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Nov. 2, 2023 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:36
Could A Hysterectomy Spread Cancer? | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 7 | Full Episode
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Coming up next, the latest on the medical war you can be a casualty of.
The common fibroid surgery once considered the safest could be spreading hidden cancers.
Eighty percent of women have fibroids and don't even know it.
Should this cutting edge and invasive device be banned?
Doctors are fighting over who's right and who's wrong and you could be stuck in the middle.
I'm going to die of this cancer.
Coming up next on Dr. Oz.
Hysterectomy.
It's starting a civil war in medicine, and this time, you're caught in the middle.
Until this summer, I considered hysterectomies one of the safest surgeries we have.
Then I heard from an outraged colleague whose wife was diagnosed with widespread cancer after undergoing a minimally invasive hysterectomy for fibroids.
The device used in her surgery has since been taken off the market by one of the world's biggest medical companies.
The shocking reason?
As my physician friend pointed out to me, it could spread hidden undiagnosed cancer.
The medical community was rocked this summer when a battle erupted over a procedure that has become commonplace among gynecologists.
The technique, called morselation, is thought to be safer than standard hysterectomies because it is minimally invasive, which also means faster healing and minimal scarring.
But many patients, and now doctors, believe the device can actually spread hidden uterine cancer.
The OBGYN community disagrees, but Johnson& Johnson, one of the leading manufacturers of the device used in morselation, has pulled it off the market.
And now the FDA has weighed in, issuing an advisory discouraging the use of this procedure.
One out of every three women will have to make a decision about hysterectomy in her lifetime.
Every single one needs to know the facts about morselation.
Here are the facts as we know them.
Ten percent of all women undergoing hysterectomies use the morcellation technique for their procedures.
There's a brand new study that came out showing that one out of 368 women who had fibroids removed this way was found to have cancer.
And while the FDA issued an advisory discouraging the use of morcellation, the American College of OBGYN says the chance of spreading cancer through morcellation is rare.
Now fibroids like these are the number one reason hysterectomies are performed in this country.
And morcellation is an increasingly popular surgical technique to do this because it can be done minimally invasively without making a big incision to pull this large mass out of the belly.
I want to show you, give you an idea of how morcellation works during a hysterectomy.
So if I can ask Dr. Stryker just to show us the morcellator, that spinning device there, you see it's like a circular blade.
Once you grab the uterus, remember the uterus has already been taken out from what its attachments are, and then the Morse later will begin to carve a wedge of tissue, and you'll go through that fibroid uterus, whatever is being removed, slowly but surely until you've reduced it to a small enough size that it can be pulled through this larger tube.
It's not sucking.
You're pulling the mass of tissue into this cutting device in order to get it out of the belly without making a larger incision.
Is physician controlled?
But the question is, and as you watch this, pay attention, is it possible small bits of cancer, if in fact there was a cancer hidden in there, could they slip away?
Dr. Shaker, show us the mass, if you don't mind, that we pulled out.
That little tongue of tissue that you noticed, that little strip of tissue that is pulled out and it looks like this once it comes out.
So this is why physicians initially felt this made a lot of sense.
Dr. Kaiser is joining me now.
He's the head of the Temple University Hospital and Dean of Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia.
He's also a chest surgeon who specializes in cancer.
Dr. Kaiser banned the procedure he just saw, morselation, in his hospital in January, making Temple the first hospital to do so in this country.
Why was it important for you to ban the procedure?
I thought it was the right thing to do, number one.
It seemed to violate a number of surgical principles.
The fact that even on an occasion somebody could have a disseminated malignancy that could be fatal for a procedure that we had thought previously was safe, I thought it was the right thing to do.
Dr. Enrique Hernandez is the head of the OBGYN department at Temple University, the same institution.
I gotta say, I always thought fibroids were benign and that taking out a fibroid without making a big incision was a smart thing to do.
Is that thinking changing?
Well, I think it's changing.
If you can see, so most fibers are benign, but as you've shown your facts, we need to be sure that we take care of that patient that potentially can have a malignancy, and one is just too many.
Thank you.
We'll talk again in a minute.
I'd like you to meet Sarah.
Sarah had fibroids on her uterus, and after her hysterectomy, using the Morse Slater, like the device we just showed you, she was diagnosed with cancer.
Thank you, and I'm sorry about the diagnosis.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Alright, so you went in to have an elective operation to remove your uterus because of fibroids.
Correct.
They used a morcellator.
Correct.
They found out afterwards that you had a cancer.
Yes.
Which they didn't know of ahead of time.
You didn't know of ahead of time.
Frankly, no one could have known of ahead of time, which is part of the problem here.
True.
And because of that morcellation, cancer is now spread inside of your body that otherwise would have been taken out.
Yes.
So my life is very decreased.
I'm going to prematurely die of this cancer.
I'm very sorry, Sarah.
I'm going to show everybody, if I can, what your fears are and, in fact, what the big argument is about more salation.
