TruBalance Healthcare (HRT Clinic)

aGuyFromWinnipeg

aGuyFromWinnipeg

Well-known member
Trusted Member
Hey Bros..

Wondering if any of you have experience with this clinic out of Ontario. I'm thinking of ditching my Endo and going private. The only advantage that I see to keeping my endo is that it's free. From the jump, she has been difficult and the overall feeling I get from her is that she plans to get me to base range and could give a shit about the quality of life.


After my initial email, the Dr. who runs the clinic replied almost immediately and set up a phone call. Off the bat the service was impressive. She also left me with her cell number and encouraged me to text her with questions. Overall the takeaway was positive. She mentioned a lot of key points that resonated with me and she sounded a lot like the Drs I listen to on podcasts touting the benefits of Hormone therapy. She said she focuses more on symptoms and well-being than she does on getting my Testosterone levels to the base range.

To my understanding, this is what it would cost.

Year 1 requires 3 appointments with the first being more expensive, requiring a more diverse blood panel analysis.
$300
$195
$195

the following years I would only require 2 appointments @ $195 each

They do a full hormone panel and focus on 3 prescriptions afterward; Testosterone, Thyroid and DHEA

Each prescription would cost between $50 and $175 every 3 months (cost dependent on dosing). She mentioned that they have a much better cost in Ontario than MB and that my insurance would cover it the same there as it would here. She also mentioned that they compound the testosterone differently in Ontario labs which I wish I would have asked for more detail on that. That was the only comment that gave me pause.

I'm leaning towards giving it a go. Provided the cost of prescriptions isn't inflated it seems affordable and it's refreshing to hear that they will focus on all hormones, not just TRT.

Apologies if this feels like an ad, I just wanted to get my experience out there in hopes someone here has used them and can confirm or deny any claims.


Thanks
 
Were you dealing with Donna? If so she isn’t a dr.
Their system sounds ok but it’s pricier than Onmen was. They claim they are checking more stuff. And you have to get your test from them you can’t get it from Walmart.
I chose not to go with Trubalance because I was already using Onmen and I would have to pay for all the initial checks again and my coverage was already used up
 
If you have read my threads about my private health care you'll know its not great service. You never actually talk to a Dr once they get your cash. you talk to a "trained hormone specialist".. that specialist is trained by the dr who all the prescriptions go through who usually owns that specific clinic.. Their specialists are fucking terrible.. I swear they give their specialists a script to read to you and a prescription/supplement goal sheet they want all their patients on.. I've asked speclaists some basic questions most guys on here woudl know and they are stunned lol... They don't know ANYTHING aside from the script that's given to them by the overseeing dr.

I'm pretty confident that these hormone clinics will be shut down eventually because you are given medical advice and prescriptions by someone who has ZERO medical edcuation.. The only reason they have gotten away with it is because the dr who owns the clinic is the one who supposedly reviews every clients files before signing off on the presciptions.. so the pharmacies/government assumes the dr talked with you, reviewed your blood work and wrote you those prescriptions, btu they didn't.

For what its worth, I go through a Trubalance clinic in Alberta.. they are shit shit shit shit..

The only reason went to them to begin with is my local dr left and we were so short dr's that I couldnt' get in to get my TRT renewed..

The only benefit of the clinic from what I see is that they generally will give you anything as long as you ask and your blood work "sort of" matches up...

I paid my last fee to trublanace a few months ago.. I'll be going back to a local dr because my town recently hired a few new ones..


lol... there was one time I was havving a diffcult time with their "hormone specialist" assigned to me and I bluntly said "what is your medical education?"... they tried to side track on to somethign else and I repeated "I need to know what is your actual medication education. What college/university did you get your medical training from?".. They didn't want to answer but finally said "I was trained as a hormone specialist under Dr. Brown"... Dr brown owns the clinic.. so I said "so you have no actual medical training through an acredited university or college?".. they said "no.."... I said "I'd like to speak to Dr. Brown because what your saying contradicts other dr's I've seen including an endo".. they said "no one actually speaks with dr. brown" ...
 
