Dr. Eliza M Sukiennik, MD

I was prescribed a medication by a, then former primary care provider. This provider moved, and my new PCP was not comfortable adjusting psychotropics. I was given the opportunity to be put on a waitlist for a psychiatrist in the same medical group, but decided I needed to see someone sooner and made an appointment with Palos Behavioral Health Professionals. I thought that Dr. Sukiennik would be a smart choice of a psychiatrist, went to medical school abroad, studied at Mayo Clinic. I was incorrect. During my first appointment, I didn't even see Dr. Sukiennik. During my second appointment, I was impressed at the length of the evaluation, however, my comments and contributions were often dismissed, and when I could not recall an aspect of my history, we could not move on in the conversation until it came to mind. We started my treatment with the adjustment of medication, which was helpful. However, as our appointments went on, there were medications prescribed for off-label uses, and we… seemed to go through every medication class possible. I had concerns surrounding my attention, and these were dismissed, and again, off-label medications prescribed for these symptoms, such as Propranolol. Medications prescribed often had adverse effects and were not beneficial. Appointment after appointment, my concerns were dismissed, and it was her who had to have the upper hand and final say. Overall, she was not accessible, as she did not have an email or extension, even though she wanted to call and leave “check-in” updates with the secretary. To add, the office staff is rude and does not respect privacy. Vital sign equipment was from a drug store (personal bathroom scale and electronic blood pressure machine), and gave incorrect readings that were off by quite a bit. If you can go to any other behavioral health practice, make that move.

I can not believe my feelings about this woman are validated after reading other reviews. I saw a psychiatrist at this office for around 5 years, before she quit and moved back home. I was given the opportunity to work with Eliza, which I took because of my long term relationship with the psychiatrist I worked with before at this office. This was the biggest mistake of my life. The first appointment I had with her, I went with my boyfriend. I told her my history and told her that my current problem was that I felt my parents didn’t love me and she laughed and said it might feel like that, but you are making it up in your head. She tried convincing me that I had an eating disorder because she had my past records from a counselor I saw 4 years ago, in which I was having problems eating because of stress and anxiety which were fixed within 2 weeks. I explained this to her and she asked me if I was not eating to lose weight and I said no, I couldn’t eat as much as I normally would because… I had high anxiety and simply wasn’t hungry. After she finally let this go, she said well you gained a lot of weight from you Junior year of high school to now (sophomore year of college) do you have binge eating problems. I had no idea why she wanted to diagnose me with an eating disorder that wasn’t there. The next session, I went alone. Immediately she read a screening test to me, instead of me taking the test on paper, but this test was different that one I’ve taken before because she was reading it in a way to lead my answers. For example, she said are you impulsive and I say sometimes, but not a lot. She says it’s yes or no and I said I don’t know. And she says do you sometimes do things without thinking, and I say I guess. So she says I’m going to put yes. I am the biggest over-thinker I know but because of the pressure she put on me, I felt the need to say yes. When I did say no to a question she gave me dirty looks and questioned me. When I asked questions about something she would get angry and say just guess so most of the answers I said yes. She then diagnosed me with borderline personality disorder, the SECOND day she met me, with no prior evidence that I have ever had this. After this, sessions were a nightmare she acted differently when my boyfriend was there and when he wasn’t she would ask me why I would bring him and told me I had a dependency on him. I told her I was on track to graduate early with straight As and she told me not to do that because I was not confronting my feelings. When I told her I was going to do it anyway she would get angry at me. She said I needed DBT several times a week and raised my medication. I was on 100mg of Lamictal and she raised me to the maximum dose of 200mg within around a month. I told her I was having anxiety and she told me I was making it up in my head and that I didn’t need meds for that. I was terrified of going to see this woman because she had no empathy for me and kept raising my meds every time I went in. The more meds I took the worse I felt, but this meant she just got to raise it more. At one point I lied and said I was feeling better than ever and she said I’m going to raise it to make sure it keeps working. If I was borderline and she said did not have anxiety or depression like my last doctor said, then why do I need medication? Medication does not treat personality disorders. The one medication that worked for me for my anxiety she took away from me and told me I didn’t need it anymore. As she raised me to 200mg I started getting all the side effects possible and more. I got tremors all throughout my body, which felt like I was going to have a seizure, I felt a tickling feeling throughout my brain when this happened, at certain points I wouldn’t be able to walk steady and my boyfriend had to hold me while I walked, I had slurred speech like I was drunk, I got dizzy easily and my vision got distorted almost like everything was slowed and blurry, I felt confused, my heart would beat so fast and I wasn’t getting periods. I immediately went down to 175mg myself in fear that I was going to overdose and went to my primary care doctor, who told me that some of those symptoms were side effects and others could be symptoms of overdose, so I should go down to 175mgs and make an appointment with the psychiatrist to let her know as well. I went to my next session and told her what happened and she immediately got angry with me. She told me that I should have called her instead of going to a primary care doctor. She said next time if something like that happens to make an appointment with her and not another doctor. She also called my doctor a liar for saying that Lamictal can have effects with the mix of my birth control that can cause irregular periods, even though this is a side effect listed on the Mayo Clinic website. After this, I went to my mom because I was terrified that I was going to get sick or die from the medication I was on because of the symptoms I had before and her need to increase my meds every chance I got. My mom called a different office and got an appointment for me immediately. I met with a different psychiatrist, she did a couple of screenings and I told her I didn’t want to be on that medication anymore. She took me off of it with the proper amount of time between dosages so I would get sick from it and told me to set appointments with a counselor or herself so they could track my mood as I got off of it. As I went off of the medication I felt less depressed and irritable and as I met with the counselor she said that I didn’t need to be on that high of a dosage of a medication and that she did not think that I had borderline personality disorder or major depression. She said the only thing she could see that I had was a little bit of anxiety and that I could go on a little bit of medication for that or start to learn some cop