So physicians, again, have no idea that there's a cancer in there, but they know there's a mass.
They historically have always thought it was a pretty benign So in other words, it wasn't cancer.
And you do the operation laparoscopic by putting small little puncture holes in.
So there's no big incision and no complications related.
There's a fibroid on top of the uterus right there.
So you go in and you remove that part of the uterus.
Let's just say you're taking out the fibroid.
Now, how do you get this out of the body?
That's the question.
You put it into the morselator.
And see these little white things that came away?
The little cells?
The fear is that a few of these might escape.
And if they had cancer in them, they'll start to sit on bowel or bladder or something like that.
They'll begin to grow.
But notice What used to be a very localized process is spread all over the body, and they then go into the bloodstream and lead to the fears that Sarah has expressed to us.
Now here in these stories, I wanted to know how the gynecological community is planning on handling this medical crisis.
So I reached out to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, and they acknowledged if an occult cancer is present and more isolation is used during surgery, there's a risk that the cancer may spread and worsen the patient's outcome.
I've asked gynecologist Dr. Lauren Stryker to join us.
She spent her career talking with patients about surgery, this kind in particular, and she actually has performed it using this Morse later device.
Are you concerned about what you've heard today?
Absolutely.
Very concerned.
Every surgeon is concerned about the possibility of complications.
And every surgeon wants to do whatever they can to reduce the chance that their patient might have a bad outcome.
But the solution is not to eliminate more salation, because without more salation, women who are candidates for minimally invasive operations, such as a laparoscopic myomectomy or hysterectomy, will no longer have that option, which means that they will have other risks.
Other complications in addition to a longer recovery time.
So we need to make this safer.
And that's exactly what's going on.
Surgeons have always done this to adapt procedures so that there will be less complications.
So I, along with many other surgeons, are now doing more salation in an unbreakable bag so that if there are any fragments...
As you saw, this is very controlled, but certainly there can be microscopic fragments that those fragments will be enclosed in a bag.
So what we really need to do is make the procedure as safe as possible, inform women so they know what their options are, but also keep in mind that the morcellator is not causing the cancer and that we need to make sure that women have the option to make a procedure as safe as possible.
But in medicine, we always want to do what's safest first, right?
It's part of our Hippocratic oath.
Whether it's 1 in 368 or 1 in 1,000 or 1 in 5,000, if it's an increased risk, at least I feel compelled to pull back for a moment.
And I'm concerned that morselation today in America, right this minute, is taking place without any newer technologies to make it safer and without clearly explaining to patients what Sarah just made vividly clear to me in this audience.
Absolutely.
I'm in 100% agreement with you, is that first of all, our job is to minimize risk.
I mean, we're surgeons.
Anything we do, there's a risk.
And we talk to patients about the risk of infection and bleeding and scar tissue and all of that.
Now, having said that, if my patient, and in fact, I'm operating on someone tomorrow who I told her this, and she said, I hear you.
I want you to make an incision.
I'm going to make an incision.
This is about informed consent.
This is about presenting the numbers as we know them to our patients, minimizing the risk as much as possible.
And at the end of the day, I think if you give women good information, they will make good choices.
So we need to be very careful in terms of the data that we're putting out there so that our patients do have good information.
So Dr. Kaiser heard these arguments and decided in his institution to ban the procedure.
Dr. Kaiser, what are your thoughts?
To me, in our surgical training, we remove lesions, whether benign or malignant, intact.
And we're even worried about bringing them out through the skin, for that matter, through these small incisions.
So it's a real violation of surgical principles.
So Johnson& Johnson is one of the five companies that produces this device.
When we asked why they voluntarily took it off the market, here's how they responded.
Due to continued uncertainty, a market withdrawal is the appropriate course of action at this time until further medical guidelines are established.
Sarah, how do you respond to that Johnson& Johnson statement?
Well, I think it's too little, too late, really.
Sarah, thank you for your comments.
Let me offer some final thoughts.
I'm not advocating against minimally invasive surgery, but I feel compelled to advocate against morcellation, especially without some type of advanced technology to protect the women of this procedure.
The FDA is saying no to morcellation.
One of the manufacturers of this device is recalling the product.
Even thoracic and general surgeons think that morcellation is not good medicine.
You've got a choice about what kind of surgery to have.
This is a mandatory discussion, absolutely mandatory, that you've got to have with your doctor if you're considering having any type of work done in your uterus.
We'll be right back.
Next.
Breaking medical news that could change the lives of millions of people.
The new prescription to lower your blood pressure.
Naturally.
Now this is cutting edge information everybody.
I want you to share it with your doctor.
That's next on The Dr. Oz Show.
It's the blow that ignited a firestorm and a national conversation that won't stop.
The rise of domestic violence, breaking the cycle of abuse.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Today, breaking medical news that could change the lives of millions of people trying to control their high blood pressure.
First, let's understand what high blood pressure is.
