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Dr. Andrea Gaito is a HORRIBLE doctor and because of HER my daughter is suffering over 2 years untreated lyme and bartonella, debilitating. She had the bulls eye rash and ALL the symptoms and Gaito made her feel like she was crazy and told her to get an MRI on her knee, SO pathetic! She is a cold hearted, unprofessional doctor who should not be allowed to practice! Stay far from this doc. Now, we were lucky to find Dr. Lesley Fein in West Caldwell who is unbelievable and the most knowledgable lyme doc in NY and NJ.
Its scary when you look at Gaito's ratings on RateMds and see what bad experiences other people have had with her. Now, she took her name off that site, so people cannot even rate her! That is why I write this here, to warn everyone who is even considering going to her. She was a waste of time and money. She has ruined my daughter's life, dont let her do the same to you!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
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Before I saw Dr. Gaito, I was tested with bordelaise and babesiosis positive for a month. During the first month, my family doctor had treated me on Lyme disease and babesiosis. Due to no improvement, I went to see doctor Gaito. She had treated me for 6 months and every 4 weeks I experienced the flare up. Although I kept mentioning the flare up to her, she still insisted her medication was no problem. Therefore I went to see Dr. Burrascano for a second opinion. Dr. Burrascano evaluated my condition and quickly called my insurance company to arrange an IV treatment for me. At the same time, he faxed his diagnosis to Dr. Gaito and told her that she was under treating me.
Just for the 6 months mistreated, it took me 14 years to recover almost normal. I was antibiotics Treatment free in year 2014.
In here, I would like to thanks Dr. Burrascano and Dr. Gerald Simon. No question about it, they save my life.
Sorry I forget to mention I had Lyme disease in year 2000.
Dr. Gaito is truly amazing. She saved my life as well! She is thorough, compassionate, takes time to talk and explain.
The best Lyme disease specialist ever!
I have been Dr. Gaito's patient since 2008 and the last two years I have been "lyme free" . I also had Bartonella, a coinfection. Dr. Gaito has always been warm, caring and most professional, inquiring about all aspects of one's health. I'm a NY state resident, ILADS doctors are few and far between, and was misdiagnosed by local doctors, even though I had a triangular rash with a puncture wound. Having formerly been a NJ resident, I knew about Dr. Gaito and several patients she was treating who responded positively. At my daughter's insistence, an RN, I became Dr. Gaito's patient and have been successfully treated over the years. She is an amazing doctor whom I would not hesitate to recommend.
BJP
As you all know, Lyme Disease is very difficult to diagnose and detect. I am so sorry to hear that many of you went undiagnosed due to poor lab testing. In my case, Dr. Gaito saved my life about 23 years ago. Although I was diagnosed, the traditional doctors took me off of antibiotics so I had relapses. Dr. Gaito treated me with antibiotic pulse therapy for a few years and, thank God, it worked. Back then she had a really good lab that tracked the little [censored] until they were all dead. Every case is different. I pray that you all get cured.
My daughter has had Lyme for 13 years and was treated 1st by Dr Fein in 2007 for 4 years and then we switched to Dr Gaito. Dr Fein is caring and effective but my poor sick daughter could not stand the 2-3 hr waits past her scheduled appointment time EVERY time she saw Dr Fein. She got better for a little while and then hit a plateau. We saw Dr Gaito for a second opinion and she diagnosed babesia and has been my daughters Dr ever since 2011. She has always been responsive, knowledgable and helpful whenever my daughter was unwell and we have NEVER waited more than 15 minutes past our scheduled appointment time. She has been a lifesaver and my daughter is finally returning to college thanks to Dr Gaito. I know how horrible Drs can be and how dismissive, but our experience with Dr Gaito has been the complete opposite from this review in May. I am an RN and am super critical of the care my girl receives, but Dr Gaito gets an extremely positive review from me! Sorry you were so unhappy...
Me and many other people I know completely disagree with this complaint. Dr. Gaito saved my life. After over 1 1/2 years and 11 doctors and numerous diagnosis, she is the only doctor that spent an hour with me and gave me hope. She read my 6 page typed up history and did an extremely thorough exam. She is caring, very smart and knows her research and is very involved in the Lyme medical community. Because of her I was diagnosed with anaplasmosis a Lyme co infection and I'm getting the treatment I need.
