The Doctor is In

that he wants to tell. So we've a lot of our discussions, even off Mike, are about like doctor questions and health and uh, physicality, just health matters in general. And then Ryan has an epic story that he wants to tell, and so he's sitting here happy as a claim. He's really gloating because he knows. And Amy even said it's an epic story. Don't see it that. I'm no one.

I never said it was an epic story. When you build it up like that, it puts a lot of pressure on me, and now you have to deliver us. That's the standard of this show. Figure out how to make an epic, Yes, figure out how to make this story epic, because that's the standard that we're setting on this show. But then also I want to say, we have doctor Todd on this show, coming in after this to answer a bunch of our medical questions. How it's called from a doctor because we don't go to doctor,

We don't go to doctors. We get doctors to come in studio. Well, that's exactly right, and that that's a good segue into what I am experiencing today, which is the reason that I don't go to a doctor. Now, the two of you or the three of you with Rick, you guys don't go to a doctor because you're lazy, You're ignorance, is bliss, or it's just an inconvenience, or you just don't know why I don't go to a doctor.

You tell me why because I'm lazy? Go ahead, sorry, Yeah, And so so for me, it's it's not as much about that, but rather I don't go to a doctor because the last time I did, I was told by the physician and by the head of the health system that I am no longer welcome back to this physician's office. Whatever. Again, I don't know why, but I believe it. I I'm I'm really curious to hear what you did here and

how you think it's appropriate. Yeah, I'm not surprised. I'm curious though, So I'll tell you I had a really bad sore throat, really hurt to swallow, and I went into how old are you at this point? Sorry? This is this reason? Now, this was I was like three years ago. So went into my physician and saw her explain the elements. She did a strap culture came back negative. Wasn't strep throat. I thought it was a bacterial trying to figure out a bacterial viral whatever. So she gave

me a prescription to help with the sore throat. So I go home. There was it was a five day prescription. I take the pills and it gets better, but then at the end of the fifth day, it's just it's lingering again and it's almost getting worse. So it's clearly not working. So I call the doctor's office and I said, hey, you know, i'd love for the doctor to call me back. I've been on uh this medication, it's not really working. I'd love to just figure out a course of action

moving forward. They say, okay, great, we'll have her call you back. So don't hear back from hers. So then I send her an email and I say, hey, doctor, yesterday was my last day on the z pack. Yet in the past couple of days, I've developed a head and sinus cold that's really knocked me out. I was relieved that my throat was getting progressively better, and then all of a sudden, today it's back to being really sore and it hurts the swallow. I'm not sure what

the best course of action is here. Is it to get another z pac prescription? And they said, dear Mr Ryan, we cannot cure high maintenance. Thank you. No, I'll tell you what they did. I sent that email. The entire day goes by, I don't get a reply back from from my doctor. I've already put a call in the previous day. So now it's two days a phone call and an email, no response. The following day, it's getting worse. I can barely swallow at this point, and I need

I actually need help. So I call the doctor's office for a second time and I say, Hi, I called two days ago. You said the doctor was gonna call me back. I've not gotten a return call. I've sent a follow up email. I've not gotten a response to the email. I'm now calling a second time. I need I need her to call me back. I need to know do I need to come in again that she need to refill the zpac prescription. What what do I need to do? They said, we're so sorry. We'll absolutely

give the doctor the message. She'll call you back as soon as she's out with the current patient she's in with. So that was at ten in the morning. That that day goes by, no call, no call, no email. That's unacceptable. This because this is a medical issue, and whether they think it's something or not, you are cons serious. You're obviously concerned about it, and I think it's their job to to not stress you out even more so, here's what happens next seven days later. Are you still having

trouble at this point? At seven days later, I it all. It cleared itself up, and I just I went about my life. It all nature ran its course. They worked itself out. That's why they just let you go, because they're like this, listen to this, listen to it. It's true. Still unprofessional. But seven days later I get an email back from the doctor. She says, seven days later, Ryan, I apologize, I just realized I didn't respond. It's always good to call the office, though. If you're not feeling better,

I assume and hope you're doing better now. If not, I should see you again. Okay, okay, So I am Are you mad at the doctor? I am furious at the doctor or as the doctor who is saying a I didn't respond, but in the future, you should call the office, not email me. I called twice. Yeah, but you didn't talk to her. You talked to somebody else, so right, so it's not his or her. That is not my problem. I did call, like I've done everything

on my behalf. But can you be mad at the doctor when it wasn't the document at anything to do with it. You're mad at the doctor because they're the head of the office. Is that? What I'm is that you're mad at the reception for not passing on the message. She is passively aggressively telling me I should have called. I called twice, an emailed and got no response from three different outreaches. That is absurd. So we think it's best if you didn't come back to the podcast. So

let me tell you. Let me tell you what I did. I was so angry and annoyed in this moment that immediately, immediately, within a minute of getting that email from her, I sent left a bad review on Yelp. I sent a response to her. I changed the subject to auto response. This subject was strep throat, and I changed it to auto response colon strep throat. And then I immediately responded,

strepthroat and your colon. That's what I was thinking. What you said, Sorry, this is a big life issue for apologize. I immediately respond with the auto response and I say, this email is no longer active. Ryan passed away last week due to complications from strep throat. Memorial services are being planned and the family asks you send donations to the Strep throat Awareness Fund in lieu of flowers. That okay, that is have you ever in your life been called petty?

