Topic : 07/11 What’s Up, Doc?

As a future Doctor, this post upsets and scares me.  First of all, if your Dr. is not listening to what you are saying, then you need to find another Dr.  The health history is one of the most important factors in making a diagnosis.  My response to you is to try an Osteopathic Physician.  Not only are they trained the same as MD, but they are also trained in Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy (a type of therapy similar to Physical therapy and chiropractic care that involves no medications and can often aleviate aches and pains without medication).  Along with the training listed above, Osteopathic training specifically focuses on patient centered care and the natural balance of the human body.  Osteopathic Physicians (DO's) can do anything a regular MD can do including surgery, prescriptions, etc.  Many people may already be seeing a DO and just dont know it.  If you would like to learn more about Osteopathic Physicians, check out the American Osteopathic Association Website at : www.osteopathic.org

  As far as the charges for office visits, I do agree that they are expensive from your perspective.  From our perspective, after paying $400,000 to go to medical school you have to have a way to afford your student loan bills.  I think the solution is for the government to find a way to help medical students get through school while initiating some new healthcare assistance.  I know that when I graduate I will be paying $4000 a month in student loans, even during my residency when I will only make $37,000 a year.  Many students have to defer these loans during residency which allows them to grow to half a million dollars by the time they get their first real paycheck.  Im not saying anyone should feel sorry for us, because we made a choice.  I just wish people would understand that I have invested nearly half a million dollars in my education just so that I can serve my community as a physician.  I understand that there are HUGE problems in the healthcare system.  Half of the reason office visits are getting so expensive is because so many people dont have insurance and dont pay for thier visits.  When you work out of your own office and half of your patients have no insurance and dont pay, you cant afford to stay in practice.

   My last comment in this post is that I am totally stunned that a physician and Dr. Phil would go on national television and call a post pregnancy belly a "medical problem".  Hundreds and hundreds of us live with this every day.  We all would love to go and have it surgically removed, but there are more important things in life.  I realize that some people are uncomfortable with their bodies and if you have tons of extra money lying around, then go for it.  But I was really offended that they made a father of 4 who worked hard to support his family feel like a bad person cause he wouldnt pay $8000 for his wife to have a tummy tuck.  I come from a huge family, and I know that $ 8000 could mean years of family vacations cancelled.  It is nice that Dr. Phil paid for this woman, but I have to agree with the husband, it is not a necessary procedure, and if you are on a tight budget or have 4 kids, I think the money could be better spent.  A heart transplant is necessary, a mastectomy for a breast cancer is necessary, a tummy tuck is NOT MEDICALLY NECESSARY.

How  can you have a woman on the show - that do not work  - out in the "real world" everyday - talking about a "tummy tuck".   Please, give me a break.   Working at home is not the same as working in the "real world" and I am tired of  people saying it is.   Working on jobs you don't like, dealing with people that are hard to get along with,  trying to make a decent living is no picnic.  I would love to have a "tummy tuck", and I work everyday (2 jobs)  in the real world.   Where do I sign up for "TUMMY TUCKS"?  I am tired of hearing about some women crying about things that are not complete (whole) in their little world.

Please tell the couple who are trying so hard to have a baby they need to relax, quit thinking about getting pregnant, and enjoy themselves.

When we were first married 48 years ago, we wanted to have children right away and since it didn't happen immediately, we began to stress about it and do whatever the medical community knew to do back in those days.  It did indeed sort of become a job.  We lived on a farm.  One of the ewes had twin lambs and wouldn't "own" one.  I began feeding it with a bottle, which had to be done on a regular schedule day and night.  Getting pregnant kind of went to the bottom of the list, as this sweet fluffy little orphan was depending on me for it's life.     The lamb gradually began to thrive and one morning as I was bending over to feed it, I noticed I was very nauseated.   This continued to get worse and lo and behold I found out I was pregnant.  My husband thinks feeding the lamb brought  out my maternal instinct.  I think just forgetting about trying so hard was what did the trick.  PS  The lamb lived on to have lambs of it's own.

I am a mother of a 10 year old who also suffers from encompresis. For years, I thought it was me, that I didn't potty train him right. I have even yelled at him for having "accidents", punished him even grounded him. Let me explain it as best as I can to those who have rushed to judgement and made comments on here about this without even knowing what it is or why it happens.

When you have a "normal" bowel movement your sphincters in your anal area are what help keep the Stool in until you feel the urge to go to the bathroom. When children who suffer from encompresis have accidents it is because they, most likely for years have been constipated to where their stool stretches out their anal opening, sphincters and nerves therefore making it impossible for them to feel the need to go, and being able to hold their stool in.

They aren't lazy!!!!!!!!! They aren't nasty kids!!!!!!!! There is nothing wrong with them!!!!!!!

I have just recently after years and years of my child having "accidents" received some great advice from his new doctor.

2x a day, I have to have my son go do his "excercises" (this is what we call them). He has to go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet (for at least 10 min) and PUSH! Where everyone is taught NOT to strain when having a bowel movement Kids with encompresis have to strain so that they can clean themselves out and utimately reduce the size of their anal opening. Eventually their sphincters and nerves will reduce in size. It's amazing too! The size of the stool of one who suffers from encompresis is unbelievable. After only a week of excercises the size of my childs stool reduced also.

Now, the rule in our home before he can do ANYTHING is that he has to do his "excercises"

I hope this can help someone who has loved ones that suffer from this! Try it! Start doing the "excercises" that I mention above and Trust that you will start to see differences.

Best of luck!

I went through this with my daughter, with the constipation from birth to age 6, and she saw a doctor regularly since birth, it took my daughter at least twice as long as normal to potty train, she wore pull-ups up to age 5, she was on the laxative until age 6, i sympathize with these people, it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO frustrating, and you feel SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad as a parent every time they get a sore bottom, but you take care of it, and make sure that they are clean so that that they don't get sore and don't get smelly. You make sure they take the laxative every single day, because if you don't and they have a hard bowel it will be painful and will set them back. But i must "judge" as you say.  YOU DON'T WAIT UNTIL AGES 9 AND 15 BEFORE SEEING A DOCTOR FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!!!!!!!