The ideal is under 120 over 80. Prehypertension is above 120 over 80, but below 140 over 90. And if you're above that 140 over 90, that's hypertension.
And there's a new study this month showing probiotics could be a new prescription to lower blood pressure.
Remember, probiotics are live organisms found in supplements and foods.
And here's how they work to lower blood pressure.
There's a sophisticated system in place in your body to keep your blood pressure regulated.
Your liver sends signals to your kidney, which sends signals to your blood vessels to tighten and keep your blood pressure high.
To lower your blood pressure, you need to slow down this system.
Probiotics do this.
They put a halt to one part of the system so that your kidneys can't send that signal to your blood vessels to tighten.
So exactly how can we use probiotics to lower blood pressure?
Dr. Neil Barnard is not only a clinical researcher, he's also founder of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
How significant is this new study?
I have it here.
It just came out.
And I'm fascinated they even thought about doing this work.
Well, the results are surprising.
The effect of probiotics on blood pressure is about as strong as a low-sodium diet.
So if a person is on the margin of needing medication or maybe they're on medication already, the probiotics might reduce their need for medication, reduce their doses, and it adds with other lifestyle factors like exercise or a vegetarian diet or other things that we know bring blood pressure down.
They all work together.
When you look at all the studies that have been done on probiotics, what kind of an impact does it have and who benefits the most?
Well, the people who benefit the most are the people who need it the most.
If your blood pressure is high, we see reductions of a good 10 points or so off your blood pressure.
And also, it's important to take it not just a week, not just two weeks.
If you take it for eight weeks or more, that's where we're really seeing the effects.
We've talked about dietary forms and we've talked about pill forms.
Which one is better?
What was used in these studies?
You know, 99% of the time, I'm going to say, get your vitamins and minerals in food, but probiotics aren't vitamins.
They're actually living organisms, and so they're not natural to any food.
They're sometimes found in yogurt, but they're just added at the factory.
So what I suggest is, use it in a supplement form.
There, you can look at the label, you'll see exactly what you're getting, you know what's in it, and you know the dose, which is important.
Well, actually, if you don't mind, take a second and explain that.
Because when I look at labels, even as someone who's trained in the area, it gets confusing.
What should you specifically see on the label to know if that probiotic might help you?
There will be a number.
It's called the CFU, or Colony Forming Unit.
And what matters is it'll be a billion, 10 billion, 25 billion.
You want it to be at least...
One billion.
That means you're gonna get the potency that you need.
And also, I look for something else.
You want it to be two or more strains.
Look on the label.
If it's just one, that's not as effective.
And one last thing.
Look at the expiration date.
If they've been sitting around for a while, those bacteria may no longer be living.
There's not a lot of times you hate to look for a billion of anything.
So if you see a billion of colony-forming organisms or units, I guess, then you're good to go.
When should you take it?
Take it before meals, up to about 30 minutes before the meal or with the meal.
That's the time to do it, and ideally twice a day.
Now this is cutting-edge information, everybody.
Again, it's hot off the presses.
I want you to share it with your doctor.
That way they'll actually learn about it as well sometimes, and they can begin to use it for you potentially, as well as others that they're taking care of.
You can learn more about this with my probiotics guide.
It's on DrRoz.com.
Tom, I'll be right back. - Coming up, fell off the exercise bandwagon?
We got good news.
Here's how to hop right back on.
Stretching it out and it feels really good.
Without ever leaving home.
We're doing sofa squats.
Chris Powell is coming to save the day.
That's next.
Let me ask you all a question.
I need a show of hands on this one.
How many of you relaxed a little too much this summer and fell off the exercise wagon?
Honest here, Hans.
Yeah, a lot of you are like me.
You know, we've all been there, so today we're all getting back on the exercise bandwagon together.
Raquel is joining me first.
How are you?
Fine, how are you?
So what drew this summer that was fun?
Oh, I traveled a lot and I ate a lot and went to lots of music festivals and ate a lot, jazz festivals and soul food.
I'm so proud of you for doing that stuff.
Travel, all the food.
When you were exercising, what did you like to do?
I love the spin class.
Like, a couple of months ago I took a spin class and I love it and the body pump, but it's exhausting, so, but that's what I love.
How'd you fall off that exercise bandwagon?
Well, okay, so I'm gonna say this one actually.
I was 295 pounds in 2002. You were?
Yeah, it's a battle that a lot of people have, and I'm 190 now.
Congratulations.
So it takes a lot.
Absolutely.
It takes a lot of work.
Congratulations.
Casey was my personal trainer and just battling that weight thing.
But it's been a journey.
And I fell off the bandwagon.
I thought I looked great.
You know, at one point you think you look real fine and stuff.
And then, you know, you start not exercising.
You come home from work.
You lay down on the couch.
You get up in the morning.
It's just a routine.
It's a battle in America.
We've been all there.
Yeah.
Come on.
Come on.
