I wish I could choose zero stars, as I quite honestly should have sued. This woman should not have…read morea medical license.
I saw Dr. Robles back in 2016, when I was still a minor (16). She was very condescending, belittling, and downplayed any of my concerns. I can definitely be verbose, but I don't think that justifies how I was constantly cut off and talked down to, and any worries I had were completely shot down; I was chastised, told I wasn't the medical professional (true, but still? Her tone was very hostile), and overall left feeling invalidated and unsafe. This escalated to actually having my life endangered.
I was on a dose of 20mg Adderall for ADHD (which she completely denied me having and fought me on it, despite having shown symptoms since childhood. I was only given the medication upon other doctors' documentation of my disorder, and I'm still being helped by it now, albeit on a lower dose of 15mg, balanced out by other medications). I came in exhibiting what were, in hindsight, hypomanic symptoms. I told her I was having racing thoughts, bizarre euphoria, feeling in a dreamlike state, super productive, and not feeling like I needed sleep. She said it sounded like hyperactivity from my ADHD & that I was showing some anxiety despite me pleading and saying something felt very, very wrong. (I have no history of hypochondriasis or other anxiety aside from social anxiety) I left with my Adderall upped to 25mg, and a new prescription of 5mg Prozac for the "anxiety."
Lo and behold, I had my first manic/psychotic episode. It turned out that I have severe Bipolar 1 disorder with psychotic features. (For those who may not know, that means delusions and hallucinations, not hostile behavior.) I can thank Dr. Robles for speeding up the process, at least, as her reckless and irresponsible change of my medications & disregard for my own perceptions sped up a diagnosis that would have already eventually come my way.
However, after this first episode, I still wasn't diagnosed yet, despite telling Dr. Robles that even after being completely unmedicated (no Adderall or Prozac), I was feeling the same way I had prior to the first episode (Same hypomanic symptoms I described above: racing thoughts, etc.), and I was worried about my mental state and could feel myself going out of control. Her response was to suggest putting me back on Adderall. (?????? Are you kidding me?) Ultimately, I left still prescribed no medication, and told it was just anxiety.
Bam. Another huge manic/psychotic episode, this one worse than the last. I was Baker Acted as a threat to my own safety, which was an extremely traumatizing experience for a 16-year-old; I now have diagnosed PTSD from it.
Dr. Monica Robles is a danger to patients, and I still regret not choosing to sue for malpractice, considering her criminally negligible handling of both my symptoms and medications would have given me a more than satisfactory case to bring to court.
I'd like to end this by saying the story does have a happy ending; I now see Lori Nervina, ANRP-BC, at the office of Dr. Lovett, also in Naples, FL. She diagnosed me with (by that point, extremely blatant) bipolar 1 disorder, and she has been nothing but fantastic since. It is now 2018, I am 18 years old, on the right medications, and I have not had any severe manic episodes since early 2016.
