Andrew Messiha's Online Review Report Card

What a scum bag!!! I waited 2 1/2 hours in his office!! I asked the receptionist (she) to confirm he will prescribe a medication I already was getting from my old pain doctor. She kept asking the doctor when he peaked his head in the waiting room now and then but he AVOIDED the question. I told her several times as I waited for this prescription was not negotiable, been taking it for a long time and it works. As I waited a friend doctor of his came in and he butted in line to start chatting with the doctor. You could hear the whole conversation. It is a very tiny office. When he finally called me in to see him he acted like he was not asked the question of prescribing the medication I needed. He insulted my intelligence. What a pompous a.... He told me some bs about why he can not prescribe that med after 5 minutes in his office. I left as soon as I heard that. He charged me $1050 for that visit!!! He is a real piece of work!! He is a perfect example of why doctors get a bad rap as being idiots.

Excellent Staff, Dr. Messiha is very professional. Explains the procedures thoroughly. Great bedside manner,, very friendly.

Dr. Messiha is the worst Doctor that I have ever been to.I read his reviews and decided to give him a tryalthough he would not accept my insurance. I thoughthis fees were fair. He read my MRI and administeredan epidural . After he gave me the novocaine for the epiduraland then administered the cortisone. Once you get the novocaineyou are not supposed to feel the actual injection of cortisone . That did not not happen. I screamed in such pain. I could not believe that this doctor did not know what he was doing. He told me I would feel better in a few days .That did not happen. I am still in the same pain that I came there with.DON'T GO TO DR. MESSIHA OR YOU WILL BE SORRY Meryl P

I’ve been using Dr Messiha’s office for years now and they are very knowledgeable and helpful.

My mother had pretty bad cases of back stenosis and arthritis in her hands. She used to not be able to walk for more than a couple of minutes. After going to Dr. Messiha and getting treatments from him, she is now able to go on hour long walks with me daily (she has to sit once or twice in the process but she’s definitely a lot better). Dr. Messiha also gave her a shot in her hands for the pain she was having from her arthritis and now she is able to get back to her day to day work without the excruciating pain she was feeling before she got treatment from Dr. Messiha. He’s such a straightforward and caring doctor. Really takes the time to talk to his patients and hear them out. He used versatile ways of treating my mon in a very safe and effective way. Thank you so much to Dr. Messiha and his amazing office team!

I have been seeing Dr Messiha for many years . He has to be the most caring , patient doctor I have ever seen. He takes his time and make sure that he answers all your questions . The staff at the office is awesome as well I wish all Doctors were as awesome as him

Dr. Messiha is a caring and thoughtful physician who genuinely offers the best medical supervision for the well-being of his patients. My father being a cardiac transplant, type 1 diabetic and with kidney problems, has been treated for a myriad of symptoms stemming from his illnesses. My collective family owes Dr. Messiha a great deal of gratitude for helping improve my father’s health. We (my dad, mom and myself) highly recommend Dr. Messiha without hesitation.

Dr. Messiha is such a life saver! I was in so much pain for many years in my lower back and couldn’t sleep. Every time I would sit down I would feel excruciating pain. Even when I would stand up I wouldn’t be able to walk up right from all the pain. I was so worried he’d be like other pain doctors and just prescribe narcotics. Instead, I was so relieved that he took the time to explain my options and came up with a great plan. Dr. Messiha prescribed me medications that were NOT addictive opioids which worked great and gave me lumbar injections that proved to be very effective. Thank you Dr. Messiha for taking such good care of me and helping me manage my pain!

