General FAQ

General Office
What kind of office is SA-FAM / what services do you provide?
San Antonio Family Alternative Medicine is a comprehensive husband-and-wife multi-doctor office. Each doctor is a specialist in his or her own field.

Dr. Lara Sweeney provides Functional and Nutritional Medicine, Functional Endocrinology, and Functional Neurology, as well as gentle instrument and non-force chiropractic adjusting. She also provides advanced functional interpretation of standard diagnostic lab work for area nutritionists and naturopaths.

Dr. Jay Sweeney provides the very best in Advanced Chiropractic and Functional Neurology, as well as Functional Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. His visits are never the exact same thing every time; they will be adapted and tailored to your individual needs every day.

Marisol Martinez, LMT possesses a natural gift for pain-relieving therapeutic massage, as well as integrative massage therapy.  She balances expert clinical knowledge and experience with a warm, comforting intuition.  Each bodywork session is unique, as she tailors her vast array of techniques to your needs each and every time. 

SA-FAM doesn't yet provide acupuncture or doula services. For Acupuncture, we recommend Lupe Gonzales (website link coming soon). For mental health counseling and talk therapy, we recommend Tony Navarro of Tree of Life Counseling. Our office is also not involved in spinal decompression, traction, hair analysis, advanced physical therapy, pelvic exams, bioidentical hormones, prescription drug services, orthotics, or flexion-distraction.

Do you treat...?
Yes! Wow, that was fast. We treat practically everything because PEOPLE come to our office with practically every type of problem and we treat the PERSON with the problem. We do not treat the disease or condition itself, but rather the INDIVIDUAL. When we take the person-centered approach, symptoms of disease or long-standing dysfunctional process can improve or even resolve.

Are the full paperwork packets required?
Yes. Without complete information, we'll miss important factors that could make an impact on your care and your results. We want you to get better as fast as possible; to do this, we need all the information, for every patient.

Why do your forms ask so many questions?
There are several reasons for this.  First, the doctors at SA-FAM have an extensive educational background, including advanced training in Functional/Clinical Neurology, Functional Blood Chemistry, Autoimmune disorders, and more.  They know far more about the various branches of the nervous system and metabolic processes than most doctors (no matter what type of doctor - medical, chiropractic, or other).  Because of this, they have more tools in their toolbox and they consider more factors when designing a treatment plan for you.

Another reason is, there are an infinite number of factors that influence a person's health. There are genetic predispositions and mutations, physical traumas, emotional stresses, environmental chemical toxins (air, food, water, soil, home materials, heavy metals), pharmaceutical drug/vaccine reactions and interactions, allergies and hypersensitivities, processed foods, drastic hormone and immune system shifts (puberty, pregnancy, menopause, andropause, steroid use, birth control use), poor lifestyle choices (smoking, alcohol, recreational drugs), prenatal/development factors, foreign travel exposures, and so much more.  The key to getting results absolutely depends on being able to identify the root cause(s) of the problem.

Your individual health status is an ongoing cumulative combination of these factors. Every chronic disease has predisposing factors, triggering factors, perpetuating factors, and complicating factors. Many of these can be avoided or prevented, even if there is a genetic tendency. It's important that we get to the bottom of what went wrong so that we can answer the very important question of WHY your health is how it is, and take steps to correct, resolve, manage, or prevent problems.

What should I bring / what should I wear?
For chiropractic care of any kind, Medical Massage Therapy, or Functional Medicine Physical Assessments/Exams, please wear lose-fitting comfortable clothing. For regular Functional Medicine visits, clothing doesn't matter.

Advanced Chiropractic patients, please feel free to bring any x-rays, MRIs, surgical reports, bone density scans, or anything else along the same theme - these can help the doctor make important decisions about your treatment.  Functional Medicine patients, please feel free to bring any lab work or other diagnostic testing - these can give the doctor valuable information about your medical history.

It's very important that you do not wear ANY scented perfume, detergent, hairspray, heavy deodorant, cologne, or body lotions. Many of our patients (and one of the doctors!) are highly sensitive to different chemicals, whether artificially or naturally derived, and we absolutely must provide a safe environment for them. If you wear scents to work, please bring a separate change of clothing to our office.

Please leave your cell phone in your car or turn it completely off (no vibration).  Some of our physical therapy equipment can damage cell phones, which we can't be responsible for.  Also, it is often distracting and upsetting to the doctors, our therapist, and most importantly, other patients.  Thank you!

