Dr. Donald Jonathan Bernardini, MD

Best Pain doc ever and wonderful staff!

My husband has been seeing Dr. B for a few years now. He had uncontrollable pain for years, with no doctor able to figure it out. Dr. B was very patient in working out what could be the root cause, and once we discovered it was a nerve entwined in mesh, he was able to start working on treatments other than just pain meds. When all other doctors had given up, Dr. B never did, and now, with a spinal cord stimulator, my husband is virtually pain free. We view Dr. B as a life saver, because living with chronic pain means a very low quality of life. He has given my husband his life back, he's given our family our husband/father, the funny guy we all love. Dr. Bernardini and his staff are truly the most compassionate, caring people we've ever dealt with in medicine, and he has such a great sense of humor as well. We can't say enough about him, and it's always great to go in for a procedure and hear "you have the best doctor there is!"

Dr. Bernadini is fantastic. Through the entire process of implanting a spinal cord stimular, he has been caring, compassionate, and professional. Wish there were more physicians like him. His staff are always patient and kind. And even in the greatest of chaos in an office, staff remain caring and professional. I highly recommend him.

Dr.B is a.doctor on my first visit listened to me and gave me advice on what he could do with my severe pain in my lower back and also talked to my wife about her issue and was able to give her a Doctor's name for helping her. I went to the clinic for a injection at lioness way. The Dr. and staff are top notch. I could hardly walk when I went in and 6 days later I have my mobility back and actually mowed my lawn yesterday!!! Thank you Dr.B !!!!

I was in a auto accident and suffered dental injury, head trauma, herniated discs from C4-C7, L5-L7. The trauma caused a rare muscle disorder called Dystonia, in which I had over 3 years of botox and that only treatment was unsuccessful. I had 2 neck fusions by a Neurosurgeon n 2011 and 2013, steroid injections, physical therapy, usd a tens unit and traction, and more pain medications than I can count to include anti depressants and anxiety medications. Nothing was working and I was at a level 8-10 and spending 5-7 days in bed. I dveloped cervical vertigo and crawled on he floor for over a year. I have lost over 45 lbs. and my quality of life was zero,my overall health was weak and very concerning. I had severe debilitaing head pain, beyond the migraine category and was wasting away. I was blessed to have a new pain management physician jon the group where I was being seen. He reviewed the treatments I was having with botox (this went on for over 3 years total) with my Neurologist… and changed my medications to be more effective. He aggressively began surgical radio frequency ablations and this gave some improvement. His exraordinary PA, Neelam Gala discussed a new spinal cord stimualtor made by Boston Scientific that was developed for my type of many hard to treat nerve and muscle disorders. I met with Dr. Bernardini and he agreed and performed the surgical trial to first determine if this invasive implant would work. It brought my pain level down to a 0-2 during the week trial. Dr. Bernardini surgically implanted the spinal cord stimulator on May 16th, 2018 and my life is returning! I have low pain 0-2 and am healing nicely. It takes time for the body to adjust to the implant and time for me to learn to use the blue tooth controller to adjust the stimulator when I am having pain. Now I sense a "tingle" instead, and have begun to slowly add back activities in life without pain. There will be lmitations but the gift of a virtually pain free life means quality of life. You can not be happy, plan anything, enjoy anything, and you become home bound with isolation in a dark room praying constantly for the pain to stop. After so many years, I, who am a woman of strong faith, was losing hope. However, I have been given a second chance at happiness and quality of life. This could not have happened if it were not for this very dedicated, extremely well trained and knowledgable physician. He never gives on you no matter how difficult your health/pain issues are. I tell people he saved my life. I could not have gone on much longer at such high pain levels and no other physician I had seen knew how to treat the severe damage done. I highly recommend Dr. Bernardini to anyone suffering from chronic pain. The invisible pain that people can not see because it is within, and on the outside you may look very uncomfortable, but there are not usually visual physical injuries. You suffer in silence and after 9 years, I was losing hope and so tired of the relenteless pain. Not any more! I do have other challenges from the auto accident, but to live life in low to no pain is a miracle in my life. I will be forever grateful to Dr. Bernardini and his excellent medical care and concern always for my welfare. Along with Neelam Gala his PA for all of her encouragement, and also her high level of expretise and truly caring for her patients. I am anxious for chapter 2 to begin in my life, and give thanks for Dr. Bernardini giving me this opportunity to live life fully, with joy, to get my smile back and have fun! I take nothing for granted after this journey and will live my life on purpose and hope to help others who suffer from chronic pain. A very grateful and happy patient with great respect and immense gratitude for Dr. Bernardini for coming into my life. For changing the direction from hopelessness and great pain, to helping me climb the big mountain to the top with my Lord with me with each breath, to better health and a pain free happy life. A very blessed woman who takes each moment now as a something to cherish and look forward to, Monique McLean

