Anyone using Dr Preston Sacks at Columbia Fertility?

[Anonymous]

Thanks! It can be done - you just need to be persistent.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Sacks is very likable and I agree that he does want to take the time to get to know you...at first. I have been a patient for 5 months and the last time I saw him was 4 months ago. He has NEVER given me a pelvic exam himself or looked into side issues other than "oh yea, you have polycystic ovaries"--but he's never SEEN them!! It seems like him/his office is cycling me through their process. I am on my third round of Clomid with no luck. After my first try, I was pregnant for almost 6 weeks and then lost it. I was nervous and upset and asked his staff to have him call me. Instead they ran offense and passed me off to the head nurse. It's tough because I like Dr. Sacks but he has been unavailable and letting his nurses run the show. I know he has good success rates, but I am beyond annoyed and will probably look into someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Sacks is very likable and I agree that he does want to take the time to get to know you...at first. I have been a patient for 5 months and the last time I saw him was 4 months ago. He has NEVER given me a pelvic exam himself or looked into side issues other than "oh yea, you have polycystic ovaries"--but he's never SEEN them!! It seems like him/his office is cycling me through their process. I am on my third round of Clomid with no luck. After my first try, I was pregnant for almost 6 weeks and then lost it. I was nervous and upset and asked his staff to have him call me. Instead they ran offense and passed me off to the head nurse. It's tough because I like Dr. Sacks but he has been unavailable and letting his nurses run the show. I know he has good success rates, but I am beyond annoyed and will probably look into someone else.

Try emailing him. He's very responsive. And I would leave another message to have him call you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Sacks is very likable and I agree that he does want to take the time to get to know you...at first. I have been a patient for 5 months and the last time I saw him was 4 months ago. He has NEVER given me a pelvic exam himself or looked into side issues other than "oh yea, you have polycystic ovaries"--but he's never SEEN them!! It seems like him/his office is cycling me through their process. I am on my third round of Clomid with no luck. After my first try, I was pregnant for almost 6 weeks and then lost it. I was nervous and upset and asked his staff to have him call me. Instead they ran offense and passed me off to the head nurse. It's tough because I like Dr. Sacks but he has been unavailable and letting his nurses run the show. I know he has good success rates, but I am beyond annoyed and will probably look into someone else.

I am sorry for your loss.

If you have questions or concerns reach out by email or try another call. It may really be the case that he's simply not worried about you (because you did have a pregnancy and because it does seem as if clomid will work for you despite the early loss) and doesn't realize that you have concerns nonetheless.

[Anonymous]

Definitely email him directly. I found that the staff will NOT put you in touch with him. He responds to email quickly.

[Anonymous]

If you are having concerns about continuing with Dr. Sacks, definitely seek another opinion. I hate to say this, since I like him personally, but his laissez faire approach is not for everyone. After my first IVF ended in m/c, we did several more unsuccessful cycles. He kept telling me it was fine and a matter of luck and dismissing other symptoms I kept mentioning. But statistically, with our dx and age, it was very unlikely we would not have had success after the number of cycles we did. I finally sought another opinion, and testing revealed scar tissue that was almost certainly preventing me from success.

I think that Dr. S's approach works for a lot of patients, but not everyone. If you're not happy (and i did a couple cycles even after feeling like I wanted a change), find someone else. The emotional and financial stakes are too high to continue with someone who isn't attentive to what you need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are having concerns about continuing with Dr. Sacks, definitely seek another opinion. I hate to say this, since I like him personally, but his laissez faire approach is not for everyone. After my first IVF ended in m/c, we did several more unsuccessful cycles. He kept telling me it was fine and a matter of luck and dismissing other symptoms I kept mentioning. But statistically, with our dx and age, it was very unlikely we would not have had success after the number of cycles we did. I finally sought another opinion, and testing revealed scar tissue that was almost certainly preventing me from success.

Where did you eventually have success?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are having concerns about continuing with Dr. Sacks, definitely seek another opinion. I hate to say this, since I like him personally, but his laissez faire approach is not for everyone. After my first IVF ended in m/c, we did several more unsuccessful cycles. He kept telling me it was fine and a matter of luck and dismissing other symptoms I kept mentioning. But statistically, with our dx and age, it was very unlikely we would not have had success after the number of cycles we did. I finally sought another opinion, and testing revealed scar tissue that was almost certainly preventing me from success.

Where did you eventually have success?

Not yet, but I moved to GW, where they caught the scar tissue. Will start a new cycle and post how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are having concerns about continuing with Dr. Sacks, definitely seek another opinion. I hate to say this, since I like him personally, but his laissez faire approach is not for everyone. After my first IVF ended in m/c, we did several more unsuccessful cycles. He kept telling me it was fine and a matter of luck and dismissing other symptoms I kept mentioning. But statistically, with our dx and age, it was very unlikely we would not have had success after the number of cycles we did. I finally sought another opinion, and testing revealed scar tissue that was almost certainly preventing me from success.

