I went to Dr Shames first in Sept 2008. It was the best money I had ever invested in my health. He was extremely compassionate and communicated that it was his desire to get me to feel even better than I had ever felt. I live in North Carolina and came to visit my friend in CA to try and figure things out. No doctor up until then or anyone including myself had a clue about my weight gain, total sluggishness, and lack of enthusiasm for life. Although I am normally a totally optimistic person. Hypothyroidism was the culprit. Medicine and answers for nutritional things I could do has led me feeling great at soon to be 55.:) Today my manager has been struggling for years with this disease. I just started as a Family Advocate at Head Start in Winston Salem NC in December 2012. I am on-line now to try and get my manager help from a possible coaching session with his office. Dr. Shames changed my life and I want desperately to to get HELP IN NC with a doctor locally of the same caliber:)

Submitted June 25, 2013

I agree with the comment about, he is like a quirky mad-professor and it quite brusk. He is willing to prescribe anything you think you might need. But he is not that knowledgable regarding adrenal issues. I have saliva testing and in the morning I took 20 mg of hydrocortisone and my results show a tiny bit over the top of range. So he told me to just take 5 mg in the morning. After a month, it did nothing as hydro needs to be dosed at least 3 times per day. I started taking 5 mg 4 times a day and in 3 weeks I was fine. He does like to sell you his compounded drugs which are very expensive and will try to get you to us the services of his daughter a chiropractor which is a bit expensive and doesn't do much.

Submitted Nov. 14, 2012

Smart, holistic-minded, extremely inquisitive, knowledgeable about hormones, thyroid, autoimmunity, always learning, very caring and extremely bright physician. Highly recommended!

Submitted Nov. 2, 2009

surprised to see these negative reviews for Dr. Shames. I saw him for two years and he was terrific -- supportive, knowledgable, willing to help. Knows tons about thyroid and adrenal issues. He was expensive though, and frequently there was a long wait in his office.

Submitted July 16, 2008

I met with Dr. Shames in his office once and had three follow up phone consultations. His office appeared unprofessional at best. He seemed more like a quirky professor than a doctor. He prescribed three different medications for me, none of which improved my condition. He also referred me to testing services and supplement companies that he's affiliated with (and is probably benefitting from financially). All in all, I am out over $1000 that was unreimbursable from my insurance company. This experience felt more like a scam than a professional doctor-patient relationship.

Submitted July 9, 2008

I had high hopes for Richard Shames, MD because I was impressed with his book Fat, Fuzzy and frazzled. He was distractible, handled phone calls while I was with him, he would repeatedly leave his office to handle other business or find lost lab results. His medications worsened my symptoms;he was very hard to reach for help with side effects;and he was emotionally somewhat unpredictable; he spent 40 minutes (of interrupted time) with me, even though his front office informed me he would spend at least 60mins; my surgery was postponed for two months as a result of the complications that ensued from following his medication regimen.....he could not explain the supplements he prescribed (in terms of ingredients; side effects; dosage rationale)...seemed to use what his partner, Dr. Haas, had ordered for the group practice, but seemed at a loss to explain why the supplements should be dosed in the way he recommended...I spent time with pharmacists at safeway and Pharmaca in an attempt t

Submitted March 4, 2008