Duke Innovative Pain Therapies at Brier Creek

Dr. Alonso has absolutely changed my life! My occipital neuralgia debilitated me and was interfering with my daily life and I couldn’t live without being in constant pain. The nerve blocks he does on me have me living normally again! He is very gentle and explains everything before doing it. He is incredibly intelligent and talented. If you need a nerve block, he is the one to go to!!!! His assistant Loreal is an absolute ANGEL!!! I was having a terrible day and she completely turned it around. She gave me a hug and told me everything was going to be okay. My sunglasses broke while I was in the office and she went into the back and gave me new ones!!! She held my hand during the nerve block and we made fantastic conversation. She is incredibly kind and understanding. I have never met an assistant as kind as her! She is an absolute gem and an incredible person. If you get the pleasure of meeting her you definitely won’t regret it!

I’ve seen four different providers here and they are all great. Patient-centered, attentive. They give me space to communicate and ask questions and are thoughtful in their approach to treatment. It has changed my life for the better. If you go, go with an open mind. There is a lot to learn. A couple downsides to the clinic: difficulty getting callbacks, lack of screening for trauma histories, they no longer have acupuncture or biofeedback in house, and the psychologist is often wonderful but may not always be attentive/can be pushy about method. If you are waiting to be seen, because it takes a while to get into your first appointment (but after that is much much easier to schedule and PT can be scheduled through the app) or are looking for additional tools, you can also check out the Curable app, as well as two podcasts: Tell Me About Your Pain, and Like Mind Like Body. Keep in mind that treating your MIND and becoming educated about chronic pain is PART OF pain treatment. It is not ever just physical. A major drawback: customer service. It is so hard to get a callback, voicemails don't do anything, I have to cross my fingers every time. Getting in touch with the insurance coordinator is so difficult, and now I've talked with them more than once about the same problem and it still hasn't been resolved. One time I had a mid-afternoon appointment and several people were waiting outside; the door was locked. We knocked and called the phone and called through the door for help and messaged our providers through MyChart. Half and hour went by before the door was opened. ??? No explanation given. Unfortunately, insurance companies do not want to cover pain/TMJ/TMD and will make it difficult and call everything "experimental"; you will need to be vigilant about getting your claims processed correctly, ASK for a pre-approval estimate for procedures and devices, don't give up, and be warned that insurance companies sometimes have provisions like "you need to try X number of medications before we will cover Y procedures." Keep looking in the direction of the positive, and find some community acupuncture you can go to!

I’ve been receiving treatment for my oral facial pain at Duke Innovative Pain Therapies, and Dr. Daniela Vivaldi has been instrumental in my journey. Her clinical excellence is exceptional, and her attentive approach, combined with clear treatment plans, has significantly impacted my well-being. However, I must acknowledge some administrative challenges. The front desk, scheduling team, and financial estimate team are not great, which can detract from the fabulous clinical staff. Initial appointment wait times are long. But once you’re past that hurdle, subsequent appointments follow the treatment plan, with room for emergencies. Putting the negatives behind you, the care you’ll receive here is life-changing. Dr. Vivaldi’s expertise and commitment shine through, making this practice a valuable resource for pain management.

I cannot understand why their rating is so low. This is one of the most caring places I have been to. From the moment I made contact with Justice at the front desk, she went above and absolutely beyond to get me an appointment and has continued to be so refreshingly helpful and caring. On a side note, my husband and I have now made it a little bit of a habit to bring homemade cookies whenever we go to an appointment. Dr. Alonso is one of the best doctors I have had contact with in a very long time. I have been suffering for well over a year and have seen doctor after doctor, many of which blew me off. My first appointment was almost 2 hours and he listened to everything I had to say and did not once dismiss any of my complaints and took everything I said seriously. After over a year of seeing too many doctors, Dr. Alonso made me feel hopeful for the first time in a long time. He gave me a treatment that day to try to help with my pain and after a week when I still felt bad, I sent him an email and he got me in within a week to give me a different treatment that helped immensely. To sum it up, this place has been life saving to me and continues to be there for me. My advice is the give them a try and if you disagree with my assessment, don't go back. But I hope you will be just as happy as I am with the clinic, the staff, and especially the doctors.

My first attempt at getting an appointment was four weeks ago. I submitted the online form requesting an appointment. I received no response. A week later, I left a message on their voicemail. No response. A few days later, I called again and finally got a real person on the phone. She said that new patients needed a referral to see their staff. Great! Why didn’t they put this on their voicemail or on their website? Four days later, my doctor faxed my referral. I waited three workdays and of course, no response. I called again and spoke to the receptionist, and she said your paperwork was sent to one of the Drs, and they need time to review it, and they will get back to you. It has now been six workdays since that conversation. I GIVE UP. Apparently, they are not interested in having me as a patient. I went through Duke for my cancer treatments and received A+ customer service from all areas. I don’t know what is happening here, but it’s not cool. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.