Let me tell you why it's so important to get back on that exercise bandwagon.
And listen, those muscles that we're building up when you're doing the spinning class or whatever you're doing, they're really important for a bunch of reasons.
But they're very fragile, it turns out.
So let's see what happens when you're exercising.
Let's say you're doing biceps.
Go inside that bicep muscle and look in there, and you'll see that the muscles are made up of small little muscles that are made up of proteins.
And those proteins bond together and they actually get thicker as you exercise.
Literally, the body will put on extra stuff inside the cell to make it larger.
So you're not making more muscle cells.
You're making the muscle cells you have bigger ones.
When you stop exercising, the body says, I'm not wasting time on that.
It takes back what it gave those muscles.
That's the individual muscles shrink up, so your biceps begin to atrophy away.
Wow.
How long does that take for that to happen?
It starts within days.
Really?
We know this from the hospital because in the hospital when people haven't been able to exercise because they're lying on their back recovering, they will very quickly decondition.
One of the things I worry about the most is a heart surgeon, but it's true for anybody.
You have a knee that aches you a little bit, you begin to hobble a tiny bit.
Within days, your muscles around the knee begin to weaken, so it's harder for you to get strong again.
Wow, I never But we got good news.
As fast as it atrophies, it can get strong again.
It's literally that quickly.
And small little things make big changes to your muscles.
So I thought, how can I make this come alive for you?
And I thought, I'll just bring in the guy who has taken the diet and fitness world by storm.
Y'all want to meet him?
His name is Chris Powell.
- Oh, coming out, my friend. - Hi. - Thank you. - Meet Raquel. - Thank you. - When Raquel was describing her story over the summer, Initially, I was impressed, and I sensed a little bit of guilt in her voice.
So what should folks do if they sense shame?
Well, here's the deal.
It's those feelings of shame and guilt.
That's what fuels that destructive downward spiral.
So get them gone.
You have to realize we're all human.
We're all going to fall off the bandwagon hundreds of times for the rest of our lives.
I do.
You even said that you do.
We all do.
But here's the deal.
When you do, that's when we have that golden opportunity to flex the real muscles of transformation.
That's learning to pick yourself back up, climb back on the bandwagon with more enthusiasm than ever.
Walk us through the classic pitfalls you see.
You deal with people every single day.
Sure.
Number one, and this is the one that I see so much, too much too soon.
Everybody thinks, oh, if I'm going to get back on, I've got to do 30 minutes of cardio.
I've got to do an hour of cardio every single day.
That's not necessarily attainable.
I don't know about the rest of you, but most of us don't have the time or the energy to do that.
So let's shrink it down.
Less is more.
If you want to stay on the bandwagon, commit to try just doing five minutes.
Just five minutes.
That's the most powerful commitment ever.
If you do more, great.
It's going to get you to your goals that much faster.
But if you don't, and you just do this five minutes, you did five minutes more than you would have in the first place, and you're still on the bandwagon.
You get it?
What's the first thing you do to get on the bandwagon?
What's the first five minute exercise?
Light and easy.
Super light and easy.
In fact, one of the first things I love to do with all my people on extreme weight loss is just light stretching.
You want me to show you?
Yeah, show us some stretching.
What I love about stretching is everyone can do it.
I got two more victims for you, by the way.
Absolutely.
Awesome.
Guys, we're going to have a great time here.
This is three movements and we just do them for one minute each.
It's super light and easy.
I want everybody on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground.
Go ahead and you can put your arms out to the side.
Keep your feet together and we're just going to go side to side.
We call these twisters.
You get a little snap-crackle pop through the spine a little bit, but this is working just those core muscles.
Try doing this for one minute.
Now, the second movement that we do.
All right, so everybody up.
I want you on all fours.
Push your body back into what in yoga we call the child's pose.
Now we shift it all the way forward, drop your hips to the ground, pull your shoulders away from your ears, and stretch out those abs.
We're exploring this full range of motion, but at the same time we're moving these muscles, stretching it out, and it feels really good.
Alright, the final thing we're going to do is, staying on all fours, we're going to move one foot forward.
You can put your hands on your side, you can keep them on the ground, and we're simply going to lean into this nice, easy lunge stretch.
Whenever you're ready, we're simply going to switch it up.
Same thing.
Hand on the thigh.
Lean into that stretch.
And we keep switching it up for one minute.
That's it.
You know, once you're stretched out, you actually sort of want to do a little more.
Yeah.
So if you get through the stretch, which people should be looking forward to doing, so you'll do at least that, then we ought to probably do a little cardio.
So who is right for cardio?
How long do you wait before you start?
You should never wait to start cardio.
I'm telling you, right now is the time.
In fact, the moment you begin, like you were just saying, then you just always want to do a little bit more.
So a wonderful form of cardio that you can do.
I mean, you can do cardio and you can incorporate it into your life in so many different ways.
