Clinicians Who Care

Dr Sackheim is a pain management specialist. In a word, she is excellent. She has been so supportive and kind in her treatment of my severe chronic pain. I have severe endometriosis, ankylosing spondylitis and hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. These are incurable illnesses that cause severe pain on their own, so all together they are no picnic. She made it clear that I will have this pain for the rest of my life unless there’s major advancements in medicine. Of course, I already knew that but it was incredibly validating to hear that from a physician When I came to her, I was walking with a cane at age 31. I was essentially bedridden and only leaving my apartment for doctor’s appointments and ER visits. I was living in horrible pain and truly suffering. She heard my full story and was horrified at how other doctors had left me to suffer. She told me that she left her position at NYU’s pain clinic because she felt she was doing more harm than good by not being allowed to prescribe pain medications to people like me. She said that the other doctors were being cruel to me. I burst into tears when she said that because no doctor until her was willing to treat me what meds that actually help. She respects my pain and treats me with kindness and compassion. Many pain doctors make their patients jump through hoops to get effective pain medications but she has never done that. She does do injections but never put pressure on me to try it. She does not subject me to demeaning monthly urine tests. My monthly visits are online, although I’m sure she has patients she sees in person every month. These visits are usually quite short unless we need to make changes to my meds. She understands that my medication does not get me high but that it reduces my pain to make life more livable. We work together to find the most effective combination of medications for my pain. When I have had flare up, she does not have a problem with prescribing more medication to keep me out of the hospital. The only down side about seeing Dr Sackheim is that she costs a small fortune. Like most private practice doctors in NYC, she does not take insurance and is out of network. I am incredibly grateful that I can afford to see her because her willingness to effectively treat my pain has changed my life for the better. I am still disabled and still have pain, but my overall pain is so much more manageable. I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone suffering with chronic pain. She is a compassionate and truly kind doctor who is not afraid to treat her patients with medications that actually work. Anyone with chronic pain knows how hard that is to find these days.