Dr. Tara Dall – The Lipidologist I Consulted

Dr. Tara Dall is the lipidologist that I consulted when I concluded that I needed the help of an expert.  I checked with her and she said it was ok for me to share her name and profile with my readers.

If you’re so inclined, you can read through her 13 page Curriculum Vitae here, but rest assured, she’s well trained and extremely knowledgeable and I was extremely happy with the service that I received.

Here are links to the posts documenting my consultation with her:

• What a Doctor Asks His Lipidologist
• Consultation with the Lipidologist
• Reviewing the Labs My Lipidologist Ordered

If you’ve read through any of these prior posts, you can tell that I did quite a bit of research prior to my meeting with her and asked some pretty in depth questions.  This was partly for my own curiosity and partly as a way to gauge her level of understanding.  I walked away impressed.

When I meet an ‘expert’ I tend to be one of those annoying people that like to test how well the expert knows their stuff. I mean, if I know the subject better than they do, then what the hell am I paying them for?

I did this with our accountant.  I did this with our chiropractor.  And I do this with anyone who works at an electronic store who tries to talk to me about electronics.  My trust needs to be earned and if you don’t know your stuff better than I do, then you don’t get my trust… or my money.

My tendency to quiz people always embarrasses the BJJ Cavewife… but it’s also saved us from working with people that don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

Dr. Dall really knew her stuff.  She could quote studies off the top of her head and knew about everything I asked her.  There were some questions I asked that she couldn’t answer because no data exists right now, and she acknowledged this and gave me her best theories.  I appreciated the fact that she was honest and didn’t try to feed me any BS.

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Another thing I was extremely happy with was how she tried to work with me in terms of what I wanted.  We both agreed that it was important to bring my cholesterol down.  She presented avenues we could pursue and some therapies I could consider and went one step further to check in with me to see how comfortable I was with each option.

I told her that I didn’t want to take statins unless it was a last resort and she was fine with that.  In fact she said she supported this and that this was her own personally philosophy.  She doesn’t like to use statins unless absolutely necessary, and even then, she only likes to use a low dose.

This was especially refreshing for me to hear since I’ve been around so many doctors who say that statins are so great they should be put in our drinking water.  These doctors are so gung-ho about this that they pretty much hand them out like candy at the slightest hint of an elevated cholesterol without any consideration to the side effects and underlying pathophysiology.

A doctor that will work with you and not just dictate things to you autocratically is a rare bird, and Dr. Dall is one of these.

While her services are excellent… they definitely aren’t cheap.  She operates a concierge practice based out of Richmond, Virginia, and doesn’t accept insurance.  It’s cash or credit card only.

Here is the link to her pricing info.

Since I hoped to make my consultation a one shot deal, I opted for the $450 nonmember consultation.  If we discovered that I needed more regular care, then I would upgrade to the membership plan.

Luckily I was able to figure things out so I didn’t need to change my plan.

If scheduling a consultation with her is something you’re interested in, go to www.AvanceMD.com, the site of her concierge practice.

If you just want to learn more about her in general and see some of her lectures and interviews, you can go to her personal site at www.TaraDall.com.

She does offer virtual consultations via skype so if you can’t make it out to Virginia, you can still talk to her over the internets.

*Image found here