Specialists In Gastroenterology

The last 57 seconds of this video has no sound. I was looking forward to hearing the rest but… couldn’t hear anything.

I recommend avoiding this place at all cost. I was referred for an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. Before they will do anything they require full payment of whatever your co-​pay and deductible will be. I appreciated this because I would rather have all of this taken care of and not have to worry about all these bills and insurance forms coming later and having to figure it out. After paying approximately $ 400 in addition to my insurance, the procedure was completed. A few months later I received a bill for an additional sum of nearly $ 800. Assuming that this was some sort of issue with the insurance company and the bill and knowing that I had already paid my complete portion I did not pay any attention to the statements. I began getting phone calls from a collection agency and protested. I was then told that there was a separate bill for a separate organization within the doctors office. I found this to be very misleading and deceptive but paid the bill less the 200 and some odd dollar «collection cost.» They have since reported negative information to the credit bureaus and damaged my credit. I have always had flawless credit and this is the very first time in my life that negative information has been reported. This place is a money mill and that is all they are interested in. I recommend going to a hospital or some other not-​for-​profit for these procedures that this place offers.

I have Crohn’s disease, and about 7 – 8 years ago, I was in a flare. I called GI Specialist and was put with the doc that had the first opening… do not do this… research them all! After a couple of months with the practice I discovered LDN and wanted to get off the prednisone and try the LDN which had shown greats success and virtually no side effects. My dr would not prescribe it even though Dr Weinstock (a partner in the practice) did routinely. I called to get an apt with Weinstock but was told it was «against office policy» to allow a patient to switch Drs. I found this absurd… I didn’t care for my dr., he didn’t offer what I was seeking, but instead of allowing me to change and sparing doctors feelings, they lost a patient. Btw, Dr. Wessling (Webster family Physicians) did prescribe it and I count it as one of the true blessings in my life. About a year ago I experienced some symptoms and my dr. suggested I get a colonoscopy and recommended Dr. Weinstock as he was the only Gastro in Stl that prescribed LDN and was familiar with patients using it. I called thinking I would no longer be considered a patient after such a long time and scheduled a colonoscopy with Dr. Weinstocks nurse. Apparently I am still in their system as a patient of the other dr. and once his receptionist discovered this, her pleasant demeanor flipped like a switch and I was basically accused of lying. I have never encountered someone in the health profession so rude in all my 30 years of having Crohns. I would never recommend this practice to anyone! They are also a physician owned practice so be prepared to go through a lot of test… They have to pay for the equipment somehow! I am guessing they are more concerned with each of the partners bottom line and making sure they have equal number of patients than with the patients they serve and what is the best fit for each one.

I did not have a «procedure» done here, I was the designated driver like you have when you go out for a night of drinking. My star rating of the waiting area, is a 3 and my friends star rating of the back of the house (no pun intended) is a solid 5. So I comprised and went with the 4.
My friend was very impressed how professional the entire staff was. Once he was escorted to the back, everything flowed like a well oiled machine. When they were done with him, they paged me to come back to the recovery area. I was amazed how huge it was and the large number of curtained off areas they had for each patient.
Talking with the nurse, she said it was a slow day, they only had about 45 «procedures» that day. Slow? I call that a lot.
Now my opinion on the waiting area, I found it to be very uncomfortable and unfriendly to us designated drivers. I am use to areas that have tables for people to work at with their laptop or iPad, but not here. Here we are cramped in chairs all in a row. I felt as if I were at a lecture in a church basement. There were so many of us struggling with our electronic devices on our laps. With someone in almost every seat, it was battle of the elbows like on an airplane. Oh well, this wasn’t about us the DD’s, it was about the patient and the quality care they were getting in the back. (Damn, another pun.)
I liked a couple of the warning signs that were posted at the entrance. One in particular caught my eye, «No Cell Phone Use». I like that one. Found it funny though, while waiting a phone did ring. The man who answered it, after struggling to close up his laptop said, «Hello, Dr. Smith». He did exit the waiting area to complete his call. Was he rude or are other medical professionals exempt from the rule?
If you’re a patient, this is a great place. If you’re a designated driver, it’s a pain in the ass.

I had actually planned to review this place a while ago but forgot to. And then I saw Patt C’s review and it made me remember to write something! Dang, Patt! You beat me to first-​to-​review, haha. It’s OK. :P I forgive you, hahaha.
But anyway, yeah, I didn’t have much success with my first GI doc. He was good but not very thorough. I decided I’d give this place a shot at the recommendation of my ob-​gyn, actually. I saw Dr. Janet Todorczuk (hard to spell her last name, lol and also kinda crazy cause she looks just like my highschool English teacher who had a similarly difficult to spell name of likely Polish origin.) She was really thorough and asked me a bunch of questions about my symptoms.
I suspected for ages that I had IBS and it was no surprise to me when she suggested that was the problem. But she provided all sorts of really good info that I had not heard before, even after hours and hours of googling the condition. I had many breakthroughs, and she also gave me an Rx which I use as a backup in the event my OTC remedies don’t work. She also gave me samples of a special ginger drop OTC treatment that was developed by local STL GI docs with patent pending… you can get them at whole foods apparently. SO useful. They have helped me greatly with nausea in the morning. She also suggested a test for SIBO which I had no idea about either! They gave me a test kit and I did the test at home and mailed it to them for lab analysis. The test came back negative, but I am still so glad for their thoroughness.
I still need to get a colonoscopy (ick!) but truth be told I am just terrified to get one, so I’ve been putting it off… but my other treatments have worked so well that my symptoms are reduced greatly. I’m no longer afraid of losing my job due to inexplicable pain and frequent trips to the loo. I only wish my mom had been able to get this level of care because I am pretty sure she has IBS as well. It’s so unfortunate… growing up, many doctors told me my condition was «all in my head»…and that I just «worry too much about going to the bathroom.» Wtf. I suppose it’s partially true that the brain could be sending erroneous signals to the body, causing it to freak out and thus sending a person to the toilet quite a bit, but treatment with anti-​depressants is just one option.
If only doctors knew more about IBS when I was a kid… my quality of life would have been so much better! :(Anyway I am glad I found SIG because the doctors there clearly know their shit (bad pun sorry) and the office staff is also respectful and kind, which is something I highly value after dealing with so many awful staff at other clinics.

Leonard Weinstock has been my gastroenterologist for 10 years. When I call for an appointment, I get a real person, and they’re always polite and considerate.
I called in June for my (very late — like three years late) colonoscopy procedure, and it was scheduled promptly at Barnes-​Jewish Hospital.
I was amazed at the package of information I received in the mail. It was so detailed about the prep, and included a prescription for the prep kit and an anti-​nausea medication, if needed.
Lots of information about colons and the importance of appropriate prep.
I read through it all numerous times and got so many tips for making the prep more palatable, all of which I employed. It was extremely helpful.
Kudos to whoever put together this incredibly educational and usable package of information.
Dr. Weinstock and I shook hands when I got to the procedure room at the hospital, and he came to see me afterwards with information about the findings and next steps.
And he gave me a lot of paper that reiterated what he said, with additional details and lovely pictures of my lovely clean colon.
He’s very affable, approachable, considerate and professional.
I’ve got my GI home.