Topic : 08/03 Teen Wake-Up Calls

Hey im a 16 year old high school student. I started tanning when I was 13 years old. I didn't get into the habit of tanning until i was almost 15. I am a blonde blue eyed girl with pale skin. If I stoped tanning for a period of weeks and my tan would start to fade, people / friends at school would come up to me and ask me if I was feeling okay (they thought I was sick when I wasn't). When I stop tanning my face goes back to its normal color and thats when I start getting the comments referring to my health and that I look like I am going to pass out, when really I'm feeling fine.
The point to my story is that I tan so that I will look healthy. I enjoy tanning even thought I understand the risks about it. I will still continue to tan.   

I can totally relate to the girl on Dr. Phil when she said that she tells her mom she'll just have to marry rich. Funny thing is thats what my mom tells Me as a joke.  

   

   

For the girl who is sleeping around....I am a 20 year mother of a 2 year old girl and have one on the way. Thankfully I am married....but this could have been a much worse story. I started having sex when I was 14. It was fun, it was something that we all just did. I payed attention in school and learned about unprotected sex. I just figured, for what ever reason, that I wasn't going to get anything. I slept with around 21 guys in the first year of me having sex. I have been taken advantage of and raped. All because I was young and chose to put myself in situations that were unsafe. I'm not saying that those guys don't deserve to get their butt kicked or what ever is comming their way....but I acknowledge that there were things I could have done differently. I shouldn't have been at a party drinking and getting high at 14 anyways. And I should have been a lot more smart. But lets face it...we learn through our mistakes. And I'd like you to take the opportunity to learn from mine now!  

I was diagnosed with HPV when I was 15. It was my first pap smear ; if you haven't had one you need to get one ASAP! I didn't even know what it was. HPV (human papilloma virus) is a sexually transmitted virus. There is NO CURE for it. Over 80% of the female population in the United States is infected with at least one strain. And there are over 80 different strains. Some strains are worse than others...causing things like genital warts and carrying a high risk for cervical cancer. THEY DO NOT TEST MEN! So even if a male says that he has been tested and he's clean....HE ISN'T. or at least he has the possibility of not being clean. They only do certain tests as standard STD tests and there are  more that they don't test for. You should be tested also after every new partner that you have.  

I know that you probably aren't going to stop having sex, but you need to be smart about it. You need to use protection and you need to think about what will happen if you do become pregnant. Making the choice to have sex is also making the choice to bring a baby into this world...potentially. You can never be 100% safe unless you are abstinent. So don't think that just because you take birth control and use condoms that it can't happen. You have to know what you will do if that situation arises. And you need to think about yourself and your health a little more. The only reason a guy that is 27 wants anything to do with a girl who is 16 or 17 is to sleep with them. They use you for sex. I've been there and I know. And maybe you're okay with that...but BE SMART about it. And be careful who you meet and the situations you put yourself in! Take care of yourself!  

Sweetie it shouldn't matter what others think of you. Yes, I know that you want to feel attractive and dare I say it, sexy. But you need to stop confusing looking healthy with actually being healthy. Is it really worth it to pretend to be healthy by tanning and exposing your body to dangerous UV rays that affect so many different parts of your body and your health? Take the time to really think about what you are doing. I, too, am a pale skinned...swear I look like a sheet of paper...blue eyed, and blonde haired woman. I am 20 and I didn't really see what was wrong with tanning for a long time. My husband tried his best to get me to understand the severity of tanning. It never really sank in until today. Watching the show and seeing what you'll look like when you're older and knowing that it's not something that just happens to other people. This can really affect us. We need to take pride in who we are! Not try to be something we aren't. A lot of men find milky white skin attractive. Don't think that just because you aren't tan you're going to look terrible. Check into concealer for under your eyes, where you'll probably have dark circles, and different types of make-ups. It's well worth it to keep yourself away from those UV rays...you'll appreciate it when you're older!

