Rachel West, DO

Dr. West is not just a talented doctor, but an authentic healer and a cutting edge health provider. She thinks outside the box, and has created a dynamic approach to my complicated medical situation. Few doctors have such a breadth of tools to use to address symptoms that are often disregarded by other doctors. I trust her implicitly, and you should too. In 2016, It is hard to find a doctor like Dr. West who honestly cares, and will give her all to help.

We love Dr. West. She’s the best resource to help keep your family healthy and someone you can depend on for modern treatments. Everyone should have a Dr. West in their lives to help them live a healthier life.

I never write reviews for places as I feel it is just a waste of time. However, I felt I needed to give a review for Dr. Rachel West. She is truly a miracle worker. I would get severe throat infections every year and all the doctors at the hospital didn’t know what it was so they just said «oh it’s just strep» and brushed it off. Dr. West decided to get to the bottom of it and I can happily say I no longer get those nasty throat infections. I also had chronic bladder pain and would have infections about twice a month for a whole year. Dr. Rachel West throughly examined me and got to the bottom of it. I haven’t had a bladder issue in over 2 years now. I can’t say enough about her, she really is the best at what she does. She has tremendously helped my mom in I with our medical issues and there is no one else I would rather see. For example, I do not live in Los Angeles anymore but I fly back to LA just to see Dr. West. I have been a patient of hers for about 7 years now and the whole office treats us like family. Thank you Dr. West!

I’m an obsessed researcher on the leading treatments in chronic illness and neurological issues. I’ve known Dr. West for 9 years and my son is probably one of the best recovered children after being a non-​verbal child with autism. Dr. West is a humble person with an excellent multi-​disciplined skill set and, she now has the best support staff she’s ever had. If you want cutting-​edge treatments locally, she is a great choice.
Anything from general care, to leading ozone therapies, vitamin IV drips, genetic testing to see your metabolic inefficiencies, plus an array of testing options for urine, stool, and hair to find ways to improve your health –it just depends on what you want.
Friday we went to her last minute as my son has a staff infection in his foot form an ingrown nail post toe surgery. I won’t have him do oral antibiotics so she hooked us up with an IV antibiotic drip, and IM shots to take home for the holiday weekend along with a ozone olive oil cream. He’s doing much better without any loss of energy or focus. It’s great to have options and a well-​studied, creative and confident practitioner that has your back. Yes, she is busy and yes, some of what she does can be expensive –and she is one of the greats in her ability, drive and innovation in improving your health and wellness and I highly recommend her time and again. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

I’m enjoying a healthy and vibrant life, thanks to the solid guidance of Dr. West. She has always steered me in the right direction and doesn’t push unnecssary supplements and no prescriptions. I will be forever grateful to this compassionate and gifted physician and her caring staff.

BEWARE!!! Tons of unnecessary tests at great expense to you. Office does NOT check with labs to see if they’re remotely in-​network with your insurance. They also do not warn patients they’ll get hit with high bills for these lab tests. I had various tests done two years ago at Dr. West’s office, and got stuck with literally thousands of $s worth of bills afterward. A collection agency just contacted me today about tests performed on 2÷13÷14 for $ 23.32 (!!) which were out-​of-​network. Surprise!!! This is a nightmare, and not remotely worth it. Also a supplement selling scam.

ok this is awesome, First off I was refered to dr West, and when I entered the office there where 3 very happy parents saying I was lucky to find her on my first visit as some had went years looking for a good dr for their Autistic child, OK, so my son had bad behavior and outbursts at age 5 and dr west said he’s bloated and dark eyes and she said cold turkey go gluten free and dairy free and soy free, I was in shock but I did, We ordered special labs that where a bit much but it’s the cost of good care, HIS LIFE FOREVER CHANGED 7 years ago by going gluten free, after 3 years we added soy and dairy and he remained GF to this day, HE is high function autistic, but his speech therapist and teacher where so excited that he changed literally 5 days later, calm and much healthier. Anyhow I had over 15 suppliments in the beginning in which I bought 4 – 5 through the drs office, some I found myself, it wasn’t that big of a deal, I just saved my son and myself so much pain, that the 400 – 500 it costs was nothing for the miracles it brought. I love dr west, also you know she doesn’t force stuff, if you wanna do treatments or iv stuff fine, if not it’s fine, she really does say what the issue is and doesn’t push. OK for myself, in 2014 I went to her because I had emergency stomach leak and I had 4 surgeries and went from 134lbs down to 110 and was deteriorating, she picked up the phone to demand my surgeons to CARE FOR ME NOW, and we started meds to maintain muscle tone and b12 shots. She offers them or allows you to take the script and shop elsewhere. She will find for you what others dont, she’s heaven sent. She will make calls on your behalf and be your cheerleader. She cares, and it may seem like a lot of things to do, but you have choice. Take what she says and do as you will, but she knows her stuff. I LOVE HER TO PIECES… and I live in ventura county, my friend in santa Barbara county takes his special needs child also. 10 stars to her. Take note because she knows her stuff. Love to all who read this, may you be guided to what is best for you, peace :)

