I've waited about a year to make this review because I honestly needed to settle down and go…read morethrough a bit of my own journey with healing. My functional medicine doctor recommended that I see Dr Mukalel and I trust her immensely so I scheduled the appointment. The first appointment was very promising as he seemed to have listened. I scheduled the appointment to have some diagnostic injections (Mind you I had had problems with my back for over 20 years), some days were good, but there was always a little pain and then some days were horrible. I had tried just about everything. First thing everybody wanted to focus on my SI joint, but I had already had steroids, stem cells, prolotherapy, and physical therapy with no help. I had seen a chiropractor for years and got some relief , but it was very temporary. My MRI was over a year old, but the doctor did not care to order a new one. My first exploratory test should've been my first red flag. I was put under sedation just because they were going in deep under my joint and he did tell me that it was painful. When I woke up from the testing, I was tied to a wheelchair with my neck hanging over. My neck hurt me for days afterwards. I thought it was very strange that I was tied to a wheelchair. Anytime I've had any kind of anesthesia. I've woken up in a bed. I scheduled a follow up appointment and he wanted to know how my pain changed. Honestly, it didn't change much at all. It was better maybe for a couple of hours, but then again that day was not a horrible day pain day . It's very hard to make these appointments when you're pain varies because you make it weeks out not knowing how you will feel that day. I scheduled another appointment for injections that were not going to be quite as intense so I decided against the anesthesia. He came back into the surgery center afterwards and asked me how my pain was, when I didn't have a clear answer, a switch flipped and he was highly annoyed. I tried to explain to him that particular day my pain was not super intense, so it's really hard for me to tell right away. He accused me of not wanting to get better. He turned into a complete unhinged child. Raised his voice at me, screamed at me almost like he was showing off in front of people. It wasn't a flex, I was actually embarrassed for him and I was in total shock. I actually spoke firmly back to him, but I can tell you I did not need the intense adrenal shock by being berated and belittled in front of an audience. The nurse later came in and apologized I could tell she felt really bad and was trying to overcompensate for his behavior. Well, that sealed the deal. There was no way in the world. I was going to let someone with that level of emotional maturity do surgery on me. I'm 51 years old and have NEVER been spoken to like that by a professional. His office called me to schedule my procedure and do some mental evaluation on me with my insurance required prior to the surgery. I just let them know that there was no way I was getting the surgery. I decided to go to my dad's pain management doctor and the first thing he did was order a new MRI. I had a bulge disc at L4 L5 and my SI looked fine. For the first time I decided to get the steroid injection at L4 L5, just so I could know if this was actually where the pain was, my chiropractor encouraged me to do this. For the first time in over 20 years, I had no pain for about three weeks after the injection so I knew that's where it was steaming from. I didn't like the side effects from the steroid injection so I decided not to do another one, for the past six months I've been doing Pilates reformer and I feel about 70% better. I am so glad that I did not get bullied into the surgery. I might not have a medical degree, but I do know my body, and I'm not an idiot. And I will not be spoken to you like I'm a fool. I would do a lot of deep research and also get a second opinion. They tell you that the surgery is reversible, after speaking with another surgeon I don't believe that it
I know this is a long review, I tried to make it as short as possible, I read the other one Star review on yelp and I would agree 100% exactly the way they explained his attitude is what I witnessed, very arrogant, God complex like he's the best doctor in the whole world, and nobody knows more than him