If you go through a private clinic, please for your sake, be very involved in your own health/blood work because don't count on them making the right decisions.
 
I'm not sure if it's different in Mb, but they mentioned I do need to see a Dr. or registered nurse here for each appointment/prescription. Judging by your guy's experience they won't be involved in the dosing discussion. And yes, I was to the understanding she was a Dr. lol. She dropped "my clinic" many times, I supposed I naively assumed. Although appreciated, I'm a little disappointed to hear the responses. I don't think I would have relied on them too much for analysis as I'm always skeptical of what I put in my body. Furthermore, the only aspect I don't have a decent understanding of is Thyroid medication.

Ideally / at minimum, I want a testosterone script of 125+. I'm already taking DHEA, perhaps I need to spend some time researching thyroid medication. If they're some strong benefits to taking a drug like Levothyroxine maybe I will give this clinic a try.

@animal-inside @mbmuscle thanks for the reply
 
mbmuscle said:
Were you dealing with Donna? If so she isn’t a dr.
Their system sounds ok but it’s pricier than Onmen was. They claim they are checking more stuff. And you have to get your test from them you can’t get it from Walmart.
I chose not to go with Trubalance because I was already using Onmen and I would have to pay for all the initial checks again and my coverage was already used up
Click to expand...
Funny how that works, it may have changed but I believe that is not a legal practice
 
aGuyFromWinnipeg said:
I'm not sure if it's different in Mb, but they mentioned I do need to see a Dr. or registered nurse here for each appointment/prescription. Judging by your guy's experience they won't be involved in the dosing discussion. And yes, I was to the understanding she was a Dr. lol. She dropped "my clinic" many times, I supposed I naively assumed. Although appreciated, I'm a little disappointed to hear the responses. I don't think I would have relied on them too much for analysis as I'm always skeptical of what I put in my body. Furthermore, the only aspect I don't have a decent understanding of is Thyroid medication.

Ideally / at minimum, I want a testosterone script of 125+. I'm already taking DHEA, perhaps I need to spend some time researching thyroid medication. If they're some strong benefits to taking a drug like Levothyroxine maybe I will give this clinic a try.

@animal-inside @mbmuscle thanks for the reply
Click to expand...

I beleive Trubalane is a francais.. So although your in a differnt province, I'm guessing it COULD be run the same as the ones here.

Start by bluntly asking if the person you are speaking with is a doctor. Don't let them side track you or shift the convo..

I believe you can own a clinic and not be a doctor.. Bottom line is, the prescriptions and blood req's MUST be signed off by a legit doctor, but doesn't mean you spoke to one.


I'm on 110 mg a week from trueblance.. I tried for more, but they say the blood work supports 110 only and truthfully the blood work does support their reaosning, but my symptoms don't.. so I top up to 125-150mg.


Are you on thyroid meds? If not, why do you think you might need them? I promise, you'll probably get better advice here than at a clinic.. But you'd need to get the blood work done through the clinic and post it here.

I'm on 150mcg of T4 if that helps.. It's a life saver for me..
 
gondar1 said:
Funny how that works, it may have changed but I believe that is not a legal practice
Click to expand...

I think your right in that it's illegal... You get to choose your pharmacy...

I got screwed on a test presciptiuon once.. I saw an endo in Edmonton and they took over my test prescription and wrote me one for 3 years.. I had time to kill in Edmonton before driving several hours home, so I stopped by a Shopppers Drug mart and grabbed the vile.. When it ran out, I tried to get the refill in my home town and was told no.. Bascially I was told where I got that first vile is the only drug store that can fill the rest of the 3 year script.. I was told this is the case with all class 1 narcotics.. I had to cancell the script and ge tthe endo to write a new one and fax it to the drug store of my choice..
 
animal-inside said:
I beleive Trubalane is a francais.. So although your in a differnt province, I'm guessing it COULD be run the same as the ones here.