Dr. Gaito helped cure me of Lyme disease. I was misdiagnosed for over a year. My symptoms were mostly neurological and very debilitating. Doctors were thinking sinus problems, until I started with daily migraines and heart palpitations. Then a very smart female neurologist decided to test me for Lyme disease and my primary care doctor recommended Dr. Gaito. Her visits aren't cheap, but I was determined to get well. She is smart, professional and very informed! She changed my antibiotic based on my symptoms. She also didn't "sugar coat" her explanations and there is a lot even doctors are learning about Lyme disease. I highly reccommend her!
dr andrea gaito saved my life and my sanity.i had 2 terrible doctors before discovering dr gaito, i could barely walk, talk and had severe memory problems.dr gaito immediately put me on iv a nd after 5months i was able to return to work.due to 2 very bad doctors the lyme is in my tissues and my left thalamus. i thank god everyday for dr gaito and feel lucky to have her for a doctor.i see her every 12 weeks and look forward to my visit
I thank god every day for Dr. Gaito. Went thru the same thing. My sons first year away at college, he was ill, no doctor knew why, they tested him for everything (found out later they tested too soon for lyme then due to the test being negative they scrated it off the list. One year later, they ran another lyme test, positive, 6 weeks of antibiotics and you will be fine, well he wasn't, went to a inf. disease dr., he aslo said 6 weeks would have cured you, you no longer have lyme(no testing though). Finally, went to Dr. Gaito, she retested, gave him a different anti-biotic and he is now well. Without her I don't know what would have happened to my son, he would have had to drop out of school, continue to be ill and get worse. Again, I thank god every day for her. I hear our story from different people all the time, I give Dr. Gaitos phone number out to them all.
Dr. Gaito is an amazing woman and does not deserve this feedback. She diagnosis and treats many who suffer and can't get help elsewhere. I owe her for my health (sadly I had one of the largest files in her office 12 years ago) and thank her for all she did for me. I have 2 beautiful, healthy children thanks to her. I was sick for 5 years before having them and she saw me through each relapse. In fact, I gave her a gift once to help her deal with misinformed patients like you :) I understand your pain - it's awful to have a sick child - but your blame is sadly misplaced.
In researching this Dr. I found this on NJ online from '02. I can't debate what you said, but have to wonder why, after 9 yrs, she would have joined the "dark side". Perhaps she was afraid of losing her practice. Anyone who suspects they have lymes or knows someone who does should watch this movie. A real eye opener. www.underourskin.com Here is the excerpt:
Patients say they have gone from doctor to doctor seeking help. Kathy Whitney, a 43-year-old from Dumont, visited four infectious disease doctors after she began to lose her memory two years ago. She started falling down. She needed painkillers to get out of bed to drive her children to school. She could no longer work in her job as transportation coordinator for a company in Bergen County.
She tested positive for Lyme but no one, she said, would treat her. Brain abnormalities showed up on an MRI and doctors told her she had multiple sclerosis. Eventually she came to Gaito, who ordered a new round of tests. One recent day Gaito reviewed Whitney's charts.
Then she tossed them down on an examining table.
"This is a perfect example of how crazy this all is, " she said, exasperated. "Here this woman has a spinal tap that shows Lyme. And a test from Stony Brook University comes back positive. She has all the neurological symptoms of Lyme. And doctors are telling her she doesn't have Lyme."
Gaito said Whitney has no biological markers for multiple sclerosis. She prescribed antibiotic treatment.
"Could you call my other doctor?" Whitney asked. "She doesn't think I have Lyme."
Gaito, who is president of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, said the NIH study did not treat people long enough to make a difference. She is now studying the cervical tissue of women with Lyme disease. She also noticed that three of her patients developed multiple myeloma, a serious cancer, and she is now exploring links between the two diseases.
I just had a conversation with a couple last week that had the totally opposite experience with Dr. Gaito. Their daughter had been sick with Lyme for 2 years and been given multiple treatments that did not work. They finally found Dr. Gaito, and 2 weeks later after a fresh diagnosis of the specific type of Lyme infection, she was completely well and able to function back to her pre-Lyme pace. We are just starting our Lyme road here in Michigan, and I'm hopeful that we will be able to find a GOOD doctor who can make a quick and accurate diagnosis/treatment so that our daughter can get on with her life in a way that she hasn't been able to for over 5 years---IF the conditions she has experienced during that time are all related to Lyme. At this point, I definitely have more questions than answers.
