Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
It's a call that's telling me I'm here to serve. It's a need to make a difference in
the world. 24 hours day or night these healing hands will make it right. Looking in their
eyes I know that I'm changing lives, changing lives, changing lives for the better, for
the better, changing lives. Hi again everyone Jim Knox along with Kandace Kreuger and welcome
back to another edition of the Best Docs Network featuring some of the best doctors in the
entire Dallas, Fort Worth area that helped change people’s lives. Like our first doctor,
it’s OB-GYN Dr. Patrick Allen. Nexplanon is a long term, three year implantable rod
used for contraception and it is a small four meter rod that’s inserted into the inner
side of the arm and it releases a low dose of progestin only and hormone over a period
of three years. I had previously been on the pills and I decided not to do that anymore.
I literally had to do it every morning the same exact time or at night, the same exact
time every single day or it was supposed to be not as effective. Same for the NuvaRing,
had to have it in three weeks and take it out for a week and then put it back in so
if you miss putting it back in once again you have that worry. So they said the implant
in your arm is really the best fit for me. It’s commonly used for women who want long
term worry-free contraception and it is very preferable for high school students, college
students or busy moms who are spacing their children and who do not remember to take birth
control pills. Marie was very sweet and she told me exactly what she was going to be doing.
She walked me through the whole process and just talked to me like she was a friend. We
just inject some local anesthetic into the arm under the skin prior to inserting the
Nexplanon. The Nexplanon comes in an inserter device ready for insertion. There isn’t
any incision, you insert the little rod under the skin and put a bandaid on it. It takes
about three minutes. The best I actually have no menstrual cycle at all. I have not had
one in three and a half years so that’s another great thing about it is I don’t
have to worry about that at all. Wake up in the morning, don’t have to think about it.
Go to sleep at night, don’t have to worry about it. I go throughout my day and that
is the last thing on my mind is getting pregnant. Roger had a traumatic spine injury that kept
him from walking until he met Dr. Rebecca Stachniak. To find out more about Roger’s
story and other life changing stories, logon to bestdocsnetwork.com. The way I met Dr.
James, he actually coaches my daughter’s soccer team. He had overheard a conversation
I was having with another mother saying that one of my MRI’s had come back and that my
thyroid didn’t look quite right but I really wasn’t really putting a whole lot into it
because I didn’t really have any of the symptoms. Patients with thyroid problems can
range in two different areas. One is if they have hyperthyroidism and they feel tired,
rundown and they’ll have a change in appetite, sometimes hair loss and in some cases patients
will have a thyroid nodule, an enlarged thyroid and that’s typically when they get sent
to myself or an ear, nose and throat surgeon to evaluate. After I had all of the tests
done, my husband and myself went into his office and met with Dr. James to discuss how
we were going to move forward after they had found some A typical cells In my thyroid.
In the case of Ruth, she presented from her primary care as a referral for an evaluation
of a thyroid nodule. She underwent a needle biopsy of the thyroid nodule which showed
evidence of possible cancerous cells. We took her to the operating room and performed a
biopsy of that portion of her thyroid gland and during surgery, the pathologist reported
that in fact it was a thyroid cancer. We took the rest of her thyroid out in that same setting
and removed all thyroid tissue completely. I really expected to be in more pain. The
first two days are pretty rough but after that you know it wasn’t nearly as bad as
what I thought it was gonna be. She stayed in the hospital for one night and went home
the following day and after approximately a week was back to normal activity and doing
well. If it wasn’t for Dr. James I think I would have blown it off if he would not
have said, hey this is kind of serious and it’s more important than you know fixing
your neck and you need to really put more attention towards this. It’s so important
you know to go and have those tests done, to take that extra step, make the time. You
know with four kids I have an extremely busy schedule and you know I just had to put everything
aside and say okay, right now I’m more important. If you’ve had a doctor help change your
life we’d love to hear about it. Send us an email at info@bestdocsnetwork.com. We’re
all different, we like different things but one thing nobody likes is pain especially
when it keeps us from doing the things we love. Luckily PAMA is here. Whether it’s
back pain, carpal tunnel, foot and ankle pain or more, PAMA physicians are dedicated to
their specialties and dedicated to your quality of life. Don’t let pain keep you from doing
the things you love. PAMA, pain freedom. The Best Docs Network features some of the best
physicians in the Dallas, Fort Worth area that are helping to change people’s lives,
like our next doctor, it’s Dr. A. L. Shaw pain management specialist. Woke up one day
about thirteen years ago and couldn’t stand up straight and after seeking medical attention
you know sort of a variety of ways one of the doctors I saw suggested I come see Dr.