Start by bluntly asking if the person you are speaking with is a doctor. Don't let them side track you or shift the convo..

I believe you can own a clinic and not be a doctor.. Bottom line is, the prescriptions and blood req's MUST be signed off by a legit doctor, but doesn't mean you spoke to one.


I'm on 110 mg a week from trueblance.. I tried for more, but they say the blood work supports 110 only and truthfully the blood work does support their reaosning, but my symptoms don't.. so I top up to 125-150mg.


Are you on thyroid meds? If not, why do you think you might need them? I promise, you'll probably get better advice here than at a clinic.. But you'd need to get the blood work done through the clinic and post it here.

I'm on 150mcg of T4 if that helps.. It's a life saver for me..
Click to expand...


To be honest, I don't care if she is a Dr., as long as I can get my desired scripts I'm good. Currently, I'm seeing an endo who I butt heads with all the time, maybe someone who is not a Dr who can be manipulated a bit would be more favourable for me. I'm not on Thyroid meds, but my mind is open to any med if it improves my well-being. While I keep things on the safer side I'm obviously on this forum because I enjoy taking things to enhance my body and mind. I have an interest in other prescription drugs as well that I have never taken before, I'm not shy when it comes to taking meds to improve myself.
 
aGuyFromWinnipeg said:
To be honest, I don't care if she is a Dr., as long as I can get my desired scripts I'm good. Currently, I'm seeing an endo who I butt heads with all the time, maybe someone who is not a Dr who can be manipulated a bit would be more favourable for me. I'm not on Thyroid meds, but my mind is open to any med if it improves my well-being. While I keep things on the safer side I'm obviously on this forum because I enjoy taking things to enhance my body and mind. I have an interest in other prescription drugs as well that I have never taken before, I'm not shy when it comes to taking meds to improve myself.
Click to expand...

Ya trubalance might be a good option for you, but like I said you need to be very involved with it and be careful of their advice and understand they own a supplement line they try to push on you..

What's your symptoms if you don't mind me asking.. I can tell you if they lined up with mine that went away once I started thyroid supplements..
 
animal-inside said:
Ya trubalance might be a good option for you, but like I said you need to be very involved with it and be careful of their advice and understand they own a supplement line they try to push on you..

What's your symptoms if you don't mind me asking.. I can tell you if they lined up with mine that went away once I started thyroid supplements..
Click to expand...


I don't believe I have any symptoms of thyroid issues. I'm at the research point of that prescription.
 
aGuyFromWinnipeg said:
I don't believe I have any symptoms of thyroid issues. I'm at the research point of that prescription.
Click to expand...

All I can tell you is that the symtoms of low thyroid can be quite bizarre..

One of the worst sysmtoms for me was my achilles tendons were painfully sore.. I couldn't walk more than 50 feet without them throbbing.. I Was like this for 3 or 4 years.. I always thought I would eventually snapped an achilles they hurt that much.. just felt really tight and hurt like a sob...

Anyways, the tendon pain went away very shortly after I started thyroid meds.. IT felt like a miraracle to be honest.. 3 or 4 years of that pain gone and never came back...

When I mentioned this to my doctor he said "that tendon pain had nothing to do with your low thyroid.. Just a coindesence it want away on thyroid meds"... halarious...

a very good friend of mine had the same acheilless tendon pain and tendon in wrist pain for a few years.. he finally got on thyroid and his tendon pain went away..

It's like your tendons get hard and not strecthy..


nayways point being, there is tons of thyroid symptoms that are just odd..
 
animal-inside said:
If you go through a private clinic, please for your sake, be very involved in your own health/blood work because don't count on them making the right decisions.
Click to expand...
It depends where you go. My guy is amazing checks a lot of things and is very knowledgeable. I'm constantly learning new things from him and every 3 months I speak to the prescribing doctor too. It's usually my choice if I want to speak to him or not which is nice because sometimes I can't be bothered. He's a great guy but likes leaning towards trying to make me go vegan and some other interesting views. It's funny though my trt specialist knows a lot more about the treatment than the doctor does. He told me specifically if he was my family doctor he couldn't perscrib test because the other guy has all the training. Usually the doc is only needed when I need a perscription for a phlebotomy. You are right in your opinions but also most doctors are trained in disease treatment not prevention and definitly not in optimisation of well being. A lot of the interesting blood tests I mentioned on one of your other threads were ones my trt doc suggested.
 
