Dr. Abbasi

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for feedback on Dr. Abbasi. Is anyone here with immune issues working with her and happy? Has anyone consulted with her and decided not to continue? And if so, why not? TIA.

[Anonymous]

I consulted with her and really liked her. I liked how she was straightforward and quick acting. On my first consult After talking to her she wanted to do an ultrasound right then. Ultimately I hated her support team - specifically the financial people so I went with Cornell. Also I was able to work with the beer clinic on my own, so didn’t see the value of working with her too.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the person above. She seemed like a good doctor, but the support staff is AWFUL! Our bills were constantly screwed up. Our nurse called in the wrong Rx multiple times. It's just not worth being stressed out about managing the various flaky nurses, front desk people and billing people if you have other options.

[Anonymous]

Consulted with her in August 2018. Not going with her either. I’m a complicated case with many losses and I just feel like she’s all over the place and the only reason I went to Her is bc she’s the only dr in the dc area who will treat immune with intralipids, etc

[Anonymous]

I went to see her many years ago and no luck.

There is an old thread about her:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/111457.page

[Anonymous]

I consulted with her this year and opted not to do treatment with her.

I was looking for someone willing to investigate immune issues. I found her personality to be... challenging. She also wanted to throw the kitchen sink at testing versus being thoughtful about my specific case and I also didn't get the sense she was much of a DOR expert, which I am also dealing with. Also, I could not get an answer from her support staff re: treatment costs to save my life - a ton of run-around no real answers.

Ultimately, I opted to go to NY for SIRM. Valued their DOR and immune expertise. They were targeted with the immune testing they had me do. And they gave me an extremely detailed rundown of my costs after allowing for insurance. Night and day.

[Anonymous]

I consulted with her many years ago and had additional losses under her care before going to (and having success) with Braverman. I do credit her with helping uncover the immune issues in the first place though. Back then her support staff was pretty average in my mind. It's a lot to manage with immune issues so I think after a while I just got used to it.

[Anonymous]

I loved her. Direct, smart, persistent, responsive.

I can see how her manner might not be for everyone but it was great for me.

My experience was a few years ago but I would go back to her in a heartbeat. I did have major frustrations with the finance and admin staff - they were a nightmare. And some of the nurses were better/smarter than others - so all of that can definitely impact your experience. But for the medical expertise and persistence I loved her. (And we have two kids now as a result.)

Good luck OP.

[Anonymous]

I did 2 cycles with her. She is not about warm fuzzies, but neither am I, so that was OK. Her support staff are a pain it the neck. The receptionist is super moody, you have to get on her good side. Nurses were OK, but I constantly needed to hound them for info. The finance person was oddly abrasive, also, the way they coded procedures I ended up paying more out of pocket than at SGF for the same procedures. $600 anestesiologist bill was quite a surprise, at the other places I cycled everything was rolled into 1 overall fee.

Logistics aside, I found Abbasi very open to investigating additional issues, which I liked more than SGF. On the balance, I did not get pregnant with her and moved on after 2 tries. Her stats for older patients are pretty bad, so that was a factor in my decision too.

[Anonymous]

19:22 If you don't mind sharing, what did Braverman do that Abbasi didn't? It's down to these two for me, but there's a HUGE price difference.

[Anonymous]

I'm currently cycling with Abbasi. I chose her because after reading this forum, it seemed like she was the only person in the area willing to treat for immune issues and I suspected i had immune issues. I found when we were doing the diagnostic testing, she was a little off putting, but when we got to actual treatment, she had a nice bedside manner. You do have to ask her questions if you don't understand the treatments/protocols and she is very responsive by email.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:19:22 If you don't mind sharing, what did Braverman do that Abbasi didn't? It's down to these two for me, but there's a HUGE price difference.

Not PP, but we worked with Dr. Braverman.

He's an RI - Abassi isn't. Basically this is what he does 24/7. He does a very detailed blood panel, typically through Reprosource, and tailors your protocol based on your and your partner's immune/compatibility issues. He almost always recommends a lap as well, and prefers this is done with a surgeon from his team. He also uses Neupogen - something that Dr. KK (and perhaps Abassi) don't typically prescribe because it's still fairly experimental, but for my wife, he suggested that it would help with egg quality.