Dr Rachel West is wonderful. Attentive, detail-​oriented, practical and genuinely seems to care about my well-​being. I’ve seen 14 alternative doctors in the LA area over the course of 10 years trying to get to the root of my mysterious health issues and Dr. West is the first one I’ve truly trusted. I have issues related to mercury toxicity, candida, adrenal fatigue — all related phenomena — that Dr. West is helping to, piece by piece, bring into balance. This isn’t about treating symptoms — I’ve done all that and it doesn’t work. I’m looking for genuine healing at the root cause, and Dr. West is the first one who’s given me a plan that makes sense and is doable. It’s not easy — as patients, it is us who must do the work, and sometimes it seems overwhelming. We must advocate for ourselves and join in collaboration with our doctors to find genuine healing. Yes it can be costly and take time, but this is my life I’m investing in and without my health I’m no good to anyone — it’s time to be well! Having a health care practitioner like Dr. West on your side is absolutely priceless, as is the hope I have in my heart thanks to her encouragement and guidance. Thank you to Dr West and her attentive and kind staff. Keep up the good work!

I would not even write this if I didn’t have an alternative option to provide to patients who are having as bad an experience as I did with Dr. Rachel West. To cut to the chase, I was so unhappy with Dr. West and her office staff that I asked for a recommendation from a reputable local compounding pharmacy (Central Pharmacy).
They recommended Dr. Shiva Lalezar from Health & Vitality Center, who nailed my diagnosis (overload of toxic metals) on the first visit and proceeded to turn my entire life around in a matter of a few months. I waited to write this review to make sure that I did not relapse, but I completed IV chelation for toxic metals in October and have not relapsed in 6 months.
I write this bc I know what it feels like to feel lost in my own medical mystery and be so frustrated and confused about where to turn. You are right to try to find someone in «Functional Medicine,» but I want to give fair warning about this office.
I saw Dr. Rachel West between ⁴⁄₁₅ & ⁶⁄₁₅ for extreme gut dysbiosis (yeast overgrowth, bacterial overgrowth, and a parasite). I was hypothyroid and had hormonal imbalances as well, which Dr. West discovered through her comprehensive testing. Dr. West has a good bedside manner and I was initially excited to see a Dr. who finally had any experience whatsoever with gut dysbiosis.
Right off the bat, I had issues with her administration, which I will cover in bullet points below. I was forgiving at first, bc I knew the office going through a transition period, as the longstanding Dr. Hans Gruenn was going to be retiring at the end of the year and Dr. West was taking over.
I will say up front that I did not see Dr. West very long (6 visits I had over the course of 2.5 months) and maybe she would have figured out what was wrong with me in time. Though there are many tests for toxic metals, there is only one that actually shows what is in the tissues (provoked challenge urine test). She told me about that test, but told me I didn’t need it, since a blood test she gave me didn’t pick up any abnormalities. (She was very wrong.)
As my visits continued, I became very weepy at her office, bc I knew I wasn’t getting any better. She recommended and I tried expensive treatments that didn’t provide any benefit that I could tell. Like vitamin drips and something where they took my blood out via IV and did something with hydrogen peroxide and ozone to it, then put it back in me. She also recommended fad-​type things you read on the internet, like the Dr Clark’s liver cleanse and alkaline water.
These are just some of the occurrences during my visits:
–Each visit consisted of the doctor being interrupted multiple times by administrative staff clarifying instructions about previous patients. This stopped when I included this complaint in a letter I wrote to Dr. West.
–Dr. West repeated the same advice to me at each visit. It was like the movie Groundhog Day with her asking me the same questions each time about particulars in my chart.
–This office has many fees and charges that I’ve never seen at other offices. These include a $ 75 «processing fee» anytime you do blood work at the office and a $ 25 pre-​authorization fee.
–I was told by the office manager that certain prescribed medicines would not be covered by my insurance, but I found out from my ins. company that they were. I had to file for reimbursement, which was more work for me.
–A comprehensive blood panel was taken twice in one week, bc her staff misunderstood the instructions.
–The receptionist didn’t recognize me on my 4^th visit and greeted me like a completely new patient.
–The office mgr set my paperwork on top of a giant stack of patient files on the reception counter and it was only when I got to the car that I realized I had everyone’s files. I guess this is my mistake, but it seems strange that everyone’s files were right beneath my paperwork on the reception counter.
–5 months after I stopped coming to the office, I received another patient’s paperwork in the mail with all these post-​it notes stuck to it giving details about her treatments and what signatures were needed to continue. The connection was that she and I had the same first name.
–The nail in the coffin, though, was how many times I was asked for my insurance information. Despite having provided the insurance information on the first visit, I was asked over 8 times and for some reason, even still, for a long time, it was written in my file that it was Aetna when it was actually Cigna. I promised myself that if they asked for the insurance information even one more time, I would never return and that is exactly what happened. I was prescribed a medicine that required pre-​authorization from my insurance company. To get the authorization, Dr. West’s office called me to ask me to provide my insurance information for what would be the 9^th time. I never returned to the office.
Good luck out there and I really hope you find some good help for your health issues.