If your suffering with pain and have been searching for a very professional, sincere Dr. who will treat you with respect and understanding Dr Bernardini is an excellent choice. He listens, never rushes through an appointment and prescribes the medication you require if your problem can be treated with meds. I've been in chronic pain for years and have been treated very badly in the past complete with accusations because I do require medication. It can be demeaning and only makes my situation worse. You will find none of this condescending behavior when you see Dr Bernardini. I feel so fortunate that I found him, he's changed my life .

I had my block, & I don't know if it was Dr Bernadini or the fact I was super sensitive to the steroid, but 4 days after receiving my block, I had experienced HORRENDOUS symptoms. SEVERE tremors, SEVERE insomnia, blurred vision, 13 lb wt loss in less than 2 weeks, panic attacks at night, POUNDING irregular heart beats, inability to focus, foggy feeling, constant sneezing & coughing. Literally, I have not had a cold or flu in 22 years.. I am a HEALTHY person, rarely sick. It wasn't until later, I began correlating when the symptoms developed. After 3 ER visits (2 different ERs) I had not associated the block with the symptoms. It was the 3rd ER visit, I had mentioned the symptoms occurred 4 days after the block & were severe!!! I told the ER Dr it had to be the block, because of when I had the block, & the SXs developing 4 days after. The ER Dr agreed with me, & called neuro. Both neurologists agreed with my suspicions, that it was a severe adverse reaction to the steriod injection.… I've had NUMEROUS injections in my low back & had NEVER experienced ANY SXs; however, this particular injection was in my Neck. It has been a month now, & my symptoms are only SLIGHTLY better. I don't know if I was given too large of a dose, or if I was super sensitive; however, as stated earlier, I've had NUMEROUS injections in my low back & NEVER a problem. I am totally frightened, & now I don't EVER want a steriod injection again!! When I called & spoke with his assistant, I was told in a somewhat terse manner, I needed to speak with the Dr who ordered the procedure, NOT Dr Bernadini. He was nice, & had a sense of humor, but I wish I would had been informed this could happen. I would had declined the procedure. Nothing was mentioned of it. I found out more about severe adverse reactions to steriod injections from multiple individuals explaining their horrific experiences when they were injected by whomever did theirs. I just wish I was made aware this could happen no matter how rare. Why is it that it's never happened before when I've had numerous done other places, but my first injection by him ended up to be a nightmare. By the.way, the ratings below are inaccurate. I would click on a star & 2 or 3 would light up & it did not offer a way to delete the mistake.

After three visits I was abruptly informed by Dr Bernardini that he is leaving the practice in two months. He ewas proactive the first visit, very friendly, knowledgeable about pumps, gave me time to ask questions andordered numerous tests. He was not as knowledgeable about me as he should have been. He gave me too much decision-making and I am not a doctor. He did call me at home at night when my pain was bad..I couldn't be seen any sooner than the scheduled appt., however. By my third and last appt, my condition worsened and I was told the news of his leaving

Luckily, I went to a spine center in Chesapeake, operated within a week and fixed the problem

Dr. Bernardini is very caring and spends a great deal of time with his patients, at the expense of slightly longer waiting times than I am used to, but overall not too bad of a wait. His staff is very courteous and professional. He manages pain from a multidisciplinary approach, as he calls, it, using medications, injections, physical therapy, and behavioral health/pain counseling to "attack" your pain. I am very please with his practice and would recommend him to a family member or friend without hesitation.