So let me tell you. Let me tell you the the chain of offense. You gotta get your balls checked due. Thank you. So after this, that day, I get a call from a woman you did listen to this. I get a call on my cell. It was actually the following day and the woman says, hi, uh Ryan, my name is Mary so and So. I am the head of x University Health System. I'm the head president of the health system, and I said, nice to meet you. She said, we have a major issue, sir. I said, yeah,

I think we do. But what's your issue? And she said, well, uh, it's been brought to my attention and the general counsel of our health administration that an email was sent on your behalf to your doctor. And I've said, so now you're checking your emails. Thank you, And she says, well, I said that's correct. And she said, well, we let me tell you what happened after your doctor received that email.

She was cataton. She broke down into tears, almost had a mental breakdown, canceled all of her appointments for all of her patients for the next two days, and what and genuinely believed that she failed as a physician and lost one of her patients due to her negligence. And that is all because of you sending the email that you sent, which you probably thought was funny, but I'm here to tell you it is absolutely not funny. How

did that feel to hear that? I said, well, I I feel awful that She said, she is so upset by thinking that her negligence could have cost one of her patients their lives and let let this be a lesson to you. It was seven days after she decided to email me and say, in the future I should call Well, did you check your call outs? Yes, sir, we actually did, and we do see that there are

records of your calls and our receptionist uh informed. But the doctor and she forgot to call you back one of the times, and the second time she admittedly did not relay the message. Okay, and then she said she proceeded to lecture me, and I said, let me stop you there. Mary. The issue I had onto the podcast because I said, I have here is this The doctor is an intelligent person, I said, did you read the email? You're an intelligent person too. Did you read the email?

Do you think that upon passing away within hours, the first thing that my closest loved ones and my wife and everybody decided to do was, oh, my god, we're grieving Ryan's death, but we should get onto his Gmail and put an auto response on there to make sure anyone that emails donates to the Strep Throat Awareness Fund, which,

by the way, Mary, I don't believe that exists. It sounds like the most ridiculous fun point but knowing you, knowing you, it's possible that you have fifteen of these emails already cooked up for anything in case you do pass away. Wait, the staff isn't a real thing. The Strep Throat Awareness Fund, I said, And my family is asking to donate to the fund in lieu of flowers. And by the way, that I died from complications to the strep. I don't have a metal to medical degree.

That's all all to you, guys, But like, pretty sure you can't die from strep throat. And let's not miss the obvious here. Anyone that knows you knows that you would insist that you get flowers rather than donation. And my love language, Mary is gifts, okay, and so is my death language. What what is it called? Um? He's probably got his own uh what's it called? Uh? In

the paper. You probably have you written your own obituary in case you do pass that you're just like you have it in your will or your trust or something that he's got. It's a glam shot. This is my good side. It's been touched up. I'm wearing the Gavin to grow merchandise. Yes, so this this really so basically, when you talk to this Mary, You're basically like, you're welcome. Yes, I said, you you did them of good service in

your mind to be a lesson to you. And and obviously, in the way i'm telling it now it comes off as being condescending. But I said, and there's a very good chance I could have died. And and he's just like, I am the right here. How about this, she canceled two days of appointments. Those are people that were actually sick, that could have had something serious happen to them. And did you apologize for that? Do you say I'm sorry or just go You're welcome? No, I said, the doctor

is a very intelligent person. She went to an undergrad and medical school. I find it hard to believe that she did not implement a single shred of common sense into this equation to deduce that well, even if I have a question as to whether this is a legit email, why do I call him and see if that's because you're dead? Yeah? And by the way, and and to that, like Mary called me, why is she calling a dead guy? If you really thought I was dead, why are you calling?

Because Mary saw right through your ruse. By the way, in your defense, in Ryan's defense, they say that strep throat is a child's disease, and you certainly acted like a child. So hold on, I'd like to know what our listeners think of this, because it's I think it's pretty apparent that I don't think Dmitri and I would go that route. In fact, I don't even know how to change that thing on my email whatever you're talking about, so I couldn't even I've never thought about faking my

own death just to stick it to somebody. Well, at the end of this all, it concluded with me demanding an apology, Mary being unwilling to give me more, ultimately saying, well, uh, you know, we've talked internally and had numerous board meetings and decided collectively, uh, that you are no longer welcome back in this health system and at this doctor's office. So and how about this, This called is the chain of events. You have not been in the doctrine three years.

This whole thing is having a ripple effect, which means you will probably die sooner than you need to because you refuse to go back to another doctor or or your band from every doctor everywhere. We have a musical malpractice suit on our hands, don't we Oh, I don't think we do. Are you blacklisted amongst doctor's offices? Uh? No, I actually I feel like this isn't the first time.