Appointments:
How do I become a patient?
Please call (210)  340-2150 to schedule an appointment.  Our office offers 3 basic services, and although they're parallel, they all work a little differently.

If you're primarily interested in Neuro-Chiropractic care, you're welcome to either stop in at the office and pick up a copy of the intake forms, or you can download it right off of our website and print it out.  Please complete these forms thoroughly and bring them with you to your first appointment.

If you're curious about Functional/Nutritional Medicine, please call our office to pre-register for our Free Functional Medicine Orientation.  Learn more.

If you're interested in Integrative Massage Therapy only, and not Chiropractic or Functional Medicine, please download the Massage Therapy intake forms from our website, complete them, and submit them (either in person, or by fax, email, or regular mail), and we'll call you to schedule your first massage visit.  Since our therapist is very in-demand, having this paperwork submitted ahead of time minimizes missed appointments; more importantly, she is a more clinically-oriented therapist and she designs her sessions around individual needs, based on information she gains from the intake forms.

Do I need an appointment?
We welcome chiropractic walk-ins and chiropractic emergencies; however, we strongly recommend that you schedule an appointment for initial and routine visits. This way, we can make sure to be there when you'd like to come in. Barring unforeseen emergencies, you're also guaranteed to have a spot of dedicated time all to yourself.  All Functional Medicine and Integrative Massage Therapy visits are reserved only by appointment.

How do I schedule an appointment?
Simply call us! We'll work out a time that works best for you.

What if I'm going to be late?
No problem! Please do make sure to call us if at all possible, so that we're not worried, wondering where you are. Please let us know whether or not you're on your way and estimate when you might be here so that we can make sure to be ready for you.

What if I can't make my appointment?
That's okay. Life Happens! We do appreciate a call beforehand to let us know, so that we can free up that time slot for someone else who might really need our help. We do charge $30 for missed appointments in which we didn't receive any notice, but we haven't had to enforce it yet.

I'm sick; can I come anyway or should I stay home?
Please come to the office for a chiropractic adjustment! Even if you don't have a scheduled appointment, please call the office and we'll do our best to fit you in . Chiropractic care has been shown to boost your immune system function by 700%, so don't deprive yourself of this opportunity to get better faster!

For Functional Medicine and Medical Massage, however, please reschedule your appointment for when you feel better. The informative nature of Functional Medicine works best when your body and mind aren't preoccupied by a miserable cold or flu. Medical Massage is also best NOT done when you're sick; you may end up feeling worse afterward.

Cost / Insurance / Payment:
How much will it cost?
Since each case is unique, costs vary widely, depending on your individual needs. Some cases are much more involved than others and may require more lab testing, diagnostic imaging, supplements, adjustments, physical therapy, rehab, and/or visits.

Our Advanced Chiropractic rates are based on what is Usual, Customary, and Reasonable (UCR Standard) for San Antonio and Greater Texas.

Our Functional/Nutritional Medicine rates are based on the usual market rate, competitive with other licensed doctors offering a similar kind of treatment.

We realize that paying for care out-of-pocket can be a challenge, so we offer a considerable discount (called Time-of-Service, or TOS) when your visit is paid in full at the time of service (must be on or before the same day).

What forms of payment do you accept? / Do you take my insurance?
For information on payment options and insurance filing, please click here.

Do you take Medicare/Medicaid?
None of the services we provide are actually officially recognized by any governmental-based healthcare. This includes the Advanced Chiropractic; although chiropractic spinal adjusting is a covered service, the unique protocols we use doesn't fit within their definitions and thus is not recognized by government healthcare entities.

Do you trade or barter for services?
Sure, we occasionally barter for products or services we currently need, and these arrangements have always historically worked out very well for everyone involved. Simply call and ask us for a list!

Can I break the costs up into several installments/payments?
Since the Functional Medicine side of the clinic offers testing at our costs (which the clinic must pay to the lab immediately) and the Advanced Chiropractic side is bound by contracts to insurance companies that spell out strict terms regarding Time of Service Discounts, we are unable to extend credit to patients through the clinic.  However, we do understand that finances can be tight; for these cases we encourage patients to seek financing similar to that of Lasik Eye Surgery or orthodontics.  This allows patients to get ALL the care they need while remaining within a stress-free budget.