Raissa Quezado Da Nobrega

"Dr. Nobrega is not only the best provider at the GWU MFA pain management clinic, but is also the best provider I ever had. You will also hear back if you leave her a message (a rarity these days). And, you will most often here back from her team in short order. I post many reviews on Google and do not hold back on sub-par places. GWU's Pain Management clinic is not one of them, especially if you are measuring against the most important factor - your own health and recovery. If you are reading this review, it is safe to say that you are also looking for the best pain management care. And, you just found it with Dr. Nobrega."

"I was initially excited that she was joining the department as a female pain physician, of which there tend to be very few, and that she had an anesthesiology background which meant I would be able to potentially get ketamine infusions, and other pain management options I was previously told were not offered through the PM&R clinic, and had had difficulty finding as a DC Medicaid since the closure of the GWU pain clinic. Because I have a long chart history and drs. like to stereotype me as drug seeking (despite not being on any opioid medication), doctor shopping, etc., I messaged her ahead of my first appt to let her know the reasons I was coming into see her, provided her with a one page summary of relevant clinical history which I said we could go over together in our appt if needed, and also informed her that I was providing then info. since I have a mTBI, suffer from cognitive / brain fog issues which can make it difficult to recall info. clearly and concisely off the top of my head in appts. The minute she walked in, she greeted me with suspicion, asking why I needed her involvement when I'd already been seen by other PM&R drs in the dept. I explained, also stating my preference to switch to a female provider and she continued to give me a hard time, stating very clearly that she had seen in my chart that I had a history of "psychological issues" that made her very concerned about treating me. I explained the period of depression I had reported experiencing a year prior was due to uncontrolled, disabling pain and being denied access to appropriate pain management services, which any female chronic pain patient in particular can likely identify with (and more importantly, any conscientious and empathetic pain management physician should be able to identify with). I told her that I had made major improvements since getting properly diagnosed and treatment options for my mTBI, chronic post-traumatic vestibular migraines, back pain and others, and had even been cleared by a psychiatrist for a SCS, which I asked her to consider proceeding with a trial for. She refused, saying very specifically again she was not comfortable proceeding with an SCS "because of your psychological issues," and that I would need to find another pain doctor to provide it. She made it clear the only treatment she was willing offer was ketamine, despite making it clear that there was at least a year-long waitlist for it. I asked if she would then be willing to prescribe any stronger (controlled) pain medication in the meantime (due to my previous PM&R doctor there insisting the only option left for me was to go on long-term opioid therapy), and she also said no because they were an "interventional" clinic. I look through my clinic note later, and in it once again I see that she has emphasized my history of "psychological issues" as a concern for proceeding with the SCS (despite a period of depression over chronic pain / disability issues not traditionally being an issue that disqualifies someone from being eligible for an SCS trial). She also noted in a way that clearly suggested I was trying to be intentionally difficult or non-compliant that I was "unable to recall my history of pain medications," or answer some of her other questions about my history successfully, when in reality I had both already summarized and sent all that to her via MyChart, and also referred her back to the print-out I brought many times during our appt for reference when I could feel her getting frustrated with my memory issues. Finally, she painted me out to be drug seeker by stating that I openly asked her to prescribe me narcotics, when the only reason I asked what my options were were simply because the physician she replaced told me it was my only option left; both he and her were refusing to proceed with the SCS, etc. Over 1 year later, I am still suffering without adequate pain control because GW MFA is the only current in-network clinic to offer some of these treatments, and I do not have access due to blatant disability discrimination."

"Excellent care and professional service."