San Francisco Natural Medicine

Dr. Carl Hangee-Bauer is caring and dedicated. He's one of these people that you just know is in the right profession. He really enjoys being a health care detective, in the ways he listens to patients and gives careful attention to exam room findings and past medical history.

He's one of those rare health care practitioners who really builds a positive and lasting patient relationship, and he gives you just the amount of time you need at each visit. He loves what he does and that seems to help inspire personal improvements in self-care over time.

Additionally the staff is great, and the office is welcoming and pleasant. And you can almost always find a place to park within 2 or 3 blocks, or you can take the #10 which stops near the office.

My first experience with this clinic was the B-12 happy hour. I was looking for a new primary care naturopath and while I liked this clinic well enough to keep going for happy hour, I wasn't won over until I started working with Dr. Jackie. She is fantastic. She strikes a perfect balance between professional and also totally approachable. I can crack jokes, gossip about my boyfriend, then admit uncomfortable/embarrassing health stuff. She is everything I want in a health provider: competent, passionate about what she does, and easy to talk to. She inspired me to become an established patient at this clinic. I love that she offers some of the newer approaches like IV therapy. The ladies at the front desk are always fun to visit with. They are friendly and warm. They quickly learned my name, remembered previous conversations, and treated me like a friend. I look forward to my weekly visits.
My only criticism involves office procedures. I have twice requested estimates for services prior to an appointment. The front desk staff have done their best to explain the possible charges and stated that input from the practitioner was necessary before they could come to an accurate number. Fair enough. I appreciate that they inform me that it is a best guestimate. When it has been time to pay, the employee has been called away mid-sentence by the office manager to have a whisper conference about my charges while within earshot. It's just SO awkward to stand there being talked about. Its reminiscent of high school. I understand needing to powwow about fees and don't mind. I guess it would be less uncomfortable if the office manager would acknowledge me with a smile or hello. I stood there kind of pretending to not hear my treatments being discussed and also trying to smile at the office manager to engage her in order to feel like I was part of the conversation.It stands out because it happened twice and is a stark contrast to the friendliness of the rest of the staff.
I will continue to be a regular patient and recommend this clinic as long as Dr. Jackie is there.

Essential Wellness

I can't possibly write a review that would do justice to how much Robin has changed my life and improved my well being.

I began suffering from pretty constant and troubling muscular pain in my hip and lower back when I was about 18, and after visiting multiple doctors and practitioners with no answers or results for 3 years, I was in a lot of pain and worried that it would never relent.

Luckily I stumbled upon Robin's yelp page. At my first appointment I was astonished by her warmth, openness, and reassurance. After about a month of working with Robin, my pain started to get better and better. I could hardly believe it. With time, I began to feel healthier in other important ways -- I was more energetic, less anxious, and was able to focus more easily in my daily life. After my pain resolved, I continued to visit Robin regularly and she has helped me with  occasional stomach and menstrual issues and also with my anxiety.

Just to show you how much of a difference acupuncture makes in my life, I went through about 6 months when I wasn't able to visit Robin, and my back started hurting again. After literally one visit back, she resolved my pain yet again.

I am forever grateful to Robin. She is warm and extremely bright, and she makes the process of healing seem manageable and enjoyable. She has changed my life and helped me to be pain-free. I feel the benefits of the commitment that I have made to my health every single day. If you want to feel great and start truly healing yourself, then you must go see Robin!!

City College of San Francisco Student Health Center

First time going to my school's Health Center for an appointment and boy am I impressed. The front desk was really nice and friendly. And was such a quick process to fill out paperwork and then check in on the computer which I thought was suuuper convenient!

Unlike planned parenthood I waited about 5-10, minutes to get called in by the medical assistant. Man I am never going back to planned parenthood for even a quick appointment because it is definitely NOT worth waiting 2-3 hours just to be seen for 10 minutes. No fees if you are a student at city! That's what the health fees are for (which I didn't know lol).

Brenda, the nurse practitioner is awesome. She's nice and very friendly and answers all my questions. And I'm glad I went here.

City College's Student Health Center is a godsend for students.  Their fee's are very low cost or even free.

Definitely come here for annual check up's if you don't have health insurance anywhere else. Services here are a great substitute for going to your normal HMO.  All of the nurses are very nice, understanding, and great to talk to.