Shaw. When we examine scars I simply take something such as a pda stylus that is very
blunt allow them or stimulate a non scarred area remote from the area with a scar so they
know how this particular stylus feels with the amount of pressure I’m generating. When
I touch scars quite commonly they are numb they don’t feel them at all until I hit
an area of nerve entrapment and those areas we mark with a skin marking pencil and those
are the areas that we inject deeper than the skin and then we also inject the entire length
of the scar. As you move away from your surgeries in time you find that there’s sort of a
new sort of pain after you heal from the surgical pain and you get back into your daily life
you find that there’s some new kinds of quirky little aches and pains and bristly
things going on and it can be scary. At first you can think oh my problem has returned.
Relative to her scar pain, really did receive pain freedom. She has other problems that
are still generating pain from her spine but even that’s much improved not from the other
therapies that we’ve done but just from the scar injections. It’s comforting to
have Dr. Shaw on my side to know that it’s his goal as well as mine to bring me pain
freedom and we work at that together and I think we’re doing a good job. Your thyroid
gland is an important organ. It’s right here, right in front of your windpipe. Now
many people can be low on thyroid that’s hypothyroidism, that’s the most common type
of thyroid disorder. There’s also hyperthyroidism, an overactive thyroid, that’s less common.
The hypothyroidism is more common in women but it does affect men and can cause symptoms
such as weight gain, fatigue, thick skin, course hair, constipation, all kinds of things.
All of them involved in slowing down of your bodily functions. Now if that’s the case
you go to your doctor’s office, they draw what’s called a TSH, thyroid stimulating
hormone. That will be low and then the physician can start you on medication that will improve
your thyroid hormone level in your body. Your metabolism will come back to normal, your
weight may go down, your skin and hair changes will get better and your energy level will
respond. Now if you’re hyperthyroid, overactive that can be a problem with heart problems.
It can cause atrial fibrillation which is a rhythm disturbance, it can cause excessive
anxiety as well as high pulse rate and trembling. So if you have any of those symptoms, get
your TSA checked by your physician. It sounds like such a simple problem but in reality
it’s actually a very frustrating condition to have, millions of people have it and they’re
not sure how to treat it. Toenail fungus or onychomycosis is an infection of the toenails
by a fungus that usually lives underneath the toenail and eventually causes it to become
discolored, sometimes it thickens and you’ll notice a debris underneath the nail as well.
My symptoms were that I was dealing with was the yellowing of the toenail. It did make
me very self-conscience of wearing open toe, trying to wear sandals, it just didn’t make
me feel pretty at all. Treatment options for onychomycosis vary from topical medications
such as medicated toenail polishes, there are oral medications and there is nail laser
treatment as well. There’s different nail lasers on the market, this is actually we’ve
gone to our second laser. I like this laser a little bit better because it’s a series
of three treatments which I think is a little bit better because it penetrates that nail
on several different treatments. So it’s treated on the first treatment, and then two
weeks later you do your second treatment, six weeks later you do your third treatment.
Again by that third treatment usually you can see a good clearing of the nail bed. The
process was I came in and they hooked me up on the machine and I was out within five minutes.