We're talking parking in the furthest spot away from the store, taking the stairs instead of the escalator.
So we can incorporate it in a million different ways.
But if you have stairs in your home, a wonderful place to start is just five minutes going up and down those stairs.
All right.
Then those are your stairs.
All right.
You guys want to come with me?
All right.
Come on, guys.
Here we go.
Five minutes.
Nice and easy.
Here we go.
All right.
Go up there.
Go up there.
How are you doing?
How are you doing?
All right.
Oh, you guys are slow.
Come on over here.
Come on over here.
I slacked off there, but I love the fact that small little activities, they're the most important ones.
You literally get up from your desk and go to someone's desk and work instead of waiting to come to you.
It makes a difference.
All right, so we've done our stretch to get us psyched up and loosen us up.
We've done a little cardio.
Even five minutes makes a huge difference.
Now we got it back to that muscle that I showed you earlier, that big animation, Raquel.
Remember how fast it got small and how quick it could get large?
Absolutely, absolutely.
Get our muscles big.
Awesome.
Well, for anybody who's out there who's sitting down in the audience or sitting on your couches at home, you're already in the perfect spot.
In fact, looking at a couch, you think, okay, it's a couch.
I'm going to sit on that and relax.
We've got a built-in gym right here.
So if you're already sitting down, everyone go ahead and have a seat on the couch, just like you're just chilling out and relaxing, right?
Yep.
Now, here's what we're going to do.
Drive through those heels and stand it on up.
Now we're doing sofa squats.
Sit down, stand it right back up.
Sofa squats.
Sofa squats.
And we're moving the most beautiful big muscles in the body.
We got the glutes, the quads, and the hands moving.
All right, stand up, now let's take that one more time.
Now, once again, we're lounging.
Now we're doing sofa crunches.
Look at that.
Drawing those knees up to the chest.
There you go.
People all over the country.
Oh my gosh.
Of building core.
Absolutely.
And just like we were looking at in that visual, all those muscles are now, they're beginning to develop.
They're taking shape.
I mean, that's where we get those beautiful curves, right?
Last thing we can do on the sofa.
Let's take it around to the back, ladies.
All right.
Now we're going to do sofa push-ups right off the back of the sofa.
Now we're pressing.
Here we go.
Chest, shoulders, and triceps.
That's perfect.
How long do you have to do this for?
Well, ultimately, challenge yourself.
If 10 is a challenge, no problem.
But I would like to see you eventually, what we call a progressive overload.
Start with 10, move up to 20, 30, eventually 50, even 100. But just less is more.
Start off nice and easy and just keep building it from there.
I want you to go to DrRoz.com for exclusive workouts from Chris Powell that will help get you back on the exercise balance.
Keep going!
Everybody home, keep going!
We'll be right back.
So what do you do to help keep yourself motivated?
Tell us.
I share my goals with a friend or family member.
That way they know what I'm trying to accomplish and can help me.
Share your secrets to stay on the exercise bandwagon.
Tell us on Dr. Oz's Facebook page.
Next, it strikes without warning.
And it's a huge pain in the butt.
All the way to our toes.
Sciatica.
It all comes down to the position of your spine.
Short-term treatments for long-term results.
That's next on The Dr. Oz Show.
It's the blow that ignited a firestorm and a national conversation that won't stop.
The rise of domestic violence, breaking the cycle of abuse.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
It strikes without warning.
Ooh, and it's a huge pain in the butt.
Literally.
In fact, it's also a huge pain in your back, your legs, and your entire body.
That's what it feels like when you've got sciatic nerve and when it's getting pinched.
Now, today I'm gonna show you how you can relieve sciatica pain, but to do that, I need my assistant of the day.
And today she is sitting in seat 34. 34. Perfect.
So good to meet you.
Good to meet you too.
So we're talking about sciatica pain.
Yes.
You know much about that?
Actually, my mom suffers from sciatica pain.
Your mom does.
Where's mom?
It's right up in PPA. Hi, mom.
Maybe ask moms some questions.
What's your first name?
Megan.
Megan.
Yes.
All right.
So Megan, what's your mom's name?
Christine.
Megan and Christine may both be helpful in this endeavor, but let's talk a little bit about back pains that you've noticed your mom maybe have in Megan.
Describe it a little bit to me.
You know, it's a lot.
It rests in the lower back.
Standing is hard.
Laying down can't relieve the comfort.
It's just heat, ice.
No matter what, it just lingers.
Let me show you why this pain radiates, and we're going to talk a little bit about how to diagnose it, folks.
So, I brought a little model back here.
Look up on that little diagram.
That pain starts in your hip area, just above your hip, actually.
People think it's their hip, but it's not.
It's the sciatica pain, and a little emptiness in your buttocks, and it rolls down your leg all the way down to your toes.
So, you'll get pain in the back initially, but also down right in there, that little hole that a lot of us feel in our buttocks, all the way down the back of our leg, all the way to our toes.
