Dr. Poonam Ramesh Somai, MD

I've been to several rheumatologist and was ready to give up, but I agreed to go to one more and my pcp sent me to Dr. Somai. After my first visit I was impressed, she's an excellent physician, she listened and then went to work trying to find the right treatment for my rheumatoid arthritis. As I'm allergic to a lot of the medicine for this it took a while to find one I could tolerate. She didn't give up and when she found it she made sure to get it approved for me. I've seen her PA Jennifer Mosely also and she is awesome. They get right back to you and always listen. I am very happy with this group, the only thing I don't like is driving to Nashville, but she let's me do a televisit when we can for follow-up. I would definitely recommend her and Jennifer if you want a staff that knows what they're doing.

Seems they push meds but don’t do anything else to help. Long waits.

If I could give this zero stars, I would. I've been a patient of Dr. Somai since the beginning of this year. My initial visit, I thought she was an okay Dr. My second visit, she seemed rushed and disinterested in helping me with my pain. I understand that when a new patient has multiple conditions, the most aggressive or damaging one has to be addressed first, but she didn't really give me an idea of her plan for treatment. She pretty much said for me to take my steroids, and she would see me in six weeks. Next, I saw one of her PA's. At first, she seemed dismissive as well, but she turned out to be very nice after she understood the extent of the pain I was in. She started adding to my meds and gave me an idea of what her plan was for the next visit. Fast forward to Sept. I was seen by another PA who was very nice and interested in what I had to say. She wanted to add to my medication, but she explained that Dr. Somai usually required female patients to be on birth control due to the… risk of birth defects. I explained to her that I have ovarian cysts and would have to take pills to force ovulation to even attempt to get pregnant. She said that she would ask the Dr. if she could make an exception to that rule considering the circumstances. She left the room, and she had Dr. Somai with her when she came back. She came into the room in a huff or a hurry or something. She seemed bothered by the fact this was even an issue. Before we can get too far into the conversation, she tells me that I should be on birth control for my PCOS anyway. I explained to her that it was not PCOS and attempted to explain my GYN specialized in PCOS and determined it was not and about my hormones being out of sorts due to cysts and that BC caused me lots of terrible side effect like excessive bleeding for months, swelling, moods, etc. She didn't give me the chance. She then stated that I should look into Mirena which has no estrogen and only progestin. I tried to explain again about my hormones, and each time, she would cut me off and get more argumentative. She never gave me the chance to explain that I had tried for around 15 years to have a baby and tried everything short of invitro to no avail and finally giving up. Out of frustration of not being heard about such a touchy subject I started to cry. She then said I didn't need to commit today and there was no reason for a "meltdown in the office". I only had a few tears on my cheek. It was not a meltdown. I told her I was just frustrated because it's always something and she then interrupted to lecture me about positive thinking. I never got to finish my thoughts one time while speaking with her throughout the entire exchange. While she argued with me about BC, she did sort of glance at my hands to "examine" them and pointed out that I showed signs of yet another condition, but none of my issues were addressed after I refused to agree to get birth control. I got nothing out of that visit except triggered and come back in 4 weeks. Who cares about your pain or the damage that your autoimmune issues are doing to your body. We can't take the chance of a basically infertile person getting pregnant. She refused to give me medicine to help with my chronic illnesses that can cause permanent damage to my body including my organs, pretty much told me I was being dramatic and to suck it up. She didn't care to hear anything I had to say about my reproduction issues that were treated by an expert in the field. He lead research and held lectures for other Dr.'s on the topic. A field that is out of her range of expertise. She doesn't see a person sitting there, only a case. Sorry this is so long and detailed. I wanted to get the whole picture out there.

I have been a patient for 9 months now. Each visit has been a great experience. She answers all my questions and takes the time to listen. Her physician’s assistants are great too!

Somai is great

Well please with the knowledge and information from Dr. Somai.

Dr. Somai was very thorough and took the time to both listen and ask questions. She is very easy to talk to and knowledgeable. At first visit she even noticed some joint swelling in one foot that I wasn’t really aware of or had complained about. I highly recommend her for rheumatology.

I love Dr. Somai, in the past couple of months I have seen a huge improvement in the swelling and pain in my hands. She is great in explaining the medication and treatments that she is doing to improve my quality of life. Office staff is also very help !

recently experienced an episode truly debilitating called office for advice only to leave message, call eventually returned with no offer of help or suggestion. I was offered an appointment 4 days out, really? ended up with E R visit to correct issue. waiting times are outrageous for office visits, seek someone else if your time and health are a priorty

recently experienced an episode truly debilitating called office for advice only to leave message, call eventually returned with no offer of help or suggestion. I was offered an appointment 4 days out, really? ended up with E R visit to correct issue. waiting times are outrageous for office visits, seek someone else if your time and health are a priorty