Where did you eventually have success?

Not yet, but I moved to GW, where they caught the scar tissue. Will start a new cycle and post how it goes.

To this PP, I am in a similar situation. How did GW catch the scar tissue? From a SHG? Is your scar tissue from a previous surgery? Sacks has a very laissez faire attitude with me as well. While I appreciate not getting too ahead of ourselves, there isn't time to waste. In my case he didn't want to look any further than the HSG but I'm afraid I have scar tissue too. Did you have a normal HSG but GW found scar tissue some other way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
To this PP, I am in a similar situation. How did GW catch the scar tissue? From a SHG? Is your scar tissue from a previous surgery? Sacks has a very laissez faire attitude with me as well. While I appreciate not getting too ahead of ourselves, there isn't time to waste. In my case he didn't want to look any further than the HSG but I'm afraid I have scar tissue too. Did you have a normal HSG but GW found scar tissue some other way?

I did have a normal HSG exam, but HSG's only detect structure. In my case, the scarring was in the cervix area, so HSG couldn't pick it up anyway. I had a hysterscopy, which essentially uses a camera to directly image. Scarring was very clear in that. Dr. Robinson at GW is very well known for this procedure (he's not an RE, but works with GW's IVF clinic), and he's got great bedside manner.

I don't know what you're symptoms are, but post-D&C I had excruciating pain with each of my transfers...which turns out to be due to the fact that he was trying to shove a catheter through scar tissue instead of an opening. If you think something's off, there is no harm in a second opinion.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely love Dr. Sacks. I was using him for treatments when my ex-husband and I was trying to have a baby. However, now I use Dr. Sacks as my regular GYN doctor and he is the best! The entire staff in his office is wonderful. Francis his assistant is awesome as well. I continue to refer all my girlfriends to Dr. Sack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely love Dr. Sacks. I was using him for treatments when my ex-husband and I was trying to have a baby. However, now I use Dr. Sacks as my regular GYN doctor and he is the best! The entire staff in his office is wonderful. Francis his assistant is awesome as well. I continue to refer all my girlfriends to Dr. Sack.

How would Dr. Sacks practice as a regular GYN when he's working at an infertility clinic? This sounds like a CFA staff post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely love Dr. Sacks. I was using him for treatments when my ex-husband and I was trying to have a baby. However, now I use Dr. Sacks as my regular GYN doctor and he is the best! The entire staff in his office is wonderful. Francis his assistant is awesome as well. I continue to refer all my girlfriends to Dr. Sack.

How would Dr. Sacks practice as a regular GYN when he's working at an infertility clinic? This sounds like a CFA staff post.

+1000. If you read back any thread that deals with Dr. Sacks you will find that as soon as someone has something negative to say, adoring fans come up and sing his praises. I used to be one of his patients and although he has very nice during the initial consulation, I NEVER dealt with him after that. Even during my procedure, he came did IUI and took off in less than a minute. In addition, the front desk was disorganized and rude at times and the billing department is terrible. I moved on and am much happier at another place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely love Dr. Sacks. I was using him for treatments when my ex-husband and I was trying to have a baby. However, now I use Dr. Sacks as my regular GYN doctor and he is the best! The entire staff in his office is wonderful. Francis his assistant is awesome as well. I continue to refer all my girlfriends to Dr. Sack.

How would Dr. Sacks practice as a regular GYN when he's working at an infertility clinic? This sounds like a CFA staff post.

+1000. If you read back any thread that deals with Dr. Sacks you will find that as soon as someone has something negative to say, adoring fans come up and sing his praises. I used to be one of his patients and although he has very nice during the initial consulation, I NEVER dealt with him after that. Even during my procedure, he came did IUI and took off in less than a minute. In addition, the front desk was disorganized and rude at times and the billing department is terrible. I moved on and am much happier at another place.

I don't necessarily disagree but wanted to chime in that one-on-one care can be rather sparse. I did five IUIs and an IVF with Dr. Sacks, and he did all but one IUI, the retrieval, and the transfer. At Shady Grove, I've done all of the repeat testing, a fresh cycle, and an FET. I have yet to see "my" doctor. The whole system is infuriating, but Dr. Sacks was more personal than SG. There may well be options better than both of them on that front...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely love Dr. Sacks. I was using him for treatments when my ex-husband and I was trying to have a baby. However, now I use Dr. Sacks as my regular GYN doctor and he is the best! The entire staff in his office is wonderful. Francis his assistant is awesome as well. I continue to refer all my girlfriends to Dr. Sack.

How would Dr. Sacks practice as a regular GYN when he's working at an infertility clinic? This sounds like a CFA staff post.

You must not be very educated. All Reproductive Endocrinologists are OB/GYN's first who sub specialize in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. They are both and can practice any and all aspects of OB/GYN or RE.