Yeah.
And putting those pieces together that's shooting pain is sometimes difficult, but when you figure it out, you know you got it.
So come on over.
Let's talk about why it happens.
One of the big issues, of course, is your spine, because your spine is not being well taken care of.
Normally, your spine is supposed to look like this.
From the front, it looks pretty straight.
So if you both stand like this, it looks pretty straight, right?
Yes.
But if you turn it to the side, face me.
Go ahead and face me.
When you turn it to the side, it actually has a bit of a curve to it.
And that curve is supposed to be there, a little bit of a curve in the middle, and then it sort of has a little bit of an arc on the lower back.
And when you're doing the wrong things, when you're compressing it, sitting down too much, then they're like, go ahead and slouch for me.
Especially if you're slouching, your spine does this.
You lose those natural curves, and that begins to cause problems.
So what kind of work do you do?
I teach.
You teach?
Yes.
Thank you for doing that.
You're welcome.
What do you teach?
Second grade!
Second grade!
Ooh!
They're the best age second graders!
Oh, they're wonderful.
But they don't always listen so well.
No.
At the end of the day, you're like this.
So you spend a lot of time sitting or standing?
Oh, standing.
You're always up like this.
Never sitting.
Squatting.
Yeah.
Well, both can be good.
Both can be problems.
But in any case, there are times when you take your spine, you'll sort of wrench them this way or that way.
You'll hunch over too much or too far back dealing with those second graders or whatever job or task you're in charge of.
And that can cause pain for you.
So you want to do a little experiment to see what sciatica pain is about?
Sure.
You want to do it on your mom?
Yeah!
Come on down, mom.
Come on down, mom.
Megan, Dr. Megan is going to do this.
Don't hurt your back, mom.
Take your time.
No, don't rush on my account, please.
How are you, Christine?
Pleasure.
Fine, how are you?
So, come lie down here.
You have a non-speaking role because your daughter's going to do all the action here.
Yes.
So, I'm going to show you a little test.
Lie on your back, straight legs down, and since your mom has had sciatic in the past, we're going to find out if this is a problem.
So, kneel next to me.
I want you to take one of her legs and just gently, I'll do my side, you do your side, but do my side first.
I'll lift my leg up, leg up.
Let me know if that hurts.
Pretty good.
Okay, if you can get up to a reasonable height and there's no shooting pains on your legs, this is called the straight leg test because your leg is straight.
Simple test.
Doctors do it all the time.
We then put that leg down.
You lift your leg up gently, slowly.
And as you support it, does it cause discomfort or not?
And if you can get to the same height, she wants to cause discomfort.
If it causes discomfort, then you obviously stop.
But if it's not the same height on both legs, that could be a problem that you want to be able to address.
Beautifully done, Mom.
Thank you.
Good job, Mom.
Thank you.
So, Maggie, come over here.
It all comes down to the position of your spine.
Let's talk a little bit about what's going on in your mom's spine.
And again, if you have any of the symptoms you're talking about, this is often the cause.
So, your spine, when you're hunched over at work, it bends forward.
If you're lifting heavy groceries and doing extra things that you shouldn't be doing, it can switch down like this.
If you're doing too much garden work, it can crunch down like this.
All these, over time, Begin to take these discs.
See, the spine is made of the bones.
The discs are these little orange areas.
Come kneel next to me here and wiggle out this disc.
Wiggle it, wiggle it, wiggle it.
If you wiggle it out, you notice how it starts to put pressure on the spine?
Yes.
When that disc puts pressure on the spine, it begins to cause some of those symptoms that we're talking about.
You keep pressure on that spine.
What ends up happening then is sometimes the disc will rupture.
And when it ruptures, it'll spill all these chemicals all over the place, like this.
See that green stuff?
That is the chemicals in this disc that's protruding and spilling over into the nerve.
This stuff causes lots of discomfort.
And it's inflammatory.
It's irritating.
See this stuff?
You just don't want it.
And when you have this stuff over your spine, your first instinct is have surgery.
Get rid of the disc.
It's the wrong instinct.
Because what's causing the problem isn't actually the disc by itself.
It's the stuff that's spilling out.
The body will take this away by itself.
So what I really want you to do is be patient.
Allow the disc swelling to go down.
Let this stuff resolve.
But you gotta take care of the discomfort while you're waiting for your body to heal you.
So what do you normally do?
Me?
Yes.
At the end of the day, I sit down.
That's a good thing to do.
That's automatic.
And if you do have lower back pain or if your mom has a...
Heat pads.
That's my biggest go-to when I have back pain.
Heat pads are good if you've got chronic pain that's been there for a while.
But when it first happens, it's a short-term solution.
That's not where it started.
I started actually with cold pads.
Okay.
Three times a day, put the cold pads on there.
It will soothe this stuff that's coming out of there and let your body deal with it better so it's not causing irritation.
Ibuprofen works really well.
You can take no more than 1,200 milligrams a day.