I saw so many doctors and was diagnosed for YEARS with everything from MS to Lupus to chronic fatigue...and on and on. THANK GOD FOR DR. LESLIE FEIN. She literally saved my life after seeing so called "lyme literate specialists" who basically have NO CLUE what lyme disease or coinfections are about. I am so happy to hear that you also found her for your daughter. Dr. Fein represents everything that a doctor should be. Her focus is on the PATIENT not on the clock on the wall, or the money she can take from you. She is truly the most caring person I have met and an absolute inspiration to me. Every doctor should be the type of doctor that Leslie Fein is. I have had lyme disease since the age of 15 and now, I am 38 years old. After having my child 5 years ago, the lyme already in my body, along with 2 more tick bites when i was pregnant, caused me to not be able to walk, and barely function at all. I heard everything from your depressed to your just tired because you are a new mother. I thank God everyday that Dr. Fein came into my life. Be well...
dr. gaito is one of the kindest most helpful doctors I have ever met. She has treated me for lyme last winter, and was careful enough to educate me not to get pregnant with lyme. No other doctors were even that informed, and if it weren't for her, i would have gotten pregnant and had a baby with birth defects or even stillborn. This past fall I had been to see the GI dr and was put through numerous testing with no findings. i had ultrasounds, CATscans, MRIs, a colonoscopy and an upper endoscopy. I made one trip to Dr Gaito when I had given up hope on finding out what was wrong and she quickly diagnosed me with anaplasmosis, another type of tick borne infection. She is an amazing doctor. Is it possible that perhaps your lyme testing was done too soon after the tick bite for your body to be making dectectable antibodies?
Honey there are so many of us over the years that have been taken by the likes of Dr. GAITO. KEPT people sick. Shes probably working for the CDC who does nothing g for the lyme community
Well, to be fair, you should have gotten a second opinion way before the two year mark.
I had the same experience and wasted a year of my life. When you pay $450 to someone who claims to be a lyme specialist working with Columbia University and her receptionist calls you and tells you tests are negative, you think it must not be lyme. But she does not use the most sensitive tests available, and she does not tell people this or that other doctors use different tests. I saw Dr. Gaito 2 years ago after I crashed with severe fatigue and vision and neurological problems and had become unable to work. She said she provided comprehensive lyme testing and did a western blot with a lab in NY. I got a call from her receptionist saying I was negative for everything. I asked for a copy, and I had IGM 23 and IGG 41, which my lyme tests from Labcorp and a regular ID dr also showed, but I did not know anything. An entire year later, still very sick and without a diagnosis, I was referred to a biotoxin specialist (Jyoti Dashore, also an ILADS member) for suspected mold toxicity, and she looked at the lyme tests and told me I was almost certainly positive for lyme due to IGM 23 and probably had other coinfections as well but my immune system was so knocked down by being sick for so long and mold toxicity that I was no longer making all the antibodies. She ran a DNA Connexions urine PCR test, which looks for the actual DNA of the microbes rather than the immune system's creation of antibodies to them (which requires a functioning immune system), and it came back positive for Lyme, Babesia, Bartonella, and Erlichia. I have been treated now for a year and have improved, and my last western blot showed no bars at all, after years of always showing IGM 23 and IGG 41, and my Babesia titer is now showing antibodies for the first time (because my immune system can produce them, not because I've gotten a new case of Babesia). My CD57, which was low, almost doubled and is now fine, and numerous other immune markers have also markedly improved.
The $450 I spent at her office did not result in proper diagnosis or any treatment or even helpful information. Had I seen Dr. Dashore (or maybe any other ILADS member) instead of her 2 years ago, it might have saved me an entire year of being sick. Besides the lost year of work and income which has put us into debt (from paying large sums to people like you trying to find out what was wrong with me), I am a mother of a young child-- the year that I wasted from going to you and being told I was negative for these infections, he was 5-6 years old. I was in bed most of that year, and neither I nor he will ever get that back.
Hi. I was just referred to this doctor by someone for my brother. We live in CA but grew up in NJ where he was bitten by a tick as a kid and was recently diagnosed with Lyme (but barely) and he has been in bad shape for years. I’m responding to you because he has the EXACT same markers (23, 41) and a mold toxicity issue his CA tried to address. His immune system is a mess and he’s having severe heart palps. I’m trying to find him the right doctor back east because the hope is they will have more experience with his Lyme infection. Your story seems so similar. My email is bndrchrs@gmail.com if any of this resonates with you and you can advise! Thank you. **did u got to Pingry by chance?
She did the same to me. Now I went to a 2nd doc who gave me real answers. Dr Gaito is a quack whos in this for the money