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Nov. 1, 2023 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:39
A Mother's Mission: Diagnosing Mental Illness | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 6 | Full Episode
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School shootings.
A national crisis.
I am Adam Lenz's mother.
I am Dylan Klebold's and Eric Harris's mother.
A Dr. Oz daytime exclusive.
Imagine seeing your child put a knife at your throat.
Her biggest fear.
Could her son be the next school shooter?
The moment I learned about Newtown.
My very first thought.
What if that's my son someday?
A Dr. Oz you will never forget.
Next.
Today, I'm shining a spotlight on the mental illness epidemic across America.
It's not something we feel comfortable talking about, but we all need to.
I don't want to wait until the next tragedy to start this conversation.
I want everyone to meet a mother who wrote the blog heard around the world.
The title?
I am Adam Lanza's mother.
My very first thought is I saw those horrific pictures of Mothers, fathers, children was, what if that's my son someday?
I realized pretty early on that something was different with my child.
Michael crawled differently.
He slept differently.
He would wake up in the middle of the night with night terrors.
He would just have really long crying periods.
Temper tantrums are normal for two-year-olds, but a three- to four-hour temper tantrum wasn't.
So I'd go to my pediatrician and I would tell her all these things at well-child checkups.
I'd say, something just doesn't feel right to me.
And I heard what so many moms hear.
Oh, he's just a boy.
Or, oh, he'll grow out of it.
And he didn't.
He didn't grow out of it.
So by the time we got to kindergarten, we already had so many severe behavioral problems that the school actually had a special plan in place to get the other children out of the classroom safely if my son, my five-year-old son, had a meltdown.
In second grade, we started down the medication path.
My bright, beautiful, fun, sweet little boy became a zombie.
He put on 30 pounds in less than a year.
And unfortunately for us, those medications did not control Michael's rages.
They started to escalate.
The first time that he pulled out a knife, Michael was 9 or 10. Imagine as a parent that you've seen your child pull a knife out and put it in its own throat, that he's put a knife at your throat.
Imagine what it feels like to see your 11-year-old son with three police officers trying to control him to put handcuffs on him and put him in a police car.
And you have to do that just so you can get your kid help.
Two days before Newtown, I had had to send Michael to an acute care psychiatric hospital the moment I learned about Newtown.
I put my head down on my desk and I just started to cry.
And later that night I wrote, I wrote the truth.
I am Adam Lanz's mother.
I am Dylan Klebold's and Eric Harris's mother.
I am James Holmes's mother.
I am Jared Laughner's mother.
I am Sung Weecho's mother.
And these boys and their mothers need help.
You okay, Eliza?
Yeah.
It's tough to watch.
Thanks.
It is hard to watch.
It was hard to read, even.
I'm sure much harder to write.
That blog went viral.
It made two million views, 20,000 tweets.
Why did you decide to go public with your son's illness?
When I wrote those words, I am Adam Lanza's mother, I was telling a truth to myself.
And that truth was, if you want to blame Nancy Lanza, Then blame me.
I'm a mom who loves her son.
And no mother holds their new baby in their arms and even imagines that something like Sandy Hook could happen.
But when I wrote those words, I was scared.
I felt very alone.
I didn't know how to get help for my son, and there's nothing more frustrating in the whole world.
The first time that I wrote the piece, it actually was anonymous.
And a friend of mine, Nathaniel Hoffman at Boise State University's Blue Review, called me up and said, I want this piece.
I want to publish it.
I said, sure, you can publish it.
And he said, I want you to put your name on it.
He said, until people are willing to put their names on these stories, it's not real.
What does your son feel about being identified?
About people knowing his story?
It's been an interesting journey with my son.
Obviously, as a mother, it's one of my greatest concerns.
I continue to use a pseudonym for him.
I do in the book.
I call him Michael.
But the number one thing I want people to know, that my son wants people to know, Dr. Oz, is he is not a bad kid.
He is a sweet, bright, sensitive little boy who has a mental illness, and he needs help, and he deserves the same happy, productive life that all children deserve.
I identified as a father with the story, because as you described, we see these beings we've ripped into existence and we love them so dearly.
But you write about being terrified of Michael.
The day that I wrote the blog, my arms were covered in bruises.
I tried to restrain him from running into traffic a few days before.
He was getting bigger and I didn't know how I was going to be able to handle the problem on my own.
I think in a way I sent a cry for help screaming into the internet abyss and very few people would ever think anyone would listen.
But to my surprise, I heard an overwhelming echo.
So many people responded saying, that's my story.
I'm Adam Lanz's mother too.
I'm his sister.
I'm his brother.
What were the clues that you had that they were also resonating to?
