Business Focus: Meditrim

Photos by Libby Rogers

Meditrim of East Texas, LLC came to Huntsville in 2007, but prior to this, Dr. Michael Shukanof Livingston, Texas had started his firstMeditrim program in Livingston in 1986. In2001, he opened another office in the Lufkin area. When he began his career in the medical field as a family practitioner, his concern for the growing population dealing with obesity led him to discovering Meditrim. Since his retirement as a medical practitioner in 2002, he has taken on the role of director of Meditrim, and he, along with nurse Becky Hendrix (who has been with Meditrim since the beginning) and Leslie Haynie, are fully dedicated to Meditrim and their patients, because they truly want to help people achieve their weight loss goals and provide knowledge on healthy eating and exercise to maintain their ideal weight.

Dr. Shukan came to Texas fromNew Jersey. Before receiving his medical degree from Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, Mexico, he worked as a pharmacist. His decision to move to Texas came from wanting to find a location equal in proximity to his family in New Jersey and his wife’s family in Mexico. After looking at different possibilities, they decided on Livingston. During the past 30+ years, Dr. Shukan has been very involved in his community, serving in various capacities: between 1982-1996, he served at the Polk County Health Office, and he was named Chief of Staff of the PolkCounty Hospital in 1986 and in 1992. He was a UTMB teaching physician for 4 years and he had his medical practice in Livingston until1992. After retiring, he joined the Lions Club, serving as both a member and as president. He served the Polk County Boys and Girls Club for 10 years, serving as vice president for 9 of those years. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce (and was recently elected president), and Master of Ceremony for the Ms. Polk County Pageant, and has been involved with this event for approximately 7years. He has also been in 14 productions of the Piney Woods Theatre group served as a doctor or the Cho-yeh Christian camp, and in 2013, he was chosen for the prestigious award as the Polk Countian of the Year.

In the midst of all this, during the earlier years (1983 to be exact), Dr. Shukan recalled watching a commercial on television regarding a revolutionary weight loss product that everyone was raving about. It required consuming only 800 calories a day and drinking lots of shakes. He decided to get on board, but soon discovered that people were getting tired of drinking the shakes, and to make matters worse, the cost of the shakes went up. At that point, he decided to come up with a solution. He developed an injection that is made up of primarily amino acids which help break down fat cells to neutralize the acids. “This was the birth of Meditrim, and it has been going strong for over 30 years,” said Dr. Shukan.

Oftentimes people seek out a weight loss program because they want to look good. AtMeditrim, “We try to stress to our patients the importance of losing weight and keeping it off because obesity can lead to type2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart problems,” said Becky. The diet Meditrim has adopted is based on the American Heart and Diabetic Association. It’s low fat, low calorie diet. This, along with the injection compound

Dr. Shukan has developed, helps our patients lose unwanted weight and control hunger. The injections help increase energy, build lean muscle mass, and help break down fat. Meditrim offers various Lipotropic injections that help burn fat, as well as Glutathione, which is an antioxidant and detoxifier. It helps decrease inflammation, which helps with joint pain, and it can help increase energy, boost the immune system, and slow down the aging process. “We started offering it about a year ago and had really good results,” Becky added. They also offer B12 injections which help increase energy. According to Becky, they have several older patients who just come in to get B12 shots for that extra boost of energy. The only side effect people have complained about after getting any of the injections is a little itching and redness on the spot of the injection; otherwise, there have not been any major reactions or complaints.

Meditrim of Huntsville offers a variety of weight loss solutions through amino acid fat burning injections, antioxidant injections, and vitamin B12 injections to boost energy and increase metabolism. After patients have reached their initial weight loss goal, they are encouraged to stay on the maintenance program, which is a ’One-on-One’ personal service that keeps bringing their patients back.

Additionally, they have also managed to keep their costs low, which gives them an advantage to other similar programs. Staying on the maintenance program allows staff to analyze their patients on a regular basis, monitor their progress, and make any necessary modifications.“As with any medication, sometimes patients reach a plateau after they have been on the same medication for an extended period of time…the body gets used to it, and adjustments have to be made. AtMeditrim, “our goal is to educate our patients on a lifetime change so that they can maintain their desired weight,” stressed Becky. Through the maintenance program, patients come in once a month, weigh-in, and if they notice any weight gain, they get an injection, diet for a week, get the appetite aid, and get the weight back off. Ultimately, everyone is different. “We have some patients that lost their weight initially, and we have never seen them again,” said Becky, “and then we have other patients that may struggle and may need to come back.”

“I started working with Dr. Shukan in 1993 in the Livingston office,” said Becky. “I was his nurse for many, many years.” Since the office opened in Huntsville, she has been commuting to Huntsville, two to four days per week, but says after 12 years, she is used to the commute and doesn’t mind because she’s always ‘got her jam on’ in her truck. Becky also revealed that, when she was in her 20s, she was also a patient of theMeditrim program and was able to lose about 45 lbs. More recently, she noticed she was gaining some of that weight back. She found out it was due to her thyroid, so now she is back on the program and has already started to notice a difference! Clearly, Becky is a big advocate of the Meditrim program, because she has not only seen the results in so many patients but has experienced it firsthand.