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knowloveserve
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| Posted: July 17 2014 at 4:52pm | IP Logged
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I have gone through 4 different doctors in as many years since living here. My first one was fantastic, but he moved away shortly after we got here.
I don't ask for a lot in a doctor, just two specific qualities: competence and respectfulness. I don't need a crunchy doctor to cheer me on in my irregular vaccine ideas, just one who presents his information and respects my own decision making. Nor do I want a doctor to have all the bedside manners in the world but doesn't know what he's talking about.
Strangely enough, I have had a difficult time finding a doctor who is both competent and respectful... though one of those qualities is often there.
Anyway, on to my current dilemma (one of a few actually, but this one seems most pressing). My toddler will be three in about 6 weeks. He is a very smart, developmentally advanced child. He potty trained himself shortly before his second birthday and has never regressed. He was always prompt, controlled and slept well even at night.
A few months ago, I noticed cloudy urine. And he seemed to need to go more frequently and with much more urgency than ever before. And, he has been leeking a bit at almost every toilet break causing several underwear changes a day. I took him to the doc. suspecting a UTI. but he tested his urine and all the levels came back normal. He didn't seem concerned about it, mentioning that he was after all, "just two years old" (though in my estimation, this was not normal behavior for MY particular two-year-old). So he suggested that if I was really concerned about it, he could refer us to a urologist... though it sounded like he said that just to get me off his back.
I let it go until now, a couple months after that appointment. He still has the same, cloudy urine, frequent, leeky trips to the toilet and occasionally says the tip of his penis hurts (he is the first of my four boys to be uncircumcised, so I don't have a lot of experience with foreskin issues but the doctor said it looked normal and some pink was fine.)
Now, I'm wondering if I should just let it go or take the the time, effort (considerable with six kids) and money to go see a specialist (almost an hour away). Something keeps nagging at me that something is wrong... but the other part of me is dismissive saying the doctor said he was fine and I should leave it at that.
Thoughts on how to reconcile the "expert's opinion" with a mother's intuition?
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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Booksnbabes
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| Posted: July 17 2014 at 5:05pm | IP Logged
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If there weren't symptoms and it was just a nagging feeling, I might let it go, but there are symptoms and your gut is telling you to get it checked out. I'd go with your gut. Yes, it is considerable effort and expense, but it gets you answers--even if the answer is that the first doctor was correct.
If you aren't ready to go the specialist route, I do not think it would be improper to ask that your little one be tested again. You know that something is different, and IMO the doctor should take your son as an individual, not lump what is going on as a two-year-old thing and dismiss the fact that things for this particular person have changed.
I will pray for guidance for you in this issue!
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Wife to wonderful DH, mom to SIX beautiful gifts from God!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: July 17 2014 at 5:24pm | IP Logged
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Yes I would start with a retesting by the regular doc. It may just not have progressed enough to be detected as out of the ordinary.
Second I would also start treating for a uti asap.. any home remedies you can manage with him and see if you see improvement.
And while I was doing that I might also pursue the specialist.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 17 2014 at 7:01pm | IP Logged
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Cloudy urine can be caused by a number of things, many of them benign. This type of cloudiness tends to come and go (things like excess calcium in the diet that is excreted into the urine can cause this)
But in the presence of cloudiness and other symptoms that have persisted
more than two weeks, I would GO, definitely, to see the specialist. I would ask for a referral to a pediatric urologist, especially if it was going to involve a long drive with lots of kids. I would not dink around with another trip to the regular ped. If the UA there is normal... then what? Back to square one.
If it is abnormal, then what? Probably on to the specialist anyway.
Better to have it done in one fell swoop and have peace of mind.
Another advantage to seeing the specialist is just that... the speciality.
I cannot tell you how many pediatricians have asked if my children have had dental trauma or a drug reaction involving their teeth. This is because their adult teeth look slightly yellow next to the baby teeth they still have.
This is PERFECTLY NORMAL- the enamel in adult teeth is thicker and not as pearly white. as in baby teeth. Every time I tell the pediatric dentist I got asked about this again she just laughs and says that the regular pediatricians just don't/can't know everything and frequently scare parents this way.
The other thing that urges me to tell you to go is my own experience with my dd. She was not right for nearly a year, and all the local doctors kept telling me she was normal, and that I was just a nervous mommy. But I KNEW something was wrong. It wasn't until she was seriously ill that the doctors said: yeah, how about that? We wound up finally at Johns Hopkins (an appointment I made myself without a referral), and the doctor there said: yeah, I could have told you a year ago what the problem was. This happens all the time.
Not trying to scare you, Ellie, but if your gut tells you there is a problem, listen.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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guitarnan
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| Posted: July 17 2014 at 7:40pm | IP Logged
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What everyone else has said.
You know your son and you know something is not right. Those are the only two reasons you need, ever, to pursue treatment.
I could write a book about my wrangles with the military health care system and all the times I was told I was wrong about my child's health, only to be told when I finally got into the office, "Wow, you were right, he does have (insert condition)." 
God has a sense of humor, though...the time the Army corpsman (enlisted health care assistant) told me that babies don't throw up when they are given liquid Tylenol, ever, and I must have given him the medicine incorrectly (!) is probably still scrubbing the stains #1 Son put into his uniform when he threw up the cherry Tylenol all over said corpsman. 
YOU are the mom. YOU carried this baby and you know him better than any doctor ever could. Trust your instincts and knowledge.
Sending prayers and empathy...I know how hard it can be to get doctors to listen to you.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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stefoodie
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| Posted: July 18 2014 at 8:23pm | IP Logged
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You've gotten good advice; I'm adding my prayers!!
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stef
mom to five
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: July 18 2014 at 10:21pm | IP Logged
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Sometimes the in office labs are wrong. Sometimes they need to be sent off to the lab. I had a UTI when I was pregnant once and the test was negative in the office, but it was sent off to the lab and confirmed. It happens! Have him tested again.
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
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Anneof 5
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| Posted: July 19 2014 at 2:15pm | IP Logged
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Sometimes a urine speciman has to be sent in for a culture which can take about 3 days. Doctors should know about this but sometimes do not offer it. It can take that long for the culture to grow bacteria.
Also, there is a condition called urethritis where the infection is in the urethra and a urine speciman will test as just fine.
I don't think it is normal for your child to be having pain so for that reason I would definitely get him checked by a pediatric urologist. Then you will have some answers. I wish you the best!
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Topic: Doctors vs. mother's intuition