What's the toolkit for figuring out if your child is like this?
The challenge is it's so complicated because, you know, you start down the journey when your child's very young.
And Michael is my second son.
He has an older brother and also two younger siblings.
But I just noticed things were different.
And the challenge for me was that I would bring this up to his pediatrician and say, you know, something's Different.
And she'd say, well, he's just a boy or, oh, he'll outgrow that someday.
And, you know, by kindergarten, he wasn't outgrowing those behaviors.
And by third grade, they were getting really severe.
We had to call the police on him for the first time when he was in third grade.
I don't know if people can really imagine what that's like, to have to call the police on your son in third grade.
What had he done?
On that day it pulled a knife out on a babysitter and I should have probably got wise to this sooner and put the knives away, which I do now.
The sharp implements in my home now travel with me.
So what do doctors say is wrong?
What were they saying back then?
In the early stages, we looked at autism spectrum disorder.
A lot of parents take the same journey.
He went through a slew of diagnoses.
ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder.
Just one diagnosis after another and nothing seemed to fit.
And of course there were the medications that came along with that.
It's almost a will it stick game for doctors.
Oh, let's throw this antipsychotic at him and see if it works.
So, was there any help that came after you wrote the blog?
Have you figured out what's wrong?
It was the most amazing thing that happened about sharing my story and it's why I encourage other people to speak up for their kids.
After the blog went viral, and bear in mind we still had no idea what was wrong with my son at that point, an expert in juvenile bipolar disorder reached out to me and said, I think your son has bipolar disorder.
And a few months later, he had to go back to the hospital after a manic episode.
He was diagnosed with bipolar 1. He was prescribed lithium, and he has done remarkably well on that treatment.
So for more than a year and a half, no threats of harm to self or others, not a single one.
That's unbelievable.
It is unbelievable.
It's help and hope.
It is healthy, but I'm stunned that it would take that long to make a diagnosis.
It seems like one of the more common ones.
Right.
Just to go back on this, you were saying that the doctors who were taking care of him were searching for a cocktail that would work magically on him.
Sure.
And they didn't find that.
Well I think in some ways that the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in young children is still kind of a stigmatizing disorder and this is a frustrating thing for me because again we came out of that world of autism where initially they thought that my son might have an autism spectrum disorder and you know it's almost like there are okay mental illnesses to have and then there are mental illnesses that aren't okay.
I want to say it's one conversation, it's one brain.
How's he doing now?
He's doing amazingly well.
So after starting the lithium treatment a year and a half ago, and he also has other therapies, including occupational therapy.
He has talk therapy as well.
I feel like that's important.
But he's doing great.
He's going back to a mainstream high school and everything is just going so well for us.
He just finished writing a book.
Your son.
He did.
He's 14. Can I just say, Liza, you're not alone.
I think I think everybody on this.
More than 50% of adolescents with psychiatric disorders receive no treatment.
Not a zilch treatment of any sort.
Forget about the times you get it wrong.
That's why it's so important.
That's why we're talking about this today.
I know there are a lot of parents out there who can hear my voice who are struggling to get answers.
A diagnosis is the right combination of medications combined with the right ideas to treat them with that can help your kid.
I mean, that's amazing.
That you can go from thinking he's going to be in jail to making plans for him for college, probably.
That's exactly what it's like.
It's like my whole world has changed.
We were just living in isolation and fear.
I had no idea what the future would hold for my son.
And now I'm able to think about the same things that every parent wants for their child.
And that's what I want for all parents.
I want you to know that you have got to speak up and you've got to fight for your kids.
If you feel like something's wrong, you have got to ask for help.
And keep asking.
And keep asking until you get the answer that works for you.
Hallelujah.
Right?
Thank you.
What was the official disconnect?
What's the reason they're giving that this could happen?
That parents and doctors aren't connecting?
I think there are a lot of challenges in the system, Dr. Oz, and you probably could speak to this as well as I could.
But in some respects, it starts with the pediatrician, right?
It starts with that initial point of contact.
I think we need earlier interventions for kids.
We need better training.
We just have got to be able to connect parents to solutions and to resources.
And sadly, in this nation, we have a long way to go to make sure that people have access to care.
I cannot tell you how proud I am to have you on this show.
Thank you so much for having me.
For speaking out about this.
And I wish you the best of luck with your son.
I hope this is an anthem for so many out there who are looking for answers and haven't found it.
You just keep looking and keep looking and keep looking.
It's worth it.
Thank you.
Good luck to you.
I've written a fantastic book.
It's called The Price of Silence.
A Mom's Perspective on Mental Illness is in storage right now.
We'll be right back.
Coming up next, you may be at risk.
