“Is my doctor lying to me?”

In this conversation, Jeff Sarris and Jill Harris discuss the misconceptions surrounding kidney stones and the healthcare system’s approach to treatment. Jill emphasizes the importance of urine collection for understanding kidney stone formation and advocates for patients to take an active role in their health. They explore the dynamics between doctors and patients, highlighting the need for better communication and understanding of dietary impacts on kidney stone prevention. The discussion aims to empower listeners to seek accurate information and advocate for their health needs.

Takeaways

• Doctors may not have the right information about kidney stones.
• Patients often receive incorrect dietary advice regarding kidney stones.
• Urine collection is essential for understanding kidney stone formation.
• Many doctors lack the time to discuss nutrition with patients.
• Patients should advocate for themselves in medical settings.
• Not all nephrologists specialize in kidney stone prevention.
• Patients should seek out doctors who are knowledgeable about their specific issues.
• Dietary changes can significantly impact kidney stone prevention.
• Many people are reluctant to change their diets despite health issues.
• Being proactive in health care can lead to better outcomes.

00:00 The Truth About Kidney Stones and Doctors
02:24 Understanding Misinformation in Kidney Stone Prevention
05:26 The Importance of Urine Collection
08:47 Empowering Patients for Better Doctor Visits

Could It Be That Your Doctor Is Lying To You About Kidney Stones?

Jeff Sarris (00:00):
Could it be that your doctor is lying to you about kidney stones? Let’s talk about that.

So this is a big one. Could it be that someone’s doctor is lying to them about kidney stones?

Jill Harris (00:06):
Yes.

I have to say, this is so common. I get this a lot. And I’ve gotten it my whole career. “Jill, are you telling me that my doctor’s lying to me?” Or, “Jill, is my doctor lying?” Or, “Jill, my doctor’s not telling me the truth simply because they get to keep making money off my stones. Why would they tell the truth?”

“Why are they going to help me prevent kidney stones? They want to take them from me and charge me for all these surgeries. These surgeries are thousands and thousands of dollars.” Patients get angry because they’ve had stones for years and they have not gotten correct information. They have not gotten any information. They have gotten wrong information.

What could wrong information be? “Stop using calcium. Don’t drink milk.”

“Kale is high in oxalate. A diet cannot prevent kidney stones.” We need a whole separate video on that.

“Just drink water.” That’s something that they all say and they don’t say anything else. Most doctors are going to say drink water. When patients get a private consult with me, they’re like, “Why have I not been told this all these years?” And that’s when they say, “Why would they? Because these doctors are making all kinds of money.”

Listen, your doctors, yes, of course, they make money. They’re providing a service. You can’t go in and break up a stone. This is very difficult work to be a surgeon. So I’m never—yes, people will say, “You’re just trying to protect the doctor.” I’m not protecting nobody. I’m telling you what the truth is. They’re surgeons. They’re not studying nutrition. They don’t have time to talk to you about all this stuff. They may not have the right information, but they’re not doing it purposely. They have heard that kale is high in oxalate, so that’s what they’re going to tell you.

“Well Jill, why are they telling me not to drink milk?” Because they’re misinformed. They may be saying that to you because you have high urine calcium. “How do I know if I have that, Jill?” You’ve got to get a urine collection ordered. That’s the only way you’re going to know that. And this is why I tell you to get one ordered. “My doctor said, I don’t need one.” I will say your doctor is wrong about that. You do need one. You do need one. Because how are you going to know why you’re forming kidney stones?

That urine collection result has so many things on it that you would never know unless you got one done. So push back when your doctor says that. That’s my number one thing for you. If you don’t listen to anything else I say, get that ordered. Okay? That’s super important. “Oh, Jill, I eat a low salt diet.” And then when I see a urine collection, 7,000 milligrams of salt that day. But the patient didn’t understand. What are we talking about, Jill?

Jeff Sarris (03:20):
Yeah, but because that is a comment, like it’s an understandable question to think like, okay, is this being withheld deliberately?

Jill Harris (03:32):
Yes, yes, and health care for a long, long time is definitely under scrutiny. Everything is expensive. I had over a million dollars worth of medical care, at least for all my stuff, for my cancer. Okay, so many surgeries and all kinds of special stuff. So, when you’re sick and then you start getting the bills rolling in, of course, health care, we automatically are all skeptical.

These doctors make so much money—shoot, just their liability insurance is enough to choke a moose, I mean it’s a big deal. So you’d be surprised, they’re not all sitting there wealthy. And also, if they have the time to help you, they would. If they have the correct knowledge to help you, they would. But they’re studying on how to be the very best surgeon they can. That’s what they do. And thank God that they do it.

So sometimes in life you have to search elsewhere for the right information. So no, doctors are not purposely withholding information. The only time I get mad at doctors or upset with them is when they say you don’t need the urine collection or the diets don’t work for kidney stone prevention or “you’re just a stone maker.” That’s also another video. I hate that.

That would be like somebody saying, “Well, you just made cancer, Jill.” That’s the most hopeless feeling in the world that patient just got. And I can’t tell you how many people call me and they’ve lost a kidney. They’ve had hundreds of kidney stones. I’m like, and I just say, “What made you call me now?” And they’ll say, “Because I’m not getting help elsewhere.” Or, “I’m not getting help elsewhere, but also I’ll say, in a nice way, what took you so long to call and get help with this?” And they’ll say, “Because my doctor just said I was a stone maker so I just didn’t think there was anything else. Until this last surgery, I had a nephrectomy, which is the removal of a kidney. And I started to research and I found you.”

