Grisolia James Santiago, MD

Very disappointed at their service. I had an appointment and besides the fact that the setting of the building been very complicated I had called to say I was a little bit behind like 5 minutes away and they said fine but very rude. I ran across the parking and the building but I made it there in less than 3 minutes this lady said I’m not taking you in because we are booked even though I waited about a month to get an appointment. I’m young but I can’t imagine them doing this to old people that wait a long time to schedule an appointment or have to ride the bus. I’m furious and I hope you guys change the way you operate your business.

Dr. Grisolia is an exceptionally gifted diagnostician. I’d been going to physical therapy for two months for pain in my left thigh and sitz bone area that wasn’t sciatica, but they didn’t know exactly what it was. Then I developed pain in my right thigh and began limping on that leg. The PT’s couldn’t figure it out, but as my symptoms continued to increase, I became concerned about worrisome possibilities (MS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, fibromyalgia). My PT agreed that seeing a neurologist was a good idea. I looked on Unilocal and choose Dr. Grisolia. I am deeply glad that I did, as I doubt that many, if any, other neuros would have correctly diagnosed me. He performed various assessments, but my symptoms weren’t fitting any consistent picture. He was calm, caring, thoughtful, took time to really listen and ask questions throughout the examination. Suddenly his face lit up and he said he just happened to know what it was by a previous interesting clinical experience, non-​neurologically related. He diagnosed me with rotated pelvis and explained the physics and anatomy that caused and accounted for my pains. He gave me a clean bill of neurological health and referred me back to Physical Therapy or, if I choose, to chiropractic care, as they are both trained to treat this condition. (It turns out that my avid slalom water skiing years ago had resulted in my right side pelvis shifting/​rotating forward, as I came up out of the water with my right foot forward). This accounted for the intense left sitz bone area pain I began experiencing on my long (3 hrs) drives back from the slalom courses outside of Barstow. A few months after I stopped skiing (about 10 years ago), the pain stopped. But about a year ago I began experiencing left inner thigh pain that I thought was a pulled tendon during one of my weekly Pilates classes – even though I’d never felt any moment of onset of injury. I kept thinking the pain would go away if I just backed off the hamstring stretches that activated the pain. But a few months later my left sitz bone area became painful while sitting at my office desk, then while driving, then while sitting on my couch at home. That’s when I headed to my doctor, who recommended physical therapy. Anyway, I will refer myself and any one I know to Dr. Grisolia. His presence, kindness, gentleness, caring and truly gifted diagnostic abilities make him a great find, a great resource – a healer thaI I can deeply trust. [I’ve worked in healthcare for 20 years, my father was a veterinarian, so I’ve known/​know a lot of doctors – he is as Good As It Gets!]

I was so disappointed. I saw Dr. Grisolia five times. I really liked him. When I was not getting better he ordered more tests. Both on the phone and in person he told me everything was perfect on the tests. When I requested a copy for my primary care physician appointment I was shocked to see that my autoimmune thyroid antibodies were 10 times higher than they should be. My primary doctor immediately sent me to an endocrinologist to get it under control. I wrote to Dr. Grisolia to ask about the findings and also to see if I should continue the treatment plan he had suggested (I was running out of sample medication and would need a RX to continue). I both faxed and mailed the letter. I had absolutely no response whatsoever! Either he missed the result or didn’t think it was important. Either way I deserved a response. I felt very betrayed. I trusted Dr. Grisolia and he couldn’t even bother to talk to me about what happened. It was such a shame as I really liked him before this incident. The complete lack of response made me lose my trust in him. If he couldn’t care enough to call or respond then how could I trust him to take care of my health problems? I hope he sees this and realizes how disappointed I was to have to go to someone else. Just a simple phone call could have saved the relationship.

I don’t understand how the other reviews can be so negative of Dr. Grisolia. Yes, he was put on probation, but it was because his wife died and he was the doctor prescribing her medication, and you are not allowed to prescribe to yourself or family. He was not put on probation because of anything he did in relation with his patients. He came very highly recommended to me by the Epilepsy Society of San Diego, and I have heard nothing but good things about him. I am a very unusual case, and some of my conditions are outside of his normal area of expertise, although they could still be addressed by a neurologist. He was very professional when I told him that I was going to be seeing another doctor for my memory problems, and still seeing him for my epilepsy. His conduct with myself and my family has always been very professional, and he has worked with me to explore a more unconventional approach. Compared with Kaiser, and what I have heard of other neurologists, he is a thousand times better, and I have been to AT LEAST a dozen other neurologists, brain surgeons, radiologists, and other professionals for my epilepsty over the last 10 years. He is by far the best I have dealt with.

Dr. Grisolia is a very rude and unprofessional physician. After my visit with him yesterday for my ongoing migraines he left me filled with emotion. The Dr. was upset that I hadn’t been back since July. I explalined that I had been out of state tending to my Aunt. (my cousin had committed suicide and she needed my help). During my visit Dr. Grisolia asked me if I had any other physicians prescribing me medication, I responded by saying «No, don’t you remember… I switched to you and you are the only doctor treating me?» He responded by saying, «I don’t know**** about you!» I haven’t seen you since June! I became very emotional and stated that I had never been yelled at by a doctor before! My husband is a physican and I expressed to Dr. Grisolia that he shouldn’t treat his patients in this manner. The doctor sent me home with a drug that expired ⁰⁷⁄₀₉ and another RX for a new medication for me to try. After taking the new drugs I had a drug interaction. I WON’T BE BACK!

awful just awful. he is put on probation. over prescribes drugs cause he is lacking any talent as a dr.