Nearly 30 million of you have it.
And another 50 million of you, they have it and not even know it.
The health epidemic that's caught the medical community completely off guard.
Who's most at risk?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Oz puts America's sleep crisis to bear.
Plus, Joan Rivers' death.
What went wrong?
Every time I go under, I say the same thing.
Be careful.
I am the only one my daughter has.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Big medical news.
A new public health threat could be making millions of you sick.
Fatty liver disease.
The numbers of affected people are growing at alarming rates.
And the scariest part, it can be deadly.
Even if you drink little or no alcohol.
It's the epidemic that has caught the medical community completely by surprise.
30 years ago, it was a rare diagnosis in this country.
But today, nearly 30 million of you have it.
And another 50 million of you may have it and not even know it.
The diagnosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
And the cause?
The standard American diet.
High in fat, sugar and carbs.
If you're among the two in three Americans who are overweight or obese, you're at risk.
All those extra calories fill your liver with fat, causing inflammation and scarring.
They can cause your liver to shut down and fail.
And there's no end in sight.
Doctors fear as obesity rates rise, fatty liver disease will spiral further out of control in the next few years, making this disease the leading cause of liver transplants in this country.
The facts as we know them.
It affects nearly 30 million Americans.
In the past 20 years, it has more than doubled in young adults.
Progression can lead to liver failure.
Dr. Robin Chutkin is an integrative gastroenterologist who's seen the rise in these cases firsthand.
What is the status now?
It's been elevated, I understand, to an epidemic.
That's right.
So fatty liver disease is directly related to the obesity epidemic, and with two out of three Americans overweight and one out of three Americans obese, it's not surprising that we're seeing this dramatic increase in fatty liver disease.
Who's most at risk?
So anybody who's overweight can be at risk, and in fact, we've even seen fatty liver disease in normal weight people, but it's a particular type of obesity or being overweight.
People who are what we call an apple shape, who have a lot of central obesity, people who tend to put a lot of weight on around the middle, If it's accompanied by an elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes or prediabetes, those are additional risk factors.
And even a small increase in weight.
So it's not just people who are significantly overweight.
Gaining 20 pounds can increase your risk for fatty liver disease by 10%.
So Dr. Chuck is speaking to a lot of us, because that's where many of us live, which is why so many of us are afflicted by this.
Maybe if I can show you why I find this so concerning.
This...
Is a normal looking liver.
And you'll notice it's brown.
It's because it's normally supposed to be metabolizing things like bile.
So a greenish material, brownish material that actually makes your poop brown.
And it's supposed to be this color when it's not being irritated.
But when it has too much fat in it, it looks like this.
You see how it's paled out here?
This is from fat infiltration.
Literally, fat is growing inside the liver cells and engorging them, and ultimately it begins to scar the liver, so it turns to cirrhosis.
Even though most of you think you have to drink alcohol to have cirrhosis, what Dr. Chuck is teaching us is you can be a non-drinker and still develop this problem, which is happening all over America.
How long does it take for this transition to happen and for this to become fatal?
Well, you know, we refer to fatty liver disease as a silent killer because so many people who have it, and we've seen the numbers are in the millions, so many people are asymptomatic.
The symptoms can be very, very non-specific, or you can have no symptoms at all.
So the symptoms include things like fatigue, weight loss or a diminished appetite, nausea, abdominal pain, particularly in the right upper quadrant where the liver is located.
As you can see, when the liver...
When it develops fat deposition, it gets enlarged, and the liver's surrounded by a dense, fibrous capsule.
So as the liver becomes enlarged with the fat in it, it stretches a capsule, and that can lead to pain.
But so many people don't realize they have it.
And the good news is that this is a progression.
So you can start out with just fat deposition in the liver, and you might stay there and never progress.
But a significant percentage of people will progress to inflammation of the liver.
And then the end stage, which is cirrhosis, and that's usually a small shrunken liver that's scarred.
And the bad news here is that cirrhosis is irreversible, unlike the first two stages.
If you're one of the 30 million Americans who has some version of this, what do you ask your doctor to do to you?
What kind of testing can prove that you have it or don't have it?
Well, certainly a good physical exam can pick up an enlarged liver by feeling in the right upper quadrant, but there's a simple blood test called the liver enzymes or liver function tests, and if it looks like it might be fatty liver disease, they'll often do an ultrasound exam or an MRI of the abdomen, so those are imaging tests that can actually show us the fat deposition in the liver.
What we generally recommend in our practice is we then put people on a very significant weight loss and dietary regimen where we try to get them to lose weight and to change their diet and we repeat the liver enzymes in about three months.
If they're back to normal, that's a good sign.