There is no option for no star at all — too bad.

Dr. West has taken over Dr. Hans Gruenn’s practice at Longevity Medical Center. I was a long time patient of Dr. Gruenn, who is very professional and has a great «bedside manner». Dr. West seems very competent and knowledgeable also, and I’ve been willing to give her a try. Her tests are thorough and she gave me an extensive list of supplements to take — which are sold at higher than average prices at her office, but can also be purchased elsewhere. They have a great IV drip service that has cured my flues and colds multiple times when nothing else worked. This alone is worth a visit.
I’ve been very satisfied with their services with a few exceptions: First be prepared for high out-​of-​pocket expenses. They are not cheap. They do not take Medicare, and if you have insurance you will have to submit a «superbill» to get money back from your insurance company. A lot of the treatments and procedures will be denied by your insurance company as not «reasonable and customary», but this is to be expected with a holistic alternative medical practice in West L.A.
My other and main complaint is that the office staff is not responsive or proactive. If you decide to use Dr, West as your primary care physician, you’ll have to accept that you’re going to have to bug the office staff to get refills for prescriptions, forward blood test results, make follow-​up appointments, etc. They almost never call you unless you call them.
I find it’s worth the occasional hassle and high prices to get top quality care, but others may not be so patient (no pun intended).

I have read the negative reviews of Dr. West on here and I can understand the confusion that surrounds the insurance and the amount of money one spends seeing her. however, this is because it is ALTERNATIVE medicinal practice. It’s not the standard low co-​pay and the Dr. guesses which script to write you and then you are off to Big Pharma blindness. That is the Insurance debauchery that we all are victims of, not that of her or her staff. Dr. West has been my family’s Dr. for years. I take all my kids to her. Yes, she believes in supplements. Supplements that work! Supplements that you’ve never heard of, but they make you feel good. You do get that lab work that is endless pages and she goes over everything with you, page by page. She answers every question you may have even if she just answered it one minute before and you didn’t know it. because you are not a Dr. nor a Chemist, so she is very patient with any inquiries you may have. Dr. West has an intuition that other Dr.‘s just do not have. She is amazing. She is thorough. She is kind and yes, she cares about your health. And, I’m pretty sure it’s the Lab that gets the biggest chunk of the money you drop here, not her. The Dr. and the Lab are separate and they bill and get paid separately. That is the case with any PPO. If you have Kaiser or an HMO, then that would be totally different. It goes without saying, but I will anyway. You get what you pay for. If you want to know what is going on in your body that the regular Dr. will not tell you because they do not know and really do not care and because they are more interested in their kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies, go see an alternative physician like Dr. West. She’s amazing.