I can not believe my feelings about this woman are validated after reading other reviews. I saw a psychiatrist at this office for around 5 years, before she quit and moved back home. I was given the opportunity to work with Eliza, which I took because of my long term relationship with the psychiatrist I worked with before at this office. This was the biggest mistake of my life. The first appointment I had with her, I went with my boyfriend. I told her my history and told her that my current problem was that I felt my parents didn’t love me and she laughed and said it might feel like that, but you are making it up in your head. She tried convincing me that I had an eating disorder because she had my past records from a counselor I saw 4 years ago, in which I was having problems eating because of stress and anxiety which were fixed within 2 weeks. I explained this to her and she asked me if I was not eating to lose weight and I said no, I couldn’t eat as much as I normally would because… I had high anxiety and simply wasn’t hungry. After she finally let this go, she said well you gained a lot of weight from you Junior year of high school to now (sophomore year of college) do you have binge eating problems. I had no idea why she wanted to diagnose me with an eating disorder that wasn’t there. The next session, I went alone. Immediately she read a screening test to me, instead of me taking the test on paper, but this test was different that one I’ve taken before because she was reading it in a way to lead my answers. For example, she said are you impulsive and I say sometimes, but not a lot. She says it’s yes or no and I said I don’t know. And she says do you sometimes do things without thinking, and I say I guess. So she says I’m going to put yes. I am the biggest over-thinker I know but because of the pressure she put on me, I felt the need to say yes. When I did say no to a question she gave me dirty looks and questioned me. When I asked questions about something she would get angry and say just guess so most of the answers I said yes. She then diagnosed me with borderline personality disorder, the SECOND day she met me, with no prior evidence that I have ever had this. After this, sessions were a nightmare she acted differently when my boyfriend was there and when he wasn’t she would ask me why I would bring him and told me I had a dependency on him. I told her I was on track to graduate early with straight As and she told me not to do that because I was not confronting my feelings. When I told her I was going to do it anyway she would get angry at me. She said I needed DBT several times a week and raised my medication. I was on 100mg of Lamictal and she raised me to the maximum dose of 200mg within around a month. I told her I was having anxiety and she told me I was making it up in my head and that I didn’t need meds for that. I was terrified of going to see this woman because she had no empathy for me and kept raising my meds every time I went in. The more meds I took the worse I felt, but this meant she just got to raise it more. At one point I lied and said I was feeling better than ever and she said I’m going to raise it to make sure it keeps working. If I was borderline and she said did not have anxiety or depression like my last doctor said, then why do I need medication? Medication does not treat personality disorders. The one medication that worked for me for my anxiety she took away from me and told me I didn’t need it anymore. As she raised me to 200mg I started getting all the side effects possible and more. I got tremors all throughout my body, which felt like I was going to have a seizure, I felt a tickling feeling throughout my brain when this happened, at certain points I wouldn’t be able to walk steady and my boyfriend had to hold me while I walked, I had slurred speech like I was drunk, I got dizzy easily and my vision got distorted almost like everything was slowed and blurry, I felt confused, my heart would beat so fast and I wasn’t getting periods. I immediately went down to 175mg myself in fear that I was going to overdose and went to my primary care doctor, who told me that some of those symptoms were side effects and others could be symptoms of overdose, so I should go down to 175mgs and make an appointment with the psychiatrist to let her know as well. I went to my next session and told her what happened and she immediately got angry with me. She told me that I should have called her instead of going to a primary care doctor. She said next time if something like that happens to make an appointment with her and not another doctor. She also called my doctor a liar for saying that Lamictal can have effects with the mix of my birth control that can cause irregular periods, even though this is a side effect listed on the Mayo Clinic website. After this, I went to my mom because I was terrified that I was going to get sick or die from the medication I was on because of the symptoms I had before and her need to increase my meds every chance I got. My mom called a different office and got an appointment for me immediately. I met with a different psychiatrist, she did a couple of screenings and I told her I didn’t want to be on that medication anymore. She took me off of it with the proper amount of time between dosages so I would get sick from it and told me to set appointments with a counselor or herself so they could track my mood as I got off of it. As I went off of the medication I felt less depressed and irritable and as I met with the counselor she said that I didn’t need to be on that high of a dosage of a medication and that she did not think that I had borderline personality disorder or major depression. She said the only thing she could see that I had was a little bit of anxiety and that I could go on a little bit of medication for that or start to learn some cop