If they're not back to normal, then the next step is probably a liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis and more importantly to see whether there's inflammation or even end-stage scarring in the liver.
So I just found this scientific study.
It's talking about the role of vitamin E in particular in helping stave off the disease.
Can you explain this work?
There's a whole promise for the average viewer.
There is promise, and that's really encouraging because until now, the only treatment for fatty liver disease progressing to end-stage liver disease was liver transplantation.
And of course, as with most organ transplantations, there are lots more people waiting for an organ than there are donors, and there are organs available.
Liver transplantation.
Liver transplantation.
Now, when I was in medical school a long time ago, it was rare.
I don't think I ever saw a case of somebody having a liver transplant for fatty liver.
Now it's one of the top three, along with viral hepatitis and alcoholic liver disease, and it's poised to become the number one cause of liver transplantation.
But again, there's a limited supply of livers.
And of course, after a liver transplantation, you're on medication for the rest of your life.
You're chronically monitored.
You're better off by having a liver transplant if you can, for example, take vitamin E or lose weight.
But this is a really promising...
So what do folks do?
Yes.
So the vitamin E study was very promising because it suggests that you can halt the progression from fatty liver to inflammation to cirrhosis by using significant doses of vitamin E. But what I recommend is getting it from food.
So there are some really terrific sources of vitamin E. Avocados, nuts, and green leafy vegetables are terrific sources.
So that's a great way to get it in your diet.
And those are foods that can also help you lose weight.
Dr. Thank you very, very much.
Thanks for having me.
Be right back.
Coming up, are you watching what you eat but still packing on the pounds?
A sluggish thyroid may be to blame.
This is called the eyebrow test.
Simple ways to spot the culprit and get it back in gear.
That's next on the Dr. Oz Show. - Are you watching what you eat but still gaining weight?
You're doing everything right but still packing on the pounds?
You have to drag yourself out of bed every morning after snoozing three times because the alarm clock's not waking you up.
If you said yes to any of those questions, how many of you say yes to those questions?
Enough.
Because all of you could be candidates for Assistant of the Day right now.
But many of you say, yes, yes, it's me, it's me, it's me.
A sluggish thyroid may be to blame.
How can you tell for sure?
Well, I'm going to show you exactly how to detect whether your thyroid might be the culprit.
And my Assistant of the Day is going to help me.
So all people put their hands up before.
Put your hands up now.
How about seat number 70?
70. Who's in the 70?
Come on down.
Woo!
You don't seem very sluggish now.
Not sluggish at all, Mal.
I feel good now.
All those thyroid problems, they're gone.
I do have thyroid problems.
You do?
Hypothyroidism, yes.
Well, how was it diagnosed?
I was gaining weight.
I was exercising and doing all the right things, and so I found some help.
It's so common.
We talked a little bit about being tired in the mornings, tired in general.
Sluggish.
Sluggish, and then we mentioned the weight gain.
So those things you had probably.
Can I give you a couple other symptoms?
Of course.
I'm just curious if you had them.
This is for everybody out there as well.
These are the symptoms that we classically associate with hypothyroidism.
So they include constipation.
You don't have to answer that.
No.
You're okay.
Are those relatives up there?
Yeah.
Constipation, yes.
You hear groaning in the bathroom.
Yes, thumbs.
All right.
Cold sensitivity.
You feel pretty warm to me.
But you're on medications, probably.
Yes, I am.
Dry hair, thinning hair.
Yes.
You notice that also?
Yes.
The other two things are dry skin and depression.
A little bit.
So those are the classic things.
If you say yes to those questions to anybody out there, you have to think, well maybe I got a thyroid problem.
So instead of blaming yourself, and again this year it's all about that, looking for the deeper reasons that might be holding you back, then think maybe it's your hormones.
Let me show you why the thyroid is so important.
Let's first start with a little bit of anatomy.
You know where the thyroid is, right?
Yes.
It's in the neck.
But the question is, where in the neck is it?
Well, it's right deep down there beneath the Adam's apple.
That's the Adam's apple right there.
Underneath it, where this windpipe is, you've got these, pull them out.
Let's look at them more carefully.
They have these beautiful pink structures.
They really are gorgeous when you see them.
And they've got these little lobs in them.
And inside of these little lobules, the gland makes the thyroid hormone that we need for all these important functions in our life.
And in particular, it controls your metabolism.
It's like a thermostat in your house.
It's also like a thermostat in that if it's not right, you can't always tell that it's not right, but you know something's not right.
So the reason I want to do this segment with you is to help you and everyone else understand what symptoms would tip them off.
It's not that tricky, actually.
There's some clear signs you might have a sluggish thyroid.
So I want you to sit up here and be the patient for a second.
