Alex B.

I haven't found any reviews on 3rd party websites of Martha Lewis' "The Complete Sleep Solution" so I thought I would leave one here. Insomnia can truly be a debilitating condition, and when you are desperate for relief it's possible that you (like me) will be tempted to start throwing large sums of money around. But is this particular service worth it? No, from my experience.
I guess what first caught my attention was the word "Complete" since I, like probably many of you, had already tried many remedies, lifestyle changes, supplements etc. to fix my problem. There are many functional medicine specialists, but almost none that focus exclusively on sleep. I thought that here, finally, is somebody so knowledgeable they won't let any possible cause slip through the cracks. You have to give it to Martha - she is very good at marketing - her website and podcasts are welcoming and well-organized, and her broad theory about various imbalances and toxins causing high cortisol does seem to make a certain amount of sense.
I had the four tests done and, when I tried to analyze them myself, only the hair tissue mineral analysis really seemed off (and that one is pretty unreliable, apparently, so that many specialists only seriously take its ability to reveal the presence of toxic metals). The other tests looked pretty good. The GI-map did seem to show a lot of H. Pylori but an endoscopy later revealed no significant presence.
But Martha proceeded to confidently supply me with a protocol. Some of the supplements that were part of this protocol were super expensive, such as a custom-made powder costing nearly $300, adding already to the hefty price of the program.
I dutifully followed Martha's instructions. One week, two weeks, one month, two months passed... no change at all in my sleep pattern. I even sort of wished it might become a little worse haha! Just for a sign that things were starting to shake up a little bit and that maybe afterwards it might improve. But no, nothing. And whenever I pointed this out to Martha, she would say something to the effect that I simply had to have faith. That "my insomnia had gone on for years and that I expect things to get better after months?"... ok fine, decent logic possibly, but isn't it also understandable that one's faith can start to erode if nothing is happening?
Anyway, by the third session this is what our conversation had devolved to. Me, asking for more scientific background, experiences of other clients, just any kind of deeper exploration of the situation, and Martha parrying everything with some variation of "why aren't you keeping the faith?"
Basically, I think this program might possibly work if somebody's sleep is off due to 1) food sensitivities, 2) heavy metal presence 3) maybe something hormone related?... 4) possibly certain GI-issues.
But there are other possible causes. For instance, there is the MTHFR mutation, which Martha never mentioned, which I only just found out I may have. There are forms of sleep apnea that are far from obvious to spot. And the list goes on, and yes, it seems like no single person has all the answers. Don't believe somebody who claims they do, I learned that the hard way. Yet when someone is chronically suffering their judgment can at times be warped.
Anyway, I am grateful to Martha that she gave me about a 30% refund when I decided to end the program halfway through, even though no refund option was stipulated in the original contract. But I still felt compelled to write this review, because I so wish there was one I could read when I was deciding about whether to sign up for the program myself. I am glad that the government has passed the Consumer Review Fairness Act, guaranteeing my right to do so!