Dr. Amy Christine Almaraz Nielsen, DO

Dr. Nielson was professional and nice on my first visit. However, after continuous complaints about severe side effects from a medication she prescribed, she continued to have me take it. After ending up in an ER twice from it, I sought out a new doctor. My new doctor said I and most people should NEVER be on the medication she prescribed for migraines. The medication is for depression and never pain, NOT migraines. My new doctor said, it has helped people with severe depression who have had migraines but it should NEVER be given to someone who just has migraines. I would not recommend Dr. Nielson to anyone. I complained three times to her about my symptoms and she did not listen.

shes great

It took forever to get in, and I was very disappointed. She simply told me that I needed to rest my brain (I have post-concussive syndrome from multip ...

After waiting almost two months, I was extremely disappointed. I had gone through Balboa's TBI clinic the year before, while my husband was still active duty, and they were wonderful. They followed the latest research and had me both resting and being appropriately stimulated. The vestibular therapy was the best for me, but I appreciated the speech therapy and memory assistance, as well. I recovered quickly and was checked on often. At The Neurology Center in La Jolla, however, Dr. Neilson seemed thorough when asking questions and testing me, but she constantly cut me off, she argued with me about the class of an antidepressant I was taking--and she was wrong. That was my first concern, as neurologists should be well-versed in medication affecting the brain. When she said there was nothing to do but wait and gave me no other helpful direction, I felt like I was 15 years back in time--that is the advice doctors gave me years ago. At Balboa, they are up on the latest research… (and they deal with SO many TBIs, they have to be). She didn't care that I found their clinic to be helpful, she just flatly said that she doesn't believe in that sort of thing--only rest. I asked her about vestibular therapy, and she said that it was fine to do the exercises they gave me last year. But I have hit my head several times since then. Last year, they hooked me up to a bunch of machines to find out the exact exercises I needed, then tweaked them for me. What she did is like a sports doc telling someone to just rest, but it's fine to use the physical therapy exercises from a different injury last year. I thought she was brusque, did not care about me or my outcome, did not try to get to know me in the least, and I am going to do my best to get better care. After my concussion, for my post-ER follow-up, I saw an internal med doc at my GP's office, and that person gave me much more and better advice. I had been told by two different clinics that I needed neuropsych testing, but Dr. Neilson said that she wouldn't even begin testing me until after six months. A different hospital's neurology dept. said that I would need neuropsych testing before even being seen by a neurologist. Balboa's TBI clinic told me that is what I needed, as well. Balboa referred me to The Neurology Center, and I hope that they will stop doing that, as their philosophies on TBI are obviously _very_ different.

Very complete exam with answering all my questions