Can I do this?
You can do it.
I'll help you out.
Here, here.
Oh, you did it.
Nice.
Oh, you almost did it.
Here, I'll give you a step up.
I'm not going to hurt.
No, please, come on.
Oh, there we are.
I'm trying to be a prince here.
All right.
So, one of the first things that we do is we look at our tendons.
Okay.
And there's a tendon, a thick tendon, that's just beneath your patella, which is the knee bone.
And if your reflexes are too wild, that means you have too much hormone.
If there's no response, you might actually have too little hormone.
Okay.
So if I were to tap on mine, right, that's pretty typical.
Okay, now I'm going to tap on yours.
Come to the edge a little bit so your legs, okay?
So I'm going to unhook your legs.
I'm just going to tap one.
You don't have to respond and see what happens.
See that little response?
Okay, that's a pretty typical response you just saw right there.
All right, I missed the first two times.
So you have to hit the tendon, that thick tendon between the bone here, the patella bone, between this bone and the bone down below.
There's a tendon that holds the two together.
You have to hit that bone right there with your knee in a bent position.
So if you hit like this, you'll get that cut.
Now, a mild little bump like you gave me is a pretty typical response.
No response means call a doctor, especially if you're feeling tired, putting weight on, constipated, et cetera.
Okay, second test.
You can stand up for this one.
Okay.
There we are.
All right.
Everyone get your mirrors out.
I gave you mirrors before the show.
You get upgraded to a big mirror.
This is called the eyebrow test.
Now listen carefully.
This is known as Queen Anne's sign.
There's a famous picture actually of Queen Anne.
And let me just circle.
Her eyebrows do not extend all the way across her eye.
So normally the arch, the very top part of the eyebrow, is supposed to extend all the way over to the side of your eye.
But people who don't have enough thyroid hormone, they lose that outer little edge.
So everyone look at their eyes.
Let me see yours.
I'll do yours.
Oh, wow.
There we are.
Now, look in the mirror.
There we are.
Let's just see.
Put your hair back like that.
You see this, it's going just, oh, there we are.
It's going just wide enough.
If you were missing this eyebrow here, if your eyebrow ended here and didn't come all the way here, I'd be worried about you.
But your eyebrow comes all the way out.
This line, just the outside of your eye, you draw straight up.
You ought to have eyebrow there, and you do.
Which means you're adequately treated.
And the last little sign, anyone out there worried, by the way?
There's some worried folks.
We'll come talk to you later.
All right.
The last is called the Fallon maneuver.
You take your hands, the back of them should touch, and then sort of angle down a little bit.
And people who have problems doing this or can't hold this for 30 seconds without getting numbness in their fingers often have something called carpal tunnel syndrome.
You've heard of that, but it's very common.
When people have stuck your thyroid function, you get numbing, tingling, and weakness in the fingers after about 30 seconds of holding this.
So again, a very simple test you can all do at home to figure this out.
You passed all three of those, I think.
You doing okay?
There are lots of simple problems like this that could be holding you back from being the best you.
And I want you to all understand these.
There's a great app we have now called AskMD.
I happen to adore it.
It's the one I use most commonly.
It's on drodas.com as well if you're going to learn more about it.
But you can tell you about tons of reasons why you're not feeling well and answer questions you have about your health.
Check it out.
You'll enjoy it.
You can also check out these thoughts with your doctor because they'll have a pretty good idea of what's going on as well.
We'll be right back.
You did a great job.
Thank you.
Next, Dr. Oz goes underground to face what you flush.
What you leave behind could be causing a potential health threat.
It's tens of thousands on a daily basis.
The small change that could make a big difference.
Don't go away.
Dr. Oz puts America's sleep crisis to bed.
Plus, Joan Rivers' death.
What went wrong?
Every time I go under, I say the same thing.
Be careful.
I am the only one my daughter has.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
I told you, I told you countless times to look before you flush.
But today, it's for a whole new reason.
How many of you, let me see a show of hands, use these?
Yeah, very proudly putting their hands up in the air.
I've been talking about these, I've been using these.
Now over the summer, I read an article that shocked me.
That these wipes, even though they're marked flushable, when you put them in the toilet, they may not be so flushable after all.
I wanted to find out what really happened, so I followed these wipes through the pipes.
Millions of you, and I include myself in this, are confidently flushing these wipes down the toilet and thinking, all is well.
But is it?
I decided to follow the trail, and it turns out that our little wipes are causing some big problems for waste in sewage facilities like this one all around the country.
So, let's dig a little deeper.
Follow me.
In the New York City area, most wipes travel through 7,500 miles of pipes to end up getting processed here at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Manager Jim Penn agreed to give me a closer look.
