Reviews

It would be difficult to describe my experience with Dr. Katherine Wiggin in a brief summary. My journey began approximately 11 years ago, when I began experiencing extreme right lower abdominal/hip pain. I am a very active person now and always have been. This severe pain began after the completion of building a log house, with our own trees, rocks, and lumber on our tree farm with my husband. Long story short, I went to my physician at a very popular local clinic where I was put on opioids, ran through several tests which included X-ray, three MRI’s, CAT scans, blood tests, you name it, I had it, several times over the course of 2 years. After exploratory surgery and the removal of my appendix, I was passed on to physical therapy.

The pain was not describable at this point and I was barely able to walk by year two. The physical therapist sent me to a Chiropractor where he did one more MRI, at that point he found a tumor on my right sciatic nerve. After this tumor was successfully removed I tried to resume my life prior to the two years of pain, opioid and clinical physicians hell. Unfortunately, my gut was completely stripped of anything natural, I was a mess.

I had leaky gut syndrome, so I tried the Paleo diet, I tried all kinds of remedies I had read about online to help my digestive system, but my stomach constantly ached. My low back began to ache and my hands began to pull up with muscles spasms like a seizure.

Then, an MRI revealed a tumor on my low back, so I was off to surgery once again. This tumor was entangled in my nerves, if it had been cut away, I would have lost the use of my left leg. My surgeon carved the vertebrae around the tumor to allow it space, thus relieving the pressure on the nerves. One year later my pain was coming back, it was said to inflammation and not the tumor so I was prescribed cortisone injections in my low back.

In the meantime, I rapidly grew a large cyst under my left thumb. My doctor forwarded me to one of the clinic’s surgeons.  My thumb became very infected after surgery so she placed me on an antibiotic, this antibiotic nearly killed me. I ended up in the hospital via ambulance with chest pain.

Just a couple of months later I began having severe occipital pain. My husband took me to the hospital one night when I could barely move or speak. I began having slurred speech and was immediately treated for stroke, fortunately it was the one time the hospital staff correctly diagnosed and treated me. After that night my fingers on my right hand would not separate and were crimped up. My occipital pain was debilitating, I felt like my life was over at this point.

I was told about a Naturopathic Doctor by the name Katherine Wiggin from a very close friend. At this point I thought only the Mayo clinic could help me, not a “Naturopath”, how silly I thought. My first appointment floored me to my core, she actually paid close attention to my chief complaints, she listened. My first appointment lasted nearly four hours, and I felt hope once again, hope someone could help me with my pain. Right away she prescribed probiotics and high dose vitamin C via IV. I also requested a prescription of marijuana to make gluten free brownies for my low back, occipital, and stomach pain.

I told her I was going to try to get into the Mayo Clinic, she said “okay” and nothing more. She never gave her opinion on my idea, she allowed me all free thought and hope for my health and well being. I did get into the Mayo Clinic on my own just a couple of weeks later. That is a book in itself. It was a waste of hundreds of dollars of flying four times from Portland to Arizona for two week scheduled appointments each visit and a rude awakening that in my opinion, the Mayo Clinic ‘s bottom line is the all important dollar, not patient care. It is a place where you are passed from one expert to the next, and if they are unable to find your medical problem, they label you a nut. They explained to me and my husband, I was in a wheelchair by this time, my occipital pain could be “imagined pain”. Both my husband and I nearly lost it at that point. Because they found my cerebral spinal fluid to be abnormal very very low, and they could not figure why, I was sent home to drink, and I quote “go home and drink copious amounts of coffee and eat as much sodium filled foods as possible.

Upon my return for the fourth and final trip to the overrated Mayo Clinic I went in to see Dr. Wiggin. She felt I had something far sinister going on in my body, an undetected culprit, something very difficult to test for. She told me she wanted to have me tested for mold toxicity. I was dumbfounded. We had just built a brand new house, we did not have any mold in our home. I did the the test, and when the results came back I was jaw dropped. My gliotoxins were off the chart and my other molds were slightly elevated.

She advised that prior to a rigorous medical onslaught on my mold I first have my breast implants removed. I had no idea how weak my system was at this point. That next week I had the surgery to have my implants removed, but the surgeon was amiss on my fluids and I ended up going into the hospital via ambulance nearly in a coma. I was kept for four days on stroke watch. By Sunday I was able to sit up and allowed to go home. I will never in my life forge what happened that day, not as long as I live. I was barely able to walk from weakness, I sent Dr. Kate a text and told her about my condition. Right away she sent me back a text and said she was on her way home from a mold conference in Portland and wanted me to meet her at her clinic.

My husband and I drove the 45 minute commute. It was dark, rainy and I was so weak my husband nearly had to carry me through the doors of her clinic. This is how modern medicine and our local hospitals release their patients. Dr. Kate had turned on the clinic lights, the heat in the IV room and had my fluids ready. She sat with me and my husband for three hours that evening.

I do not know of any doctor on this planet who cares this much for her patients. She baby stepped me back to health over the course of the next two years. She prescribed Voriconazole as my breathing treatment I took every other day for one year, and IV fluids twice a week which included Glutathione.

My life was not over, my life was saved by a doctor who believes in every ounce of what she does every day in her clinic. I have since brought her my family members, my grandchildren, my late mother who she helped live just a few more months allowing her to peacefully pass. I send everyone I know to this Doctor of Naturopathic medicine. She is God sent, and I feel blessed to have her as my doctor.

Valerie