I only had two visits with her before switching to a different doctor. In those two visits she wasted my time and did not really set any goals or accomplish anything mildly productive. She lacks empathy and acts like she knows everything. Doesn’t compromise with patients so if you don’t do exactly what she says she just won’t treat you. She made a comment in front of my mother that very obviously alluded to something I asked to be kept confidential which caused issues between me and my mom on the car ride home.

Dr. Sukiennik saw our 16 year old son for depression and anxiety, which was diagnosed after a battery of tests by the practice she works at. Medication was prescribed. When my son complained that the medication seemed to be making him worse, Dr. Sukiennik discounted the notion and increased the dosage, saying he didn’t have a high enough dosage to be making him worse. When he again complained that the higher dosage was making him feel worse, she again discounted his and our concerns and increased the dosage of the medication. She did this one more time, I believe. At our last appointment with Dr. Sukiennik, our son told her it was the worst he’d felt and he didn’t want to take the medication any longer. He had fleeting thoughts of suicide, but was not suicidal. We were all certain it was the medication doing this. Well, Dr. Sukkienik must get a kick-back from the hospitals, because at that appointment all she pushed was immediate inpatient hospitalization. My husband, an LCPC with 40+… years in the mental health field, was confident our son would be safe at home with us. As soon as he wasn’t present, however, Dr. Sukiennik tried to scare and almost bully me into hospitalizing my son, who by now was having the worst meltdown I’d ever seen, because he didn’t know what was going on. She had promised in the very beginning to take him off the medication if the symptoms got worse, and here she was pushing the meds and now trying to force hospitalization. Dr. Sukiennik refused to be our son’s doctor anymore because we didn’t follow “medical advice” and hospitalize him. She did, however, write another script for the same meds. Geez. Fast forward. Our son stopped the meds cold turkey and was so much better within a few days. He is in a partial hospitalization program (9am-3pm M-F) and still sees his therapist where Dr. Sukkienik works. His therapist found our son to NOT be a danger to himself and thought this was a great solution for his depression and anxiety. Our son has a new doctor and started on different meds a few days ago. We are hoping for the best. As for Dr. Sukiennik, she is truly in the wrong profession. That, or she just lacks a lot of experience!

Dr. Sukiennik was quite professional in her care with me. I had a few other visits with other providers in the past. However, Dr. Sukiennik diagnostically clarified my case and I was finally placed on the correct medication regimen. She was very thorough during her evaluation and took the time to listen carefully to what I was saying. she subsequently explained her diagnosis and treatment plan to me in a way I could understand. I was very pleased with the care she provided me.

Took me off meds that I was on for 6 years, which helped me tremendously.I begged & pleaded with her to not take me off them, she wouldn't budge. I then begged & cried for a very slow taper as a compromise. I have other diagnosis that will be exacerbated with a short taper, plus a short taper causes severe withdrawals; death and seizures being among those.She is giving me a one month taper, when the recommendation is at minimum 26 weeks.Told me to go to E.R. if I felt bad withdrawals?? I feel like I am being punished because another doctor, put me on a benzo. I feel like she wants to punish me because it is a controversial drug.She treated me like an addict, even tho I NEVER strayed from the dosing. She says the mainstream treatment is psychotherapy, and the benzo is just a "band aid", then she turns around and says that she would happily give me the Wellbutrin and Lamictal; wouldnt those be "band aids" too?? This thing/woman wouldn't address the other issues aside including panic… attacks that are bad enough to make me drive off the road, restless legs, insomnia, PMDD, tight muscles, etc...she gave me no medication for these. Counseling will NOT fix those physical issues. She said my PTSD I was diagnosed with is not true, even tho she is a student & the man that diagnosed me is 50+ years old. She said the symptoms don't fit, even tho her mother ship MAYO CLINIC says the symptoms are right on. She did not want to let my husband in the room, I suppose so she could mess with my head. She acted annoyed, she was emotionless, her tone of voice was harsh and was raised. She walked away from me when I said I wanted to get hit by a truck and die on the way home, very sarcastically she said "well lets hope that doesn't happen". She called me a liar when I said the SSRI, such as Prozac do not cause withdrawals and taper is not necessary. I felt the withdrawals.She called me a liar over many things, even tho my husband was there to back me up.She is another sub-par loser that WINONA HEALTH let in their door, because no psychiatrist is working there.