Did not have a very good experience here. I came to see Dr. Friedman for severe ear aches and echoing in my ear. There's a lot of potential problems but Dr. Friedman had everything so very wrong. He decided to put me on medications before even doing a hearing test, dragging me through medication that made me sick.
First I had Eustachian Tube Dysfunction which could have been from inflammation. So here, take these. Nope, didn't work. Maybe it's your jaw? Do you grind your teeth? TMJ? Yeah, take these. Nope. Hm, probably fluid in the ear. Let's take some water pills. Nope. Hm, maybe it's sinuses, here's some steroids and nasal sprays? Nope? Huh. Let's do a CT Scan to rule out everything. Well, that looks fine.
And almost $1000 later - Well, I finally said, can we do an audio test? (as a recommendation I got from someone online). Well, we did the test and look at that... The test showed no fluid in the ear. Well, maybe we should've done the audio test first? Okay...
So then he says "Oh, well it's probably otosclerosis and unfortunately there's nothing you can do but just keep an eye on it."
He obviously just wanted to get me out because he didn't have an answer for me.
I have ear aches every single damn day and he's telling me to keep an eye on it? I was just being nice because I wanted to follow through to see what he would come up with but after that visit I said screw it and didn't even want to deal with it.
As I got a second opinion from one of the top specialists at UCLA, he told me it doesn't even make sense how he came up with otosclerosis from such little data. In fact, the audio test I did at the new facility was MUCH quieter and had much better equipment. Guess what? My test at the new facility was 100%. My hearing is completely fine, ruling out otosclerosis.
Not only that, Dr Friedman said my CT Scan was normal. WRONG. The specialist said I had an obvious amount of swelling in my right nasal area and that needed to be addressed, also. So what did conclude? That my issues were actually caused my TMJ (Friedman's second possible diagnosis) but what friedman failed to do was check my jaw for tenderness and soreness. At UCLA, the pain I was feeling in my jaw was an obvious TMJ issue so I now have to see a specialist for my jaw which coupling with allergy medicine should clear my earaches.
I would not recommend this doctor for such advanced issues. If you think you have an ear infection or allergy problems, that's one thing, but he didn't seem to have a clue about eustachian tube dystfunction.
My problem with the doctor is as follows. If you aren't 100% and you're not sure about something, refer your patient to a specialist. It's okay if someone knows more than you, but do NOT misdiagnose and drag your patients through a roller coaster of emotions because you can't put your finger on what the issue is.
2 starts because the staff is nice and they let me know in advance what I was paying since I was a cash patient. Nice looking office otherwise. read more