Let me take you down to the belly of the beast.
There's a smell down there?
Well, let's suit up.
We'll see what you think.
I wish you guys would smell this right now.
Whoa!
What is that?
Smells terrible.
Well, Dr. Oz, that's the sewage coming in from all parts of the city.
And what are these?
These are the baby wipes.
This is how the material is coming to us, and it's causing us big issues.
So where did you get collected, those wipes?
Well, come on.
Let me show you.
I'll show you how the process begins.
Those are the wipes.
Toilet paper breaks down.
You're actually seeing the wipes in their solid form, just the way they came from the toilet.
I can't believe that.
Dr. Oz, take a guess on how many of these we get into the system every day.
I'm seeing a thousand here already.
It's tens of thousands on a daily basis.
Dr. Oz, since you're one of the people that are putting these down the system, I'm gonna put you to work.
Let's go upstairs and I'll show you where they're collected.
I can't wait.
Here comes some more, Dr. Oz.
Oh, jeez.
I'm working my tail off, just so you can keep your tail clean.
This is exactly what I use.
This is what I flushed on the toilet.
Why do they call them flushable?
Well, you know, they are flushable, but they're not breaking down.
Toilet paper breaks down on its way to the treatment plant.
You wouldn't see any of this material if it was all toilet paper.
So they're flushable, but they're not decomposable?
Correct.
And then where does it go from here?
Well, we take it and we load it into dumpsters.
Let's go and suit up.
Suit up?
Go big or go home.
Dr. Oz, take a look.
Whoa.
Oh.
Well, look, let's not stand there.
Let's get in there.
Let's get in there.
After seeing all these wipes, I'm officially switching back to toilet paper.
Yeah!
It was the worst!
Isn't that terrible?
I wish I could capture the smell and bring it.
Oh, the sewage.
Oh, forget it.
So Anna is joining me, like millions of you, including myself.
We use flushable wipes at home.
How surprised were you to see what I was experiencing there?
I am shocked, surprised.
It is absolutely disgusting.
That is gross.
When you go shopping for wipes, do you make sure that it says flushable on them?
Always, yes.
Just so, yeah.
Absolutely.
So we all do that, right?
We actually need that solution.
A lot of folks don't look for that.
And that's part of the problem.
I have to acknowledge that.
Let's talk about that first.
So I separated these out here.
This half of this table is all flushable wipes.
This half...
It doesn't mention flushable.
It doesn't say it's non-flushable.
It just doesn't say anything on it.
But here's the real issue.
Our wastewater authorities are saying that certain wipes, even though they're marked as flushable, are causing huge problems for their sewers.
Like you just saw in that piece I just taped.
Yes.
We can't replicate what's happening in the sewer, but I do want to demonstrate this.
So go ahead and put that down.
I'm going to grab this.
Okay.
This flushable little piece here.
And we're going to walk over here and do a little experiment.
I'm going to compare this to toilet paper.
Okay.
So pretend that each of these mixers represents a toilet.
Okay.
I'll take my little flushable piece, give it to you.
It's clean.
You can toss it in there.
Okay.
And I've got my toilet paper here.
All right, so I add my toilet paper.
You add your wipe in there.
Go ahead and close your mixer.
Okay.
Okay?
And then, just start it up, you just...
Okay?
And then that should mix it up and turn it up so that there's nothing left, in theory.
Okay?
Exactly.
So, go ahead and turn yours off.
Okay.
Good.
And then, I'll lift mine.
There we are.
And I'll lift yours.
Okay.
There we are.
Okay, now, take your little bowls.
Unsqueeze them.
Take yours out, too.
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
Pour yours into your little beaker.
I'll do the same with mine.
Okay.
Ooh.
That's a little suck.
Let me help you with that.
Oh, excellent.
Now you notice it did not break up much, did it?
No, not at all.
That's the big test.
Go ahead and grab yours and I'll grab mine.
If you put these together, you'll notice there's a difference here.
I can't grab mine and pull it out.
You have no problems keeping yours together.
Yeah.
Now that seems like a pretty harsh test.
You put it in there for a few seconds to be done.
So I actually went ahead a couple days ago And I put the exact wipe in another little vat of water.
This is, again, at least 48 hours ago.
Wow.
And you know what?
Looks brand new, doesn't it?
Mm-hmm.
It's completely intact.
Wow.
Probably not what you expected when it said flushable on it.
Not at all.
That's...
It's crazy.
It's crazy to think, and for them to sell something like that and to find this, it's...
Well, let's talk about it, because I think they actually are following the rules, but we may have the wrong rules.
Thank you, Anna.
You're welcome.
Joining me is Cynthia Finley.