To those of you considering seeing Dr. West and reading these reviews it must seems very confusing. I first went to her in April of 2014. I was very sick and didn’t realize how bad I was. In under 10 minutes she told me I needed to go to the emergency room. I refused and asked if she knew a gynocologist I could see. She made a phone call and in a few minutes I was in his office (he told me to go to the hospital emergency also) long story short I was operated on as soon as the operating room was available. I continued to see Dr. West for the following year until she was no longer accepting medicare. Every visit she gave me her undivided time and attention. She ran every test to support me in getting well. I know she was making little to no money from my visits and still she was there for me 100%. When she recommended products there was absolutely no hard sell whatsoever… if I wanted to buy them from her office I could or I could buy elsewhere. She helped me tremendously. I didn’t realize just how good (and sometimes ahead of other doctors she was) until lately. I see several posts saying all she wants is the money. I feel sad when I see that because I know she works hard and does her best to help people get well. I would encourage anyone new to communicate your concerns clearly. I wish her success and continued support from those that believe in her. She is a dedicated doctor. Sherri Delaplane, Woodland Hills

They just want your money, not an ounce of actual health care.
I have spent almost an entire year trying to remedy the complete unprofessional nature of Doctor West and Her Office, and in turn waste of time, money, and energy, to no avail.
Dr. West was a referral from a friend. I was excited to meet with her and have her be my new doctor in Los Angeles. At my initial visit ($ 400) in order to move forward she encouraged me to get several tests (bloodwork, etc) done. I too wanted to know the details so had no problem agreeing. After leaving that day, I barely heard from Dr. West’s office again. The phone was disconnected in an office move, my emails were not returned, voicemails not responded to. I was able to reach them on the phone once 3+ months after my appt, where I asked for the refund from my insurance. They had informed me my insurance would send the check to me directly, but they actually sent it to Dr. West’s office — who never let me know or forwarded me my refund. Did they think it was ok to be paid twice for my visit? They did send the check from that call but never set a follow up appt still.
Long story short, I have never been able to have a follow-​up appointment and have labs I cannot understand after an intensive email exchange with the office mgr. Iciing on the cake is that I have since received over $ 300 in bills for these labs NO ONE has walked me through and nothing can be done with.
In total I have spent almost $ 400 out of pocket on my services with Dr. West. I have requested a full refund and only been offered another appt for new bloodwork if my new insurance can be worked with but which I will surely have to pay again in part for.
I am complaining to the medical board formally, but cannot take this matter solely offline. Further out of respect for my friend’s referral I have tried to work things out. But, Dr. West’s office has done nothing but be unprofessional, dismissive, disrespectful, and to be frank a scam. I tried to forgive and forget, but I’m still getting bills for this waste of time and have absolutely nothing to show for it.

I went to Dr. West at the end of June 2014. I was having some serious health issues and wasn’t sure where to turn. I was obese — eating and drinking everything in sight, my blood pressure was off the charts (178 over 132), and my eyes had turned yellow. I was also breaking out in massive hives all over my body, my lip was swelling up, and I was dizzy.
Dr. West was very straight to the point. Essentially, «change your lifestyle or you’re not going to be living very long!»
She put me on a liver cleanse with some other supplements. I followed her direction to a tee. I came back in about a month to review the blood panels she had done. By that time I had dropped 21 pounds and my blood pressure had dropped to a fairly normal level.
Before things got this serious I had gone to other doctors. Other doctors wanted to prescribe all of these medications. I had been on medication for 20 years for severe arthritis. I had bouts of arthritis attacks several times a year. One year, on all of these medications I only had 17 (yes 17) pain free days and would often bleed internally. Many days I could not even walk and my knees or ankles would swell up to the size of a grapefruit.
I continued following Dr. West’s advice. I no longer take any medication at all. I eat clean, quit drinking altogether, and exercise nearly every single day. I have lost over 60 pounds. What used to take tons of anti-​inflammatory medications now can be managed with the occasional Advil.
When I started in July 2014 I literally could not run a quarter of a mile. But I kept at it. I now run every day and often 7 or 8 miles. Basically — I do whatever I want now when it comes to physical activities.
For those that have negative posts here — to each your own but I think you’re full of it. This I will say… you’re not going to walk into this Doctor’s office and be handed a magical pill and be leaping over buildings the next day. I put in 25+ years of beating my body into the ground and treating it like a garbage disposal. Dr. West pointed me in the right direction and at first I crawled, then walked, then ran and continue to run down that path… You get out what you put in. It’s your body — your life — so take responsibility!
When I recently went to take private martial arts training from a world renowned professor — he asked me. «Why do you want to start this martial arts at 50 years old»? My answer «Because I want my next 50 years… to be better than my first 50»!!
And I believe they will be — and I owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr. West and her incredibly helpful and caring staff for starting me on that path — for my benefit and the benefit of my amazing family.
With a grateful and sincere heart I thank God for Dr. West and her team!