I have read many different reviews on a few different forums about Dr. Messiha. Im a little surprised by some. Im hoping my review will help clear up some inconsistencies about him and the way he practices. I, also, am a former patient of the recently retired Dr. Lido Chen. I was her patient for about 25 years. I have severe chronic pain that sits at a scale without medication of a 9 to 10. I have severe pelvic pain due to a bad C-section, Fibromyalgia, adult onset Stills disease, chronic migraines, to name a few ailments. I feel I am a good source to do a review as I have been ill for 26 years and have been through a lot. I started seeing Dr. Messiha the month Dr. Chen retired. I can agree that these doctors are very different and understand some of these reviews from that standpoint. He started tapering my medications as well as many others have stated and I will admit that I was angry in the beginning as it took so many years to get to a point where I had any kind of life and I felt like he was someone just coming in to look good by lowering the amount of opioids patients were taking. My pain was not, and still is not under control, since I've started treatment with him. With that being said, I am very grateful to this doctor as he did his due diligence in checking on how my meds were affecting my overall health and discovered a problem even my cardiologist missed! My medication could have killed me. And, yes, I did question my cardiologist and he confirmed Dr. Messiha's findings. He was grateful to Dr. Messiha. He has listened to me very carefully, bent over backward during a surgical nightmare to ensure I wasn't in dire pain when my surgeon was ONLY concerned about being "looked into" for prescribing needed medication, and has been working diligently with me to find a med routine that I can be comfortable with while looking at my overall health. He does things the "new" way and that can be frustrating for those of us that have been in pain management for decades. I think that if these other people had given time to get to know this doctor and allowed him to show that he was truly looking out for them instead of just getting upset, they would see that he is a wonderful doctor and man that truly does care for his patients very much. I will give an update when my pain is better managed but, until then, I know this doctor is trying to find a way to keep me comfortable. More importantly, he is trying to keep me alive. Im more grateful for this than mad that he has disturbed my pain level. And it is still at about an 7-8 with meds but I have confidence in him. He is very intelligent. Even though I am not where I want to be yet. I have also just sent my 32 year old daughter to him. I dont trust many people but I would hate to think someone would not make an appointment with this doctor because of a couple of bad reviews as there are two sides to every story. Thank you Dr. Messiha, Daniel, and office staff. I appreciate all you do to help me.

My experience is much like that described by Jack Frost. My pain management doctor experience dates back to the late 90's when I was a regular patient with a local pain management doctor. Back then we tried a myriad of medications, physical therapy and injections before finding the combination and level that worked consistently. Unfortunately, that doctor retired and sold her practice to another doctor who, more and more, seems to have been to the same seminar as Dr Messiha. At that doctor's initial consult (with the retiring doctor present) the agreement was that I was stable with the regimen we took so long to establish. I had not needed any increase in medication for years and the three of us agreed we would simply continue to stay that course. Within two months, that doctor insisted upon cutting my prescriptions in half and repeating injections we had already tried and failed (I had a terrible reaction to three spinal steroid injections). I searched for a new doctor and found Dr Lido Chen and she had been successfully treating me for several years. Sadly, she also retired (Yeah, I did wonder, "Is it me? Am I just retirement bait?") and Dr Messiha took over her practice this past January. History repeats when he springs on me that he's going to reduce my prescriptions...and so it begins. His reasoning is that my dosage is high and that "studies show no benefit with regard to pain reduction with higher dose medications. They are *actually* less effective and pain increases at high dose." That may be what "studies" show. However, my real and existing life experience shows that to not be the case. Now that I've been through several reductions in medication, my quality of life has plummeted. A year ago I was still in pain but I could function and do things most people simply call "life" - with some planning and rest if I overdid things. For several months now, however, I can do very little more than the bare minimum. I sleep fitfully and for far too long now. I can feel myself again verging on the deep depression I felt that drove me to discuss pain management with my primary care doctor over 25 years ago. Dr Messiha talks a good game about being there if you need anything. Unfortunately, what is lacking is the vital skill that is listening to patients. Instead, he simply will repeat the same prefab phrases a half dozen times throughout patient consultations. It feels like he's a polite bulldozer who will happily talk right over you, ignoring your responses and as a patient one fears they will pay the price by having your wait time for an appointment extended, further and more abrupt cuts in treatment or every other thing you feel he holds the power to do to you so you simply learn to keep quiet. Finally, his office is the only one of all the various doctors my family sees who bills our insurance company extra for in-person visits due to covid health and safety measures. Coincidentally, when the extra charges kicked in this past spring he became much more insistent upon in-office visits and cut out telehealth visits altogether. After asking friends and neighbors about their experience with all of their various doctors and learning he is the exception when it comes to this new "fee" it further dinged my level of satisfaction with Dr Messiha.