She's a civil engineer and director of regulatory affairs at the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.
You've been studying the impact of these wipes for a while, and you've been working towards a solution over the past five years.
These flushable wipes that we were talking about, are they any better than the baby wipes or the makeup wipes that we often see as not designed for toilets?
Right.
Well, baby wipes are indestructible squares of plastic.
They don't break apart at all, so they are really terrible for the sewer systems.
There's a few flushable wipes on the market that will break up a little bit after they're flushed, but they're still not breaking up as well as toilet paper, so it's probably not good enough for the sewer systems.
I'll take some of the blame here, because I've been talking about how you probably should be using something moist down there.
It's better for you.
But, you know, since the show came on, there's actually been a doubling of these wipes.
In the sewer systems.
So we're going to be careful about this.
I reached out to Kimberly Clark, a leading manufacturer of flushable wipes, for a statement.
Here's what they said.
All Kimberly Clark products labeled as flushable meet or exceed the current industry guidelines.
Their full statement, by the way, and all the testing protocols they use are on my website, DrRoz.com.
So from what I can tell, Cynthia, Kimberly Clark actually is doing a great job following the guidelines.
Well, the guidelines right now are not stringent enough.
That's the issue.
There are voluntary industry guidelines, but not everybody follows them.
And even companies that do, like Kimberly-Clark, the guidelines need to be improved so that they're protective of sewer systems.
So, let me just make a statement here.
I think I'm going to appeal to companies to make Wipestead break down more quickly so we're not wasting millions of dollars of taxpayer money cleaning up sewer systems that don't need that.
That was an unfortunate experience I had there.
Don't you think?
But in the meantime...
And again, I think we all have the power.
The folks we're watching right now have the power.
We can make this change happen.
We can force this change.
Until that happens, until we get new wipes that are designed to be breakdownable for our sewers, what do you recommend we do?
I recommend that you only flush the three P's, and that's pee, poop, and toilet paper.
Remember that toilets are not trash cans.
Don't flush paper towels or dental floss or tampons or other feminine hygiene products.
They're not designed to go into the sewer system.
I saw all kinds of things in my voyage.
All right, so...
I know, and it's hard for me to talk about, but I know that we all sort of want a cleaner feel after we wipe.
We've talked about the benefits of that, reducing issues with irritation of hemorrhoids and the like.
So, going forward, here's my recommendation.
I want you to pick up one of these.
Get one of these little bottles, spray bottle, that you normally would clean your house with.
You're going to clean yourself with this from now on, right?
And if you can hold that, if you don't mind, I'll demonstrate.
Take a toilet paper.
Right?
This is simple stuff, but believe me, this is, you know, these are the ideas that, think of me whenever you go to the bathroom tomorrow.
Alright?
And then you spray it.
Right?
And it is ready to go.
It will not crumble in your fingertips.
It actually works quite nicely that way.
And can I share one very personal secret?
When I'm in a public restroom and I don't have my own little spray bottle, just spit on it.
It actually, before you go, it actually works.
And there'll be people making sure their bottoms are healthy.
Animals do it, right?
For a reason, it actually works.
But do something that keeps the sewer system clean and you clean as well.
We'll be right back. - Coming up, Dr. Oz takes you to his other day job.
Hi, Doc.
How are you?
Is this hurting you at all?
Oh my goodness.
See what it really looks like on the front lines of the OR. It's hard stuff.
Game time.
Alright, moment of truth.
Right after this.
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At the hospital, I help patients cope with their physical struggles with an illness.
I also help support their emotional journey to acceptance.
And I'm always inspired by the way people are able to deal with a life-threatening event.
This next story is a perfect example of that strength.
I'm gonna walk over to the emergency room, see what's going on.
How are you?
Is this hurting you at all?
Jacob, how big a deal is that, passing out?
Passing out, syncope is probably one of the three main indications for going ahead with bowel replacement.
Which is the most important one?
Dr. Oz is a good teacher.
He, you know, he's tough on us.
He won't let you get away with saying anything halfway.
This is hard stuff.
All right, moment of truth.
Good morning.
Good morning, guys.
Good morning.
I'm on my way to see a new patient named Doris Corona.
She's a schoolteacher, mother of two.
I've been sent her scans, and she's a very damaged mitral valve.
Can I come in?
So, what'd you find?
She's been experiencing shortness of breath with activity.
What kinds of activity?
Doesn't even matter, just going up the stairs.
I have to walk up five flights.
There's no elevators.
It's become a major problem.
May I listen to your chest?
Yes.
I want to talk you through what I think is happening.
Okay.
The valves themselves, which are supposed to be very thin, they're supposed to be like this material here.