That's probably, you know, Three to four pills a day.
You don't want much more than that if you can avoid it.
And I love physical therapy.
Yeah.
Physical therapy is fabulous because these guys can take care of people who have really, really bad pain and pretty quickly build up the muscles so your spine is not going wiggling back and forth like this all the time.
Right.
The last resort, of course, is surgery.
Every once in a while, we gotta go in there.
But you only do that if you, you know, if your urine has gone off, if you have bowel incontinence, you know, big-time stuff.
Small-time stuff, even though it's uncomfortable, have patients, usually over the course of a couple months, you'll get back to normal, which is why we generally try not to operate.
Wow.
Good to know.
You gonna educate your mom?
I am.
Reinforce.
Thanks for loaning her to me, Mom.
Make it nicely done.
Thank you so much.
We'll be right back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Coming up, it happens to everybody.
The inevitable empty role.
What happens when you come up short?
Do the little shaky.
Drip and try.
Embarrassing moments even Dr. Oz finds awkward.
Take us from a guy.
This never happens to us.
Next.
All things Oz are online.
Watch the show clips that you love and exclusive content that you won't find anywhere else.
Hit play at DrOz.com.
During the six years I've been doing this show, I've answered some of your most embarrassing questions.
But nothing like I'm about to hear today because, well, they're awkward.
But you know, you never have to feel awkward with me.
So today, backed by popular demand, that's awkward, P edition.
Take a look at this first awkward moment.
Now, listen, has this ever happened has this ever happened to you?
*Sigh* *Sigh* *Sigh*
.
Thank you.
Let me see your show of hands.
How many of you have had this happen to you?
Show of hands.
Man, come on up.
Come on up.
Bring your purse.
Grab your purse.
so we'll see why in a minute.
Thank you very much for joining me.
What's your first name?
Anna.
Anna.
Yes.
So how awkward was it when you were at home?
You were in a stall, I gather.
It was a couple weeks ago.
I went to a restaurant, and I had to use the ladies' room.
And I usually check, but this time I didn't check.
And when I needed the tissue paper, there was no tissue paper.
I didn't know what to do.
It's the most annoying feeling ever.
I thought about maybe knocking on the stall, maybe the person next to me.
That's embarrassing.
Maybe texting my daughter, who was outside in the dining area.
But I didn't want to annoy her.
That could have been worse.
She would be like, Mommy, that's gross.
So, there was nothing else to do.
Take us from a guy.
This never happens to us.
It really isn't an issue.
It's not fair.
But I was curious when I first heard this question, so I actually conducted an informal poll, and I asked the folks in my office, mostly women, is it true?
Ninety percent, nine out of ten, admitted they've had this experience in their lives.
It sort of parallels what I'm seeing in the audience here, being stuck in a bathroom stall without toilet paper.
So, what'd you do?
What'd you use?
There was nothing else to do, Dr. Oz, but just do the little shaky drip and dry.
I'm sure most women know!
The drip dry?
The drip dry!
So the drip dry method really should only be used for dishwashing, right?
When you're washing dishes, let them drip dry, but not good for us.
Come on over here for a second.
Drip and dry again, you only use for dishes.
For your body, you don't want that.
And there's a reason, because when you drip dry like that, it actually makes your underwear a little wet.
That moisture is a problem, because you've got little bacteria and fungi like this all over the place, and they love moisture.
And so it disrupts the natural balance that occurs.
These fungi begin to grow and reproduce.
They love it.
And it grows inside the vagina.
It grows all over your body.
Results, unfortunately, in these big glops of white stuff, which we recognize as a yeast infection.
Oh, boy.
Not good.
So, you're in luck.
Because I have come up today, and I thought long and hard about this, with an emergency toilet paper alternative list.
Which will change your lives, and it's made up of things that should be in your purse.
If you don't mind, just empty out your purse.
Let's see what we got in here.
So I'm gonna go through the list right here.
You pull out things that might match, all right?
Okay.
You need to find something that's clean and that's dry.
It doesn't have to be sterile, just clean and dry.
So, a sanitary napkin would work.
You know, a page out of a date book that you might have.
Just, you know, a page like this.
It's close enough, folks.
You've got nothing else in there.
Just fold it up and use it like this.
You can use, people have Q-tips sometimes, cotton swabs, a gum wrapper.
You know, chew the gum, keep the wrapper.
It's not very big, but you'll get, you know, that's all the target you have to hit anyway, so it's not bad.
Any of these items in your purse?
Um...
We've got a lot of things in there.
Well, a water bottle.
This will work.
A ticket.
The ticket to the show.
All right.
So any paper you have would work.
You don't have to be picky about this.
I know.
No, I don't have to shoot.
In an emergency, if you don't have any of these items, which many women do, there's always the toilet seat cover.
Why not?
Okay.
It's dry.
It's been there anyway.
You're gonna sit on it, right?
That could work.