I'm with True Balance out of Sherwood park in Alberta I'm not sure if there is any correlation, they did full panel and dialed it all in, perscirbed me Test E, DHEA which is compounded by a separate pharmacy from where i pick it up, Vitamin B12 and Armidex.

My benefits cover it all except my DHEA, I did three appointments last test and the cost was similar as what you were quoted and then in January I did bloods and had my 300 or 400 dollar appointment and they liked everything and wrote my script for a year and said see you next January unless something comes up.

I still get semi annual bloods through my GP and he is supportive as well.
 
Bigbear said:
It depends where you go. My guy is amazing checks a lot of things and is very knowledgeable. I'm constantly learning new things from him and every 3 months I speak to the prescribing doctor too. It's usually my choice if I want to speak to him or not which is nice because sometimes I can't be bothered. He's a great guy but likes leaning towards trying to make me go vegan and some other interesting views. It's funny though my trt specialist knows a lot more about the treatment than the doctor does. He told me specifically if he was my family doctor he couldn't perscrib test because the other guy has all the training. Usually the doc is only needed when I need a perscription for a phlebotomy. You are right in your opinions but also most doctors are trained in disease treatment not prevention and definitly not in optimisation of well being. A lot of the interesting blood tests I mentioned on one of your other threads were ones my trt doc suggested.
Click to expand...
This can very well be true..

Think about it, there's a handful of guys on this forum I'd trust 1000x more than any hormone dr or specialist.. YOu might have got someone like them
 
Hussell said:
I'm with True Balance out of Sherwood park in Alberta I'm not sure if there is any correlation, they did full panel and dialed it all in, perscirbed me Test E, DHEA which is compounded by a separate pharmacy from where i pick it up, Vitamin B12 and Armidex.

My benefits cover it all except my DHEA, I did three appointments last test and the cost was similar as what you were quoted and then in January I did bloods and had my 300 or 400 dollar appointment and they liked everything and wrote my script for a year and said see you next January unless something comes up.

I still get semi annual bloods through my GP and he is supportive as well.
Click to expand...
Whats your arimidex dose and protocol?
 
animal-inside said:
All I can tell you is that the symtoms of low thyroid can be quite bizarre..

One of the worst sysmtoms for me was my achilles tendons were painfully sore.. I couldn't walk more than 50 feet without them throbbing.. I Was like this for 3 or 4 years.. I always thought I would eventually snapped an achilles they hurt that much.. just felt really tight and hurt like a sob...

Anyways, the tendon pain went away very shortly after I started thyroid meds.. IT felt like a miraracle to be honest.. 3 or 4 years of that pain gone and never came back...

When I mentioned this to my doctor he said "that tendon pain had nothing to do with your low thyroid.. Just a coindesence it want away on thyroid meds"... halarious...

a very good friend of mine had the same acheilless tendon pain and tendon in wrist pain for a few years.. he finally got on thyroid and his tendon pain went away..

It's like your tendons get hard and not strecthy..


nayways point being, there is tons of thyroid symptoms that are just odd..
Click to expand...
Reading in old medical texts, before they relied on blood tests for everything..
Achilles tendon relaxation timing was a primary clinical test for hypothyroidism.
 
Heraclitus said:
Reading in old medical texts, before they relied on blood tests for everything..
Achilles tendon relaxation timing was a primary clinical test for hypothyroidism.
Click to expand...

Lol really?? That's amazing.. It seems more and more to me that dr's and mostly twats.. more specicially, if it comes from the patients mouth, its wrong.. if it comes from their mouth, they are right.
 
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