Now, yours are thicker.
A quarter of people come see me.
They don't need surgery.
Okay.
You need surgery.
All of a sudden, to be told that you have to have major heart surgeries, it's really scary.
It's a total shock.
Come have a seat there.
The echo that was done just a few minutes ago shows the pressures in your lungs, which are supposed to be 20, 20 millimeters of pressure on that.
Yours is 100. It's amazing that you can even breathe right now.
Let me show you what I'm talking about.
The valve is way deep inside of here.
That's the valve right there.
So I've got to get to that valve.
I've got to replace it with this nice clean valve.
And it's going to fit in just like that.
It's a big operation Pick up sleeves My goodness Look at that.
I really have never seen anything like this in my life.
That is so crazy.
The whole thing is destroyed.
I'm always concerned when I'm seeing something for the first time in my life because I've done a lot of these.
This is her mitral valve.
This big buildup of junk counter valve is what's killing her.
Now we're going to implant a new artificial valve to replace her disease valve.
Alright, moment of truth.
We'll develop it.
We'll be on pins and needles until she's out of the woods.
I've been praying.
That's pretty much what I've been doing.
I don't really know what else to do.
I just don't want anything to happen to her.
Stories like Doris' show the power of the human experience.
And her story can teach everybody about how sparring warning signs of a cardiac emergency early on can save a life.
You can save someone's life just by recognizing these three warning signs of a cardiac emergency.
First up, keep an eye out for signs like shortness of breath.
It's the most important sign of a heart problem that there is.
Secondly, chest discomfort.
It's going to feel like pressure a lot of times or a fullness, but it can come in any part of your chest, any part of your chest, including your neck area, even down into your arms.
And you should never ignore the signs of lightheadedness or being tired.
These are, again, they're subtle, and they're going to be significant when they have.
If you remember these signs, you'll save a life.
Even if you think there's something else, pay attention to them.
Now I'm going to be sharing stories like this all year long with you.
And you can catch Surgeon Oz premiering Thursday, October 23rd on OWN.
I'll be right back.
Do you have a favorite story from New York Med?
Tell us.
I love Nurse Diana Kostein.
She was my favorite in season one and I loved learning more about her.
What an inspiration.
Share the stories that inspired you on Facebook.com/DrOz.
Get the rest you deserve tonight.
Dr. Oz launches his first ever sleep clinic to help the 20 million of you who can't sleep, sleep.
This is a massive crisis across the country.
Plus, the investigation into Joan Rivers' death.
What went wrong?
Every time I go under, I say the same thing.
Be careful.
I am the only one my daughter has.
Be careful.
Be careful.
The risks of outpatient procedures.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Time for, in case you missed it, the new public health threat is fatty liver disease.
It's making nearly 30 million of you sick.
The bottom line, to control your health, maintain a healthy weight, and eat foods that are rich in vitamin E to stave off this disease.
Examples are avocados, which I love.
Make sure you leave the seeds in so they don't go bad.
Nuts, most of them have tons of vitamin E. And leafy green vegetables, they come back to help us all the time.
Next, I don't want you flushing flushable wipes, so-called flushable wipes, or any kind of moist wipes from now on.
You know, I went to the sewer myself.
I saw it firsthand.
I saw that these wipes do not break down.
Even as I was shoveling it away, I was cursing it.
Until there's a stronger regulation out there to help us understand what's really flushable and something that will actually be destroyed in the sewage systems, it doesn't work for us.
The only thing that belongs in the toilet for now is pee, poop, And toilet paper.
If you need a cleaner feel, which I encourage, again, I'm partly responsible for all these wipes being down there, I want you to keep a spray bottle in your bathroom, put some water in it, obviously, and then take your toilet paper, fold it up neatly, or however you do it, I'm kidding, because everyone does the toilet paper differently, and just spray on it like that.
That moisture will work, and for those of you asking what to do in public restrooms, just spit on the paper, it still works, and it'll keep you clean, but not clog up the sewage systems.
Next, I took you into my operating room today because I wanted you to know the warning signs of heart disease.
And I want you to always keep an eye out for these.
They include shortness of breath, very important, the most important, frankly.
Chest discomfort that feels like pressure or fullness, or feeling tired and lightheaded.
You should never ignore these important warning signs of heart disease.
Even if you think you see them in somebody else, you gotta raise the issue.
You can save a life.
Let me close with a warning.
Please be careful about what you buy online, especially weight loss pills.
There are some dubious people online that prey on folks like you who are trying to do the right thing for your health.
Sometimes they even try to make it seem like I'm endorsing their products, which I don't.
To see a full list of our trusted sponsorship partners, you can go to DrRoz.com.
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