Dr. West seemed like someone that cared, but really she was money centered and now will not even honor any insurance. This doctor’s staff sold me supplements that I specifically chose, which were two of her recommendations based on affordability. Evidently one of the two the staff person was incorrect on and I got something that was more expensive by $ 70! Never would have been noticed except when I returned to my next appt I told her the ones I was taking and she said that if it was the bottle I described it should have been more money! And then the great part– she said I had to pay her the difference… UM EXCUSE ME. Yup– she even said she would take payments… yeah– if I had known the price I NEVER would have bought it, and if I hadn’t started using it I would have returned it– but too late. She acknowledged it was her staffs mistake and still insisted I should cover the error… WOW. Not caring about my actual health of welfare– What a nutcase with no integrity. I would NEVER return and I don’t think she is very knowledgeable ether as I got no new information on my conditions from her then if I just used webmd… I would AVOID

Dr West was my and husbands doctor for many years until we temporarily lost our insurance for a couple of years. Once I had new insurance, I jumped to see Dr West again. Our experience with Dr West was completely different the couple of times we went to her, and not in a good way.
I’ll leave out the gory details, but suffice it to say that my husband and I will never see Dr West again due to her new staff and her new demeanor and lack of care from both.
Perhaps once having her baby, Dr West is too distracted to pay the kind of attention she used to to her patience. Perhaps too is why her office staff is disfunctional.
For all the people I used to refer to her… I apologize!

Dr. West is the closest thing to an angel on earth!
She is the most unstoppable, brilliant, compassionate and funny doctor I have ever
met.
I was looking for a doctor who doesn’t believe in covering up symptoms with pills, and
instead looks to solve the problem with balanced health. Thanks to Dr. West and
the supplements she prescribes (specifically miraculous HGH and the miraculous
Wiley Protocol) I feel fantastic pretty much all the time.
I send everyone that I love to Dr. West, and all of them LOVE her.

Dr. West and her staff (Patty and Sergio) are the best!
I’ve been to so many doctors over the years and Dr. West is uniquely special. She takes her time understanding each issue and has a focus on providing a caring, warm and thorough evaluation. Her combined knowledge of medicine, physiological, chemical, neurologic as well as emotional and spiritual health is absolutely impressive!
There is sometimes a little wait, but it’s worth it because she gives her attention to each person completely and doesn’t rush like most doc’s who keep to their 10 minute window.
The office staff, especially Patty and Sergio, make the experience so much better. They are not only kind and efficient, but also very knowledgeable. For the first time in years, I feel like my entire well being is on a path to optimal health.

Last year I had some pretty serious health problems, chief among them stomach issues, constant lethargy, attention deficit and memory loss. Despite a good diet and occasional exercise, my health was so bad that I was getting depressed. I had been to my GP, who did blood work and informed me that everything was within normal ranges, so I then to a psychiatrist who prescribed meds that ended up having pretty unpleasant side effects.
I had the good fortune to find Dr. West on a referral — I have a friend of a friend with a troubled daughter whose life was completely turned around by Dr. West. I figured that was as good an endorsement as it gets.
Dr. West immediately put me on some supplements to address issues diagnosed at my intake (which took at least 45 minutes, and I never felt rushed). She also looked at my blood work with a different view than my GP — while I was within «normal range» for a lot of things, I was at the very low end of normal where I should have been in the mid-​range, at least. And my hormones were way out of whack due to stress, something the GP missed entirely. At that point Dr. West prescribed a pretty intense regimen of supplements (in addition to what she’d already prescribed), which were tweaked after a few months.
While I felt better immediately after I began treatment, it took a good nine months for a real change to kick in. But when I turned the corner — wow! It’s like a have a new lease on life! My stomach has calmed, I have energy, and my attention and memory have vastly improved. I’ve even broken through a creative block that had bogged me down for years.
Yes, it’s a pain in the ass that she’s out-​of-​network for my insurance, but her staff takes care of the billing and usually by the next visit I have a credit waiting to offset the appointment and supplements. (And speaking of her staff, they’re all amazing.)
I’m a patient for life, and have no hesitation in recommending her to anyone (and in fact tell me friends about her all the time).
Dr. West is awesome!