And then really, one of the best options, use the toilet roll, the toilet paper roll.
Why not?
It's paper, right?
Unravel it.
Is that sanitary enough?
It's sanitary enough.
The paper used to touch it that you just used to touch.
It's an emergency here.
Okay.
But in the meantime, because of your honesty and your integrity, I'm donating this from the Dr. Osho.
Thank you.
Keep them in there first.
They might come in.
For the next awkward moment.
Thank you.
All right.
We also got a very interesting and embarrassing note.
Again, this is our P edition.
So we focused on those.
From Andrea in North Dakota.
She wrote to me on Facebook.
And when I read her post, I immediately knew we could all relate.
Even me.
So I went to the gynecologist because I kept noticing a terrible smell every time I would urinate.
I decided to go to my doctor to see what was going on.
My diagnosis was asparagus pee.
My prescription lay off the asparagus.
Now that's awkward.
Asparagus pee, which is very awkward.
People can smell it for miles.
Vanier is here to share her experiences with this.
So, Dr. Oz, I'm a vegetarian, and I love veggies.
I absolutely love asparagus.
And when I go to the bathroom, it smells kind of weird.
I didn't know what was going on, so I decided to look it up.
I actually Googled it.
And?
I just realized more people were experiencing the same thing, so I wasn't alone.
Most people actually have a problem.
In fact, the ones who don't have it just don't smell it.
It's the problem with how you smell not making this stuff because it happens to all of us.
It's been known for centuries.
Perfectly normal.
No risks.
I want to show you why it happens.
I got some solutions because I don't like the smell either.
So, you've got a big asparagus inside there.
Let's just say this is your body.
Okay.
Normally when you have asparagus in your body, a couple things happen.
Take these acids, which are present in the asparagus, right?
And they're deposited.
Go and hold the top of that.
Okay.
Just dump it in the water there, but don't let go.
Okay.
Okay, so all these are going in there.
Now, normally, all the things you eat get digested completely and go to the very bottom of you.
But when you have asparagus, go ahead and pull that string through.
Some of the chemicals, the acids, go to the bottom, get digested.
Other ones, see, they float.
They actually don't want to go to the bottom.
They're the ones, when you pee out, because they're at the very top, they go into the air, and they fly away, and they go into your nose.
So you don't digest it the way you normally digest things.
Within 15 minutes of having a big asparagus, you will run into some of these odors.
Yeah.
So, as much as I love asparagus, this is a problem.
So I don't want you to stop eating asparagus.
It's good for you for a lot of reasons.
But the next time, to get rid of these little things, I want you to first drink a big glass of water with the asparagus.
Okay.
At least it dilutes...
What's coming out.
But I've got one of my favorite solutions of all time.
I have developed, folks, with something that you already have in your kitchen, an item.
It's called pee-pourri.
Pee-pourri.
Please hold the applause.
Get a small box of baking soda in your bathroom, which most people have.
You take some of the baking soda and you just dabble it in the toilet as you pee.
It will absorb the odors.
The smell will disappear.
No one's going to know you enjoyed your favorite, which is asparagus.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Give it an awkward moment about your health.
I want to hear about it.
Hashtag awkward health selfie.
We'll be right back.
Boost your energy in just seven days with the All Day Energy Diet.
Beat exhaustion and fatigue from sunup to sundown with the new Dr. Oz Power Foods.
Plus, it's the blow that ignited a firestorm and a national conversation that won't stop.
The rise of domestic violence, breaking the cycle of abuse.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Now it's time for, in case you missed it, First, hysterectomies are starting a civil war in medicine.
And you're caught in the middle.
If someone you know or someone you love is considering having one, please think about whether the risks are worth the benefits.
Go to DrRoz.com for a hysterectomy fact sheet.
The sheet includes questions you need to ask your doctor, your options for this elective surgery, and the risks of something called morcellation.
The doctors who are on the show today have written blogs about this life-changing procedure on DrOz.com to help you weigh the pros and cons.
Then, if you relax a little too much this summer, And have fallen off the exercise bandwagon.
Chris Powell says to set attainable goals.
You're going to start with light stretches like twists and lunges to get you psyched.
Once you're psyched up, you'll go further than you thought you would have.
Start simple and build on it.
Next, new research, important research, shows probiotics can help lower your blood pressure.
Take a supplement either just before or with a meal.
And remember, choose a product containing at least a billion CFUs.
That stands for Colony Forming Units.
I want to bring to your attention the Look Good, Feel Better program that's helping millions of cancer patients around the world cope with the appearance-related side effects of cancer.
I was lucky enough to participate in one of their free beauty workshops available in all 50 states.
Volunteer experts offered lessons in how to apply cosmetics, address changes in skin and hair, even wardrobe.
I got the help as well.
I was quite good at it after a while.
To find out more about how you can get involved with this program, you can go to DrRoz.com.
Finally, a little bit of a closing note, 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.
I do not.
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