Interventional Spine & Pain Management

Allison is the best ! She listens to me and answers any question I may have! You will have to do drug testing but as long as you do what your suppose to everything will be fine! Dr. Rosenfeld is a great dr. He may need to work on bedside manners but once you get to know him you understand where he is coming from. They are always nice and very helpful!

My orthopedic surgeon referred me to Dr. Robin Fowler at Interventional Spine & Pain Management. Dr. Fowler is double board certified in anesthesiology and pain management and is also the director of four pain management facilities in Georgia. He performs about 3,000 epidurals a year.
Dr. Fowler works at several different offices. He is only at his Atlanta office (on Howell Mill) on Thursdays. I saw him at his Atlanta office for three visits, all for epidural injections.
Before my first appointment, I was emailed a pre-​registration packet, which I printed and filled out. It was several pages long. I had the completed forms ready as well as a copy of my MRI films when I showed up for my appointment. This made check-​in a breeze.
My first appointment was at 4:30pm, but my name was not called until 5:15pm and I did not get the actual injections until 6:15pm. Dr. Fowler’s staff was apologetic for the wait and gave me a $ 25 Visa Gift Card for my troubles. They assured me this was not the norm. A morning procedure lasted longer than expected, which caused a domino effect of backups.
My second appointment was at 9:30am and I was called to the back on time. I was in and out of the office in about 1.5 hours. My third appointment was at 1:00pm. I was their first appointment after lunch and was in and out in about 1 hour.
Before I went into the operating room each time, Dr. Fowler met with me to talk about the procedure and answered all my questions (and I had a lot). He is a nice, energetic, and straight-​shooting doctor (41 years old) and seems to know his stuff.
I chose to go with local anesthesia (numbing) instead of sedation for all of my injections. Dr. Fowler recommends most people get fully sedated for their epidurals just so they are more comfortable. Only about 1 in 20 go for local anesthesia.
I went with local anesthesia because I didn’t want to deal with the pre and post-​sedation routine (e.g. eating/​drinking restrictions, inability to drive several hours after the procedure, etc.). Local anesthesia takes less time (essentially no recovery period) and you don’t need someone to accompany you to your appointment and drive you home.
The obvious downside to local anesthesia is you are awake while the doctor is sticking 22 gauge spinal needles into your back. Even though he applies a numbing agent, you still feel some pain, pressure, and discomfort. So you should be cognizant and prepared for it if you choose this method.
Because I had multiple disc herniations, Dr. Fowler gave me injections at three locations. At each location, he injected a numbing agent, a contrast agent (so he could see inside of me on the X-​ray machine), the steroids, and a local anesthetic. The actual procedure lasted about 5 minutes each time and all of them went well.
Dr. Fowler and his medical assistants spoke to me throughout the procedures. There was one point where Dr. Fowler intentionally applied some pressure to one of my nerve roots, causing immense pain to radiate down my right leg. That was the worst part. Other than that, everything went great.
At the conclusion of my procedures, I had one follow-​up visit with Allison Smith, FNP-​C (Nurse Practitioner) at Dr. Fowler’s office. It was more of a formality than anything as she referred me back to my orthopedist. I felt that this appointment was not really needed.
Dr. Fowler and his entire staff were knowledgeable, efficient, and pleasant. I wish I knew all their names so I can mention them here. Jeff was very helpful and informative during post-​op. On my first two visits, he gave me printouts of my reports and X-​rays to take home. On my third visit, there was an older lady who seemed a little reluctant to give me these printouts — not sure why, but after asking again, I was able to get them.
Parking is $ 3 unless you are getting a procedure done.
I hope you never need an epidural, but if you do, Dr. Fowler’s office is a good choice.