And so, I’m telling you guys, the things that I hear on a daily basis from the hell that you all have been through, I don’t know what to say. So this is why till the day I die, I’ll be screaming about this kind of stuff. My success rate with patients is really high because I’m taking the time, we’re going through everything, but not just that. I know how to talk to people based upon what they’re having obstacles with. And each of you is very different, different lifestyles, different allergies, different medical conditions. And I’m very good at putting all of it together.

I help you prevent kidney stones but also pay respect to all the things you’re going through, medically, allergies, food sensitivities. The doctors don’t have time to do that. The doctors are not even asking you, “What are you eating?” They’re not asking you any of those things. They simply don’t have the time, many of them don’t have the extensive knowledge.

Jeff Sarris (06:35):
Hmm.

Jill Harris (06:48):
Many of them think they’re giving you the right advice, like “don’t drink milk, your urine calcium is high.” But I’m going to tell the patient, your urine calcium is high. It’s probably coming from your bone. You definitely need calcium to prevent osteoporosis. And the only way you’re going to lower urine oxalate is to get enough calcium. So I guess the answer to this video is you must know this. Your doctors are not keeping information from you purposely to make money so they can do another ureteroscopy, cystoscopy, lithotripsy. They’re not doing that. They’re doing the best they can. They don’t have all the right information.

Here’s the other thing. You may not like this, but this is true. You’re watching this, you, the viewer, because you really want to get information on how to prevent kidney stones. I want you to be very proud of yourself for doing that because, and I’m pulling this number out of my hat or this percentage, nine out of ten people are not going to take that extra jump into learning and figuring this out for themselves. Why? Because most people, number one, it hasn’t been bad enough yet, and number two, they don’t want to change their diet. They’d rather eat junk.

And so here’s another reason why doctors don’t give out a lot of information or order the urine collection. “Jill, nobody’s changing their diet. Nobody’s changing their diet. I’d rather just put them on a pill to lower urine calcium instead of talking about salt and sugar.” So doctors get frustrated because patients—this channel should have millions of viewers because there’s millions of kidney stone formers. But that’s just not the case. People don’t seek help.

You could say, “Here I am,” and I’m thrilled you are. And you should be really proud of yourself that you’re doing it. But most people aren’t you. So it’s really important that you know that. And you should take pride in that. Doctors are not keeping information from you. They don’t have the time to do it as extensively as somebody like I do who does this for a living. Or they don’t have the right information. Or they have outdated information.

You’re doing the right thing by seeking help from people in the industry that absolutely have been doing it a good long time, who have a great track record and a success rate. And so be proud of yourself that you’re here. I wish the urologists would pay more mind to the prevention side of it, but they’re surgeons and that’s where we need them to be. Some of you may need a nephrologist. And if you do decide to find a nephrologist, that’s a medical doctor that specializes in the kidney, please find one that specializes in kidney stone prevention. A lot of nephrologists will do chronic kidney disease, diabetes, metabolic disease, but they’re not really caring too much about kidney stones.

My advice for all of you, whenever you’re looking for a doctor for a specific thing you have, make sure when you’re going to their website that you see clinical interests and passions with what you have. Just because somebody’s a nephrologist doesn’t mean they’re caring about kidney stones or that’s their expertise. I hope that makes sense, Jeff, right? Yeah, go ahead.

Jeff Sarris (10:25):
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I was only going to say it’s not hopeless going to the doctor either. We do read on kidneystonediet.com/start on the start page. We have a way to have better doctors visits. It’s an actual form you can print out, you can bring with you and better convey to the doctor that, okay, I’m ready to make a change. This is what I understand about change because then they’re so much more receptive to it because they’re like, this is, as you said…

Jill Harris (10:47):
Yes.

Jeff Sarris (10:54):
This is someone who’s ready to do this.

Jill Harris (10:56):
Yes, excellent, excellent point. And we have an article on our blog that says 13 critical questions to ask your doctor at the first appointment. So we have plenty of help on the blog and the Kidney Stone Diet start page to help facilitate that first appointment. Jeff, it’s an excellent point. When you come eager to learn, those doctors will unbuckle their ties. They’ll sit down, they’ll be like, “Suzy and Billy, they’re interested.” And doctors love it. Most, not all, doctors love it when you come giving a damn about your health. That’s why they became doctors.

And also, if you say, “I know, doctor, you have said in the past that I don’t need the urine collection, but I want you to order that for me because I want to do every darn thing that I possibly can.” And when you say it like that, doctors order them. So it’s really important and also on my blog I have things on how to get the doctor to order a urine collection. Go to the blog. It has everything you need folks. And then if you do get a urine collection, there’s nobody better at analyzing those urine collections and helping you facilitate the next doctor appointment you have to go over the urine collection than me. Why? Because I’m the Queen Marie? No, because I’ve been doing it for decades and I was taught by the best.

So I’m very good at knowing how to help you understand those urine collection results so you can have a better doctor office visit. If you get a better doctor office visit, you will get better treatment and you can stop making kidney stones. That’s how we do this. This whole channel is about making sure that you never get a kidney stone again. The end.

Jeff Sarris (12:43):
Yeah. Yeah, that’s it. You can find everything at kidneystonediet.com. And again, decades, it’s literally over 26 years, thousands of patients. So if you’re curious to learn more, kidneystonediet.com and thanks for tuning in, let us share this with anyone you think could benefit from it. And we’ll see you next week.

Jill Harris (13:00):
Subscribe people. Thanks so much. Have a good day!