Painless, didn’t even, wasn’t no needles, no anything, it was just, they just hooked
you up to a machine, just put a little tape on your toes and you were done. The nail laser
treatment works by using a laser that kills the fungal cells but leaves all the natural
cells to the toe and toenail unharmed. It’s usually performed in a series of three treatments
to kill the fungal cells at the varying stages of their replication. I feel prettier and
now I love wearing open-toed shoes and I just feel better about me all over just with my
toes looking better. Jacob's quality of life was affected due to acid reflux disease until
he met Dr. Glenn Ihde. To find out more about Jacob's story and other life changing stories,
logon to bestdocsnetwork.com. About ten years ago I was having a lot of shoulder pain and
I had seen several doctors prior to that and they told me I had a problem at C67 and I
was looking at surgery and a possible spinal fusion so I called my friend who works in
critical care and I said who’s the best neurosurgeon out there and she gave me Jeffrey
Cattorini’s name. So I went to him and he said your symptoms don’t fit your MRI, your
MRI is wrong and I had seen four previous physicians prior to that and Dr. Cattorini
is the one that caught it. I get emotional. One of the procedures we offer here in the
practice is insertion of a cervical artificial disk. We see patients be aged 20 to 55 who
have a soft tissue disk herniation or one level disk disease and they typically present
with one sided neck pain and arm pain. He came and sat right down next to me and he
showed me the artificial disk and the way it worked and the way he would screw it in
and I said you know what, that’s a metal disk ball and joint, that makes sense to me.
You know I didn’t like the idea of pulling bone out of my joint or out of my hip and
then fusing my neck and I have limited range of motion. That just didn’t make sense.
The good thing about the artificial disk is it’s not restricting movement, it’s keeping
movement and there’s no need for a cervical collar postop or there’s no need for a bone
or stimulator postop because you do not want to promote a fusion. And I woke up from surgery
the pain that I had had for over a year was gone and I just bawled so right after the
surgery I was out there playing tennis immediately with absolutely no pain. Best decision of
my life. Nancy did great postop, she returned to her activities. She’s actually referred
friends from out of state for the artificial disk and she’s very happy with the result
and she’s got great range of motion. Go to a neurosurgeon, they’re meticulous and
especially go to Dr. Jeffrey Cattorini because he’s outstanding. As always for more information
on any of the fine doctors you’ve seen on today’s show, just logon to our website
bestdocsnetwork.com. Bestdocsnetwork.com the number one medical video source as far as
educating the public. Right now, Kandace, time to head to our next best doctor, it’s
oral surgeon Dr. John Wallace. I lost my teeth and had dentures at an early age in my early
thirties and I suffered from periodontal disease. They were ill fitting and I started suffering
from burning mouth syndrome. Susan is a remarkable case because she did lose her teeth beginning
at a very early age. She put her dentures in with a lot of glue, went to work, it started
to hurt so much, but of course she can’t go without her teeth. She has to wear them,
so she endures this pain through her work day, comes home, takes pain medicine, takes
her teeth out, goes to a dark room and goes to sleep. We talked about the procedure, about
removing some of the bone on the top and bottom on the gums so that I could get a proper fit.