We got our rainbow with him after three losses. Was it his protocol? Was it Cornell's excellent lab (we cycled with them for the IVF part)? Was it just pure luck and a numbers game? We will never know. But when my wife was passed on to Dr. Hamersley after "graduating" from Dr. Braverman, they monitored her and ended up increasing her Lovenox dosage during second trimester. Clearly there was something immune related going on during those unsuccessful cycles.

[Anonymous]

19:22 here

PP is correct Braverman is an RI and IMO is the most knowledgeable of the all the immune doctors out there. He has his own research team and has worked with the Reprosource lab director to develop his own set of labs specific for his patients and research. He was absolutely the first to offer KIR testing back in 2013 and I may have been one of his first patients to request it and get my results from him. That is now recently something Abbasi tests for and will use Neupogen if it is warranted.

I also loved Dr. H Unlike PP I have no doubts I would not have my beautiful family without Dr. Braverman and I did have Dr. Abbasi's blessing to consult with him after my IVIG losses. She knew there wasn't going to be much more she could do for me. With 8 first trimester losses statistically my chances of carrying to term without treatment was less than 10%. We were looking into getting a gestational carrier when we consulted with Braverman, and I was 31.

Where are you at in this journey? If you know you need the Cadillac of doctors then skip Abbasi, but if you think there might be an immune component and you aren't sure then go to Abbasi first and only roll in the big guns if you need them. Generally though my recommendation on who to see will depend on your answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm currently cycling with Abbasi. I chose her because after reading this forum, it seemed like she was the only person in the area willing to treat for immune issues and I suspected i had immune issues. I found when we were doing the diagnostic testing, she was a little off putting, but when we got to actual treatment, she had a nice bedside manner. You do have to ask her questions if you don't understand the treatments/protocols and she is very responsive by email.

New PP here and I saw Dr. Abbasi for immune issues as well, after a first successful pregnancy at age 33 followed by 3 losses in succession. I got pregnant easily with all 3 but each ended earlier and earlier. After the first, I just felt like something was wrong, so I went to Shady Grove. Never actually had treatment with them because they insisted all my numbers were normal and it was just luck of the draw. I independently consulted an endocrinologist who discovered I have Hashimoto's (thyroid autoimmune disease) even though my thyroid numbers were normal. Shady Grove wasn't interested in pursuing this so I consulted Dr. Abbasi. She decided to treat the thyroid issue and also ran a blood panel that picked up some minor clotting issues. So she tailored a protocol that addressed those two, plus intralipids. I had success on my first IUI and baby is almost 18 months now.

I think I got very lucky. But I was also fairly aggressive. I did a LOT of research on this board -- some of the prior posters on this thread were helpful, I recognize their responses from previous threads -- and I stayed on top of everything with Abbasi. It wasn't easy coordinating with her, plus Dr. Hamersley, and a separate OB at GW. I found that I had to be on top of all treatment stuff, even reminding her and the nurses what we agreed. But it worked out and is now a distant memory. Boy do I not miss daily lovenox shots ...

Incidentally, I consulted on the phone with Dr. Braverman before starting treatment with Abbasi, and found him very off-putting. He offered free consultation but it was obviously just a marketing ploy. When I recounted Dr. Abbasi's suggested protocol he bad-mouthed her and said -- and I quote -- "she doesn't know what she's doing and with your test results there is no way you will ever carry a child to term except under my care." Even if his exorbitant fees weren't enough to take the sheen off his reputation, that was.

[Anonymous]

19:22 and 22:18 here

One note I'll make about the PPs comment here is that there was a point when Abbasi would not use intralipids and was against using Neupogen as well. It's refreshing to hear that she (and AEB) is now open to those treatments. Dr. Braverman probably received many of Abbasi's patients (myself and a friend of mine included) because the treatments were not adequate to address all the issues that were causing miscarriages. So that formed the basis of his professional opinion of her.

I do think Braverman is the only one who understands WHY he uses the treatments he does, which is why you'll note those treatments have evolved over the last several years. It may seem as though other doctors are throwing darts or the kitchen sink at patients (and it works sometimes!), but he believes his treatments are methodical and warranted based on actual test results. It is hard to argue with his success rates in a very difficult subset of the infertility population.

I thought Abbasi was fine doctor and I appreciated that she was willing to investigate the immune component in pregnancy, but I still miscarried under her treatments and ended up finding success with Braverman. Would that be a different story if I were starting this journey today? Maybe!