I come here for general gynecological visits.  I've received a pap smear exam here from Brenda.  And I have to say that she's the greatest nurse I've had here at the Health Center.  Brenda is always very patient with me during the whole exam, which is very uncomfortable for me.  But she never seems frustrated or impatient by my nervousness.

I've been a student at City for a few years now and not once have I had to pay for my birth control pills.  As long as you are a student, all services are available to you.  Just sign up for the California Health Access Pass.

The new building is beautiful...and has a great feel to it.  Definitely a cleaner environment, and very modern looking.

For anything go see Brenda!  She's very welcoming and very easy to talk to.

Chiro-Health

I continue to be absolutely delighted with all the benefits I get from my services at Chiro-Health.  I started to see Dr. Mazgaloff several years ago because of frequent migraines.  She not only effectively treated my bad posture and gave me exercises that pretty much eliminated my migraines for years (except for when I was lazy and didn't do my exercises), but also fixed my carpal tunnel pain (I work at a computer most of day) as well as my lower back strain from running.

A shoulder injury prevented me from doing the exercises that Dr. Mazgaloff prescribed and I had a very unpleasant setback of back and neck spasms and migraines.  My medical docs gave me muscle relaxants that pretty much knocked me out and tend to melt one's liver, which was not a long term solution in my book.  Dr. Mazgaloff had me get x-rays and diagnosed a congenital neck deformity that wasn't visible without the x-rays.  This was kind of a scary diagnosis, but Amelia calmly showed me the pictures, explained the likely effects and suggested treatment.  I am a freak about having to research much of anything that impacts my health, and found that the treatment recommended by Dr. Mazgaloff is exactly what M.D.s suggest as the most likely to reduce muscle spasms, pain, and disc degeneration that tend to arise from this condition and which I was experiencing.

I have been on my new treatment regime for a few weeks now and am nearly pain free (!), which is an amazing relief considering that I was unable to move my neck and was in extreme pain little over a month ago.  The other chiropractors who I have seen when Dr. Mazgaloff was unavailable as well as the massage therapists have also been consistently above-par, the office service is great, the facility is great and very convenient by public transport.  I love that Dr. Mazgaloff focuses on teaching the patient what they can do to help themselves improve their health.  She has a very thorough understanding of the workings of the human body and does an excellent job explaining various conditions and treatments.   I recommend her without any hesitation.

Happy Belly Health

My first review since I've only just signed up with Shanti but I promise to update when I've done my 3 months with her.

So far... love love love her! She is amazing, thoughtful and knows the right questions to ask. No guilt, just a genuine concern for your HEALTH. Not weight, not diet, just health. This approach was so important to me since I want to fine tune my health and see trimming those last 5-10 pounds as a positive side effect, not the main goal. Also, she supports your approach so I feel very comfortable stating I am and want to remain a vegan but here's what's bugging me, let's fix it together.

Importantly, this is not the sort of holistic health coaching that's not backed up by science but rather supported by it! Taking a short history of my health and issues, she was able to pinpoint a potential root cause and recommend a course of action and I have high hopes that working with her will be worth the investment. Not cheap + expensive tests, but let's face it, it's your health that's at stake!

I was in dire need of help and had been searching for a nutritionist that could connect with and also trust completely. I had terrible digestion problems and also unhappy with how I was feeling after meals. I had called several places throughout the city and none of the other nutritionists seemed genuinely concerned about my health. Thankfully I found Shanti & Happy Belly Health through yelp! I first spoke with Shanti on the phone and we set our first complimentary appointment together. She emphasized that fit is important for the two of us to work together and since then, every session has been amazing with her. Shanti is beyond exceptional in her profession who goes above and beyond.

I've been working with Shanti for about 5 months and have learned so much about my health and well being. We immediately cut out all dairy, as I found out I'm lactose intolerant. We've been working on healing my digestion system and getting back to a normal and healthy function. Shanti is such a wonderful mentor and is available through email or calls if you need her in between your sessions. She's such a wealth of knowledge, with great practices and insight. All time with Shanti is personalized and my program is fit to me and my health needs. She's extremely supportive, encouraging and down to earth. We've set goals I thought I could never achieve and I could have never done any of this without Shanti. Give her a call and meet her! I can't explain enough how you'll transform for the better!