We took out the remaining teeth, we placed implants in a bone and we attached teeth to
the implants. It entails just four screws implanted on the top and the bottom. Then
the teeth are made with the holes and they’re attached. We can place the implants, attach
the teeth to it the same day and now they go home and they’re using teeth all in one
day. That’s what’s remarkable, that is why dental implants have changed. I would
recommend the all on four to anyone that is having any kind of gum disease, loss of teeth,
that have ill-fitting dentures. Her smile is even bigger than it ever was. She went
home, she didn’t have to take things in and out, she didn’t have to use glue any
more. She got off all the pain medicine. She was a completely different person. I enjoy
going out more, I’m not worried about what people you know think and being uncomfortable
with the dentures. I feel more confident. My husband and I go and do things that before
I didn’t want to do because I was more comfortable at home with my dentures out. We got to change
her teeth to be exactly like what she wanted. It’s a great treatment for patients who
want to go home with teeth or who can’t tolerate dentures. It’s an amazing thing
that we can do with dental implants nowadays. Many of us live with pain, but you don’t
have to, PAMA’s here to help. Whether it’s sports injuries, arthritis or joint pain,
the physicians of PAMA are dedicated to your wellness and getting you back to pain-free
gains. So what are you waiting for, go to pamainc.net and find a physician or orthopedic
specialist who can help you stop pain and live life to its fullest again. PAMA, pain
freedom, go to pamainc.net. I had gone through two major back surgeries. I have a lot of
bolts and screws and nuts and squirrel cages and fusions in my back. I’ve had a terrible
time with all of the pain I experienced in my everyday living. I lived on pain pills
and my quality of life was awful. I wasn’t the guy I wanted to be for my family, for
myself so I needed another way of life. Greg is a prototypical guy. He hurt his back doing
some heavy lifting. He ended up having spine surgery and he ended up having a second surgery
and when he came to me he was very disappointed with the results of his surgery. He was almost
at the end of his proverbial rope feeling that there was nothing for him. He said I
was pretty screwed up, he said my back was quite a mess. He went back to the original
x-rays and took me through this and I went through a lot of spinal injections he had
recommended. We did those and they gave me some temporary relief as he said they would.
The pain would come back and so we got into the next phases of doing the spinal cord stimulator.
That is an electrical device that is implanted in the spinal canal next to the nerve roots
that are causing their pain. It produces a sensation of pressure or tingling in the areas
that they typically have pain. The brain actually pays attention to that pressure, that tingling
sensation more than it does the pain so they actually don’t feel as much pain or sometimes
no pain at all from those typical areas. I take it and I turn it off, I put it on and
I turn up the volume and I sit for five minutes or ten minutes. That’s better than taking
the pain pill because I can manage my pain much better. I really do have pain freedom
when it comes to working with the operation. I’m very, very pleased with where I’m
headed. For more information on any of the great doctors you see on today’s show, head to the website
bestdocsnetwork.com. Bestdocsnetwork.com the number one medical video source as far as
educating the public. Right now time to head to our next best doctor, it is Dr. Carol Norton.
The Diet MD program is a medically guided weight loss program for long term sustainable
weight loss. I’ve had bypass surgery twice and five heart attacks and had gained a lot
of weight since being about 40. Doctors had wanted me to get it off, my wife wanted me
to get it off, my family wanted me to get it off. My blood pressure was elevated, high
cholesterol so I just determined that I had to do something and this sounded like it would
fit my personality and I was ready to do it. It starts with a medical physical, lab work,
EKG making sure that the patient is in fact safe for an aggressive weight loss program.
There’s a body bug that I wear all the time. This measures calories and steps. Then you
log the calories into the body bug system and every week you meet with your nurse and
we review what I’ve done. How many calories did I burn, how am I burning them, what did
I consume, what my fat percentage is. Mr. Macature is a client who entered the program
in September of last year so he’s been on the program for about 8 months now and has
lost about 95 pounds. So he is a very good success story for this program. The support
that you get here, the interaction is another key to the deal. A, you know you’re going
to have to check in with somebody, and that’s always a motivator – for me anyway and I
think it is for most people. It’s been a big help. Patient’s notice drops in their
blood pressure, diabetic medication, things like that. Many times we can certainly expect
a decrease in these medications if not an elimination all together. For my wife in particular,
it eases her burden. If she hears my cardiologist say Dave this is great, these numbers are
super. Your heart is stable, your cholesterol was at 79 now it’s at 32 we’re going to
cut back on your cholesterol medication. Those kind of things just make it easier for the
entire family and for me to plan for the future. With this diet I felt good from day one. If
you’ve had a doctor help change your life we’d love to hear about it. Send us an email
at info@bestdocsnetwork.com. I was a veteran in the United States Marine Corps for four
years, did two tours overseas. I went to the VA because I had been having recurring panic
attacks and tried to take the route through private insurance and doctors and everything
and nobody really saw me as somebody who might potentially have issues. I think I might need
something like this because I’ve tried all these medications and they haven’t worked.
