body needs to get rid of that can impact functioning, sensory issues and language etc. and she tries to address those issues. With our regular dev ped, it’s more checking in about developmental issues and schools and services etc.

[Anonymous]

I am i full favor of supplements, etc. We started with Compart and eventually stopped going to her. She seemed like a scam- drawn out number of appointments and only giving us information in bits. It ended up being so costly because we always had to come in for an appointment for one supplement, etc.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all! My understanding was that she combined traditional and alternative approaches - is that not accurate? Is medication not one of the tools in her toolbox? Just nutrition/supplements?

[Anonymous]

there's zero evidence for supplements or "holistic" approaches. at best you are throwing money away. at worse you are subjecting your child to untested procedures and supplements that could be harmful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am i full favor of supplements, etc. We started with Compart and eventually stopped going to her. She seemed like a scam- drawn out number of appointments and only giving us information in bits. It ended up being so costly because we always had to come in for an appointment for one supplement, etc.

igh.

[Anonymous]

My focus is more on a traditional approach, though I’m willing to consider nutrition where there’s supportive science. For instance, my doctor subscribes me vitamin D because I have very low vitamin D levels. Sounds like she works with your primary pediatrician to do that kind of testing, which seems reasonable to me. Also, behavioral and environmental strategies that might help with the quality of daily life might make sense and I’m not sure how much of that you get with a traditional developmental pediatrician (I am on various lengthy waiting lists and intend to go to whichever one I get into first). However, if her focus is really only on the non traditional approaches, I don’t think it would be a great fit for us - trying to get a better handle on that prior to my appointment on Monday morning. I have a voicemail into her office to get more detail but not sure I’ll hear back given tomorrow is Friday. So thanks again for the info!

[Anonymous]

In the few appointments we have had so far, her approach is traditional-looking at the child and where they need more support (ie is their zinc low? Iron? Etc) and then also looking at some supplements that could be helpful (magnesium, gaba etc). I have seen some big changes with joint attention and anxiety so far. I don’t know if she prescribes medication. I am a more traditional kind of parent but wanted to see if this biofunctional approach could help. I found her to be really kind, thorough, smart and very well researched. She trained with our dev ped and they have a good working relationship. Personally I would give it a try and go to one appointment to see what you think.

[Anonymous]

Reviving this thread to see if anyone has recent experience. Our DD (16) has been on every ADHD med in the book and can’t tolerate them without significant side effects, same with SSRIs and SSRIs. We’ve been through 9 years of meds and want to try another route. She’s very sensitive to side effects for minimal if any benefit.

Diagnoses are ADHD, ASD and depression. Anyone seen her under similar circumstances?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this thread to see if anyone has recent experience. Our DD (16) has been on every ADHD med in the book and can’t tolerate them without significant side effects, same with SSRIs and SSRIs. We’ve been through 9 years of meds and want to try another route. She’s very sensitive to side effects for minimal if any benefit.

Diagnoses are ADHD, ASD and depression. Anyone seen her under similar circumstances?

What Dr. Compart does is complimentary to traditional approaches, it doesn't replace mainstream medicine. Unfortunately, you can't vitamin out of the combo of diagnoses that you described, but perhaps you can lessen severity with fewer side effects. We are working currently with her, but with a younger kid with ASD1, and likely ADHD too. My understanding is that she doesn't prescribe any psychiatric meds and refers that out. She does test for things like vitamin and nutritional gaps, methylation, oxidative stress, etc and suggests supplements to try to address specific issues. We were referred to her by our regular pediatrician who said she saw results first hand.

Btw, who has been your prescribing doc for all these meds? It sounds like your child needs a good pediatric psychiatrist to do structured trials for meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this thread to see if anyone has recent experience. Our DD (16) has been on every ADHD med in the book and can’t tolerate them without significant side effects, same with SSRIs and SSRIs. We’ve been through 9 years of meds and want to try another route. She’s very sensitive to side effects for minimal if any benefit.

Diagnoses are ADHD, ASD and depression. Anyone seen her under similar circumstances?

What Dr. Compart does is complimentary to traditional approaches, it doesn't replace mainstream medicine. Unfortunately, you can't vitamin out of the combo of diagnoses that you described, but perhaps you can lessen severity with fewer side effects. We are working currently with her, but with a younger kid with ASD1, and likely ADHD too. My understanding is that she doesn't prescribe any psychiatric meds and refers that out. She does test for things like vitamin and nutritional gaps, methylation, oxidative stress, etc and suggests supplements to try to address specific issues. We were referred to her by our regular pediatrician who said she saw results first hand.

Btw, who has been your prescribing doc for all these meds? It sounds like your child needs a good pediatric psychiatrist to do structured trials for meds.

We have had a pediatric psychiatrist for 9 years. We are on our third. I know that we can’t vitamin out of the diagnoses, but we are desperate for something that doesn’t cause side effects that seem almost worse than the symptoms we are trying to treat.

[Anonymous]

We’ve had recent experience. It was drawn out (one supplement at a time) which other poster mentioned and no significant results.

[Anonymous]

Why does she not have any reviews? If she is do awesome people should be posting left and right. I can’t find one review.