     My uncle who is only 65 has basal cell cancer, this is the type of skin cancer that leaves sores, and eats at the skin, lost half his face, and eye to this type of skin cancer.  They though the got it all back in 2001.  No he didn't go through radiation after the surgery.  Well in Febuary they, the VA doctors, found a mass in his brain, and did immediate surgery, and took out a tumor the size of softball.  However, the tumor was so large, that it had mingled with the brain tissue.  They only have given him months to live. Now, today he is back at the VA due to extremem pain  going from his brain down his spine, he is losing weigh, his personality has started to change too.  This has especially hard on his mother who is 84.  My middle son who just turned 6, he calls him Papaw...and David had promise to teach him how to play golf, take him fishing when he gets older, ect.  Well, there is no getting older, there is no tomorrows....the tomorrows are gone.  In reality, and in my gut i would be surprised if he lives for another month.  He is going down hill very quickly.  The 6 year old is doing good with the death part of it, but i know that Ethan is going to miss him terrible, for he calls David, his Bestest Buddy.  On his birthday, David told Ethan that he won't be around to do all the things that he was promised, that Papaw isn't doing very well.   But when you come to heaven we will do all those things, i promise.  

So please don't think that being in the sun is not going to hurt you, or even worse hurt the people that love you.

Maria....in Indiana 

People ask you if you're feeling okay because your skin is fair?  That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!!  I am a 26 yr. old redhead with green eyes and I have what is consider as porcelain skin and I have never been asked if I was feeling okay because of it.  I've actually had people compliment me on it!  I can get a nice color from just tanning outside but I chose not to because the last thing I want is to look incredibly aged beyond my years.  Not only that but I've found that people with fair skin tones tend to look much younger then their actual age which is a bonus when you are older.  I should know because I've had people assume that I am in my mid teens even though I'm in my twenties.  If you keep tanning just so you can "appear" to look healthy I wouldn't be surprised if you look like you're in your 50's when you're in your late 20's.

I agree 100% Well said. I am glad you have done well with your life! A lot of teens could use a montor like you!

this girl just needed a helping hand, and guidance to move on, this level of help was over the top, yet so be it, steady as she goes...

I want to first say that all the teens on today's show are extremely brave to have even showed up to be on National Television with their problems.  I also commend the parents that they made the first step or the final step to help their children. 

  

I wished that someone like Dr. Phil was around for me during my trying teen years.  But then I would not be the person I am today.  However, I started with depression in my early teens, which I did not know that was what it was then until I was much older and all the pressure built up and all the problems took hold of me and exploded in my mind at the age of 34 and never thought I would ever get back "myself" again. 

  

The challanges these teens and families have ahead of them will by no means be easy sometimes, but just Hang on for dear life and you will be able to make it.  If not the first time, just "pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again!"  You can make it.  You can do it. 

  

I am a recovering alcoholic/prescription drug addict with 21 years clean and sober.  I lost both my children, almost lost my marriage and myself.  It has not been easy sometimes, but I kept on going and I still keep on going.   

  

I wish all of you the best and hope that you will do your best, try your best and do it all over again when you need to. 

  

One phrase that my grandmother used to say to me and I never really understood until I was much older is "Can't couldn't til try taught him how and I will did it!"  I have stood by this for a lot of years and use it for my kids, grandkids and anyone else that may need it. 

  

Good luck all, 

Helen   

 As I was watching the  home video of the girl that tans too much,  I noticed that her mother seems to have and enlarged thyroid.  It may seem strange that I noticed it, but my two older sisters have both had their thyroids removed (one cancerous and one not) and they both looked like the girl's mother.  The right side of  her neck  looked larger than the left.  I certainly hope that I am wrong but I thought  I would mention it.

I know how it feels to want to be tan. I am almost reflective without one. I have found that most sunless tanning products make me orange. However, I have found a company that has a product that does not turn you orange at all (I have never seen anyone appear to be orange that I know of that has tried it. My sister is even more sensitive to tanning products than I am and this product doesn't turn her orange.) I'm not sure if I can tell the name of the company on the website, but if you are interested in finding out about it, I would be happy to share it with you. It's not worth the risks to get it from the sun or a tanning bed, and thanks to some amazing products we don't have to harm ourselves to get the look.