Long story short it was just like a bad confluence of events and between a bunch of stuff happening
you know I need to talk to somebody about what’s going on and so that’s why I came
here. Specifically I came to Jeremy because I wanted somebody who was a veteran with that
background and could identify with me on that level. I see a wide range of clients but primarily
I focus on veterans, active duty military personnel, their families, friends and loved
ones. Basically veterans and anyone that comes in contact with them that could use a better
understanding of what they’re going through. And also I see a lot of chemical dependency
issues also and oftentimes those co occur in this population. Pretty quickly within
you know like the first ten minutes we were able to move right into what was bothering
me and they were like within the span of three months I felt like I’d gotten everything
out of it that I needed to and I was within a month I was feeling better. You don’t
want it to be some long drawn out thing for a year or you know several months, it was
like that. I had been in the service, I served for eight years and so how I found that that
is helpful for me in my practice is that I speak the language, I’m able to communicate
with them on a level, there’s a lot of understanding that goes on and a lot of freedom from having
to explain certain things that may not make sense to someone who hasn’t been in the
military. And so oftentimes that bridges a gap that can be pretty wide when a service
member or a veteran is seeking out therapy for his or her issues. I’m really, really
pleased with my experience at Lifeworks Group and with Jeremy, it’s been outstanding.
There are a lot of people on staff who are trained to deal with this who do have personal
experiences with this and I was able to feel really comfortable, really able to connect
with somebody. Not just somebody who understands but somebody who’s actually been there.
I’m just a lot more comfortable with how everything’s going and just thinking things
more positively now. Infertility itself is tough enough to experience alone. A lot of
patients do feel like they have nowhere to turn to but fortunately we’re here in the
community. We’re luck that at Dallas IVF we have a one stop shop type of center where
the patient can come and receive a whole wide range of treatments to help them get pregnant.
Some couples come to us because there’s a male factor, *** is poor. Some couples
come to us because the woman has endometriosis or does not ovulate well. There’s a whole
range of reasons why couples come to us. About 15 per cent of the patients we see in the
office have what’s called unexplained infertility. They have a completely normal workup yet they’re
still unable to conceive. Here at Dallas IVF we offer a wider range of infertility treatments
ranging from basic aggressive therapy like taking medicines just pills to grow an extra
one or two eggs combined with something called insemination or IUI. That’s where we’ll
take the partners *** and place it closer to the eggs within the uterus. Another treatment
that we offer is a very aggressive treatment called IVF also called in vitro fertilization.
What that is is where everything that occurs in the tube which is particularly fertilization
and embryo development and growth, all that occurs in a glass dish in a lab. So in that
way we can actually find the healthiest embryo and place that back into the uterus. If there’s
a structural reason why they can’t conceive, the tubes are blocked, there’s fibroids,
polyps in the uterus, endometriosis for these people we often have to take them to the operating
room and try and correct those abnormalities. We’re fortunate we operate at Forest Park
Medical Center at Frisco which provides the full range of services that we need on all
our surgical patients. Infertility and infertility treatments is like an emotional roller coaster,
hope and excitement followed by despair and frustration followed by hope and excitement.
But one day there will be a little baby at the end of the road. It’s so rewarding.
Especially when the families come back and they are so excited to show us their little
child. It really is the best part of what I do. That’ll do it, that’ll wrap up another
edition of the Best Docs Network featuring some of the best doctors in the Dallas, Fort
Worth area that helped change people’s lives. And if you’d like more information on any
of our fine doctors just logon to our website bestdocsnetwork.com. And of course if you
have a question or comment, that is the public out there, we’d love to hear from you, send
us an email at info@bestdocsnetwork.com. And stay tuned for our next episode of Best Docs
Network featuring Forest Park Medical Center coming up next. So long everyone, we’ll
see you next week.