Let me tell you how I've remedied it. I got this app called one Medical, which allows me to whenever I'm feeling an ailment of any sort, I can hit the app face time with a physician from around the country within two minutes, tell them what's going on. I have a sort throughout this is blah blah blah. And they say, great, your your pharmacy CVS on this on sepulvida.

I'll call in a z pac right now. Within seven minutes, I have a prescription called in and I don't have to leave the house and deal with someone who's gonna just so. They just described you what presc you. Yeah, I imagine you have to use some code name and not you're only name on this app. I wear one of those glasses things within, fake nose and mustache. Okay, and now listen to me, and I mean this is from all of us, is from Brooks, Gavin Rick and myself.

We have a doctor coming today. Dr Todd, you better be on your damn best behavior when he comes in here, we don't need you. We will throw you out. I I worry that there's like a America's Most Wanted type like flyer that's gone out in the physician community with my face on it, that like he's gonna walk in here and immediately just know that I'm that guy and walk immediately. I'm afraid my doctor is going to find out that I'm on a podcast with you and stop

serving me. I'm afraid that you pulled this whole stunt to possibly get some flowers back from break. And I'm super excited because none of us we've talked about this. None of us like going to the doctor. Um, I haven't been to the doctor. I literally haven't been to the doctor since I was released from the Kings. But we have a doctor in studio with us because none of us want to go, so we brought one here. We have call house call for Dr Todd. Welcome, Welcome

to me. How men thinking? When I first see you Todd, I think, dang, that guy should be a football player because I wish I had your size. But um, he is a doctor, and we're gonna ask you a ton of questions. You're gonna give us um some overview on some things we're dealing with. But for our people listening, can you please give them a little bit of your history in the medical profession. Sure, thank you for having me um. Yes, I am quite large for a for

a doctor. In fact, when I was in medical school, I'm sort of the orthopedic mold, so they would always shuffle me off to the orthopedic surgeons to go do whatever they did, which is fixing bones and joints typically and athletes. But I never really had an interest in that. I was much more interested in the human part of medicine and the cognitive part of medicine, which is what I ended up doing, which is family medicine. So I trained inside at a family medicine and really that is

a Swiss Army knife of medicine. We take care of about of the problems that come into the office, about ten percent of the things we have no idea about, and that's what we refer to specialists for specialists, on the other hand, each deal with their own little world of medicine and have no idea what the other is doing. So we work in between all of those different fields, and that that's what I've done for the last twenty years of my career, and uh so this is perfect.

You know a little bit or a lot about everything, because we know a little little bit about nothing. So we really need you to tell us a little something about everything. Correct. I am the educated version of what quote they quote say. I like it. So we're all going here. We've got four guys here, We're going through four checkups right now. Here's my first question to you, because I don't even know this my whole life. I've been on sports teams, we had doctors and physicians and

everybody in our locker room. I've been out of the NHL now for a year and a half and I haven't seen one doctor. How many times or when should I go to the doctor? How many times a year? What doctor do I go do? I don't even have a doctor since I've been done with the king, So can you please advise me on how many times a year I should be coming to see you? Sure? Um, well, that that is a very good question. And I think that there's a lot of different people who have stakes

in that answer. One of them are the primary care provider organizations like the American Medical Association that wants people to come into the office. They think that's the best place to anticipate problems. For four primary care deal with current issues, and they would say come in once a year, once a year, Okay, Um. The truth is, when we look at the evidence and long term studies, we're not pent sure is a medical community that that really changes outcomes.

We do think that there are certain screening procedures done, it's different outcome at different intervals that might change outcomes. For instance, colon cancer screening, we recommend that for everybody starting at I'm forty five and a half, it used to be it used to be right, well, it used to be fifty. It used to be fifty that they got changed to forty five. So that's a perfect example. Or prostate cancer screening. Lots of guys don't like to go to the doctor. No, no, yeah, so lots of

people are prostate cancer screening. So there's a lot of debate about these things. But but the reason my point is maybe coming in once a year would be a reasonable cadence in a person let's say over thirty five years of age and let's say under fifty um, to come in once a year to talk about these guidelines. To talk about what's out there, maybe say hey, there's something new in my family history. So I think once

a year would be reasonable. And what the question if it's once a year is that even if you feel perfectly fine, you're healthy, there are no ailments because to speak to what you were saying at the beginning, is that not I've heard that the insurance industry is in the state that it's in because people come in too often and that's driving up you know, it just becomes a huge night amber where people are coming in when when it's unnecessary. So that's a great question, and there's

really two different answers to that. One of them is a population based answer, which is if we're talking talking about the US population, first, are we talking about you? What do you want? If do you want you know, the best possible outcomes for yourself, Do you want a lot of supervision or you know, when we say, look, we're going to prevent five cases out of a hundred thousand, you know, do you want to be one of those

cases it's not prevented because you weren't there. It's sort of what your approaches and do you play the statistics and how do you think about things, what is your level of anxiety? But I used usually tell people that most people don't see a doctor very often between seventeen and thirty five. The last visit is when their mom takes them in before they go to college, and the first business right after they get engaged. That's you know so, and then so there is a big bald spot in

there where doctor page and start releasing. People don't come in to see the doctor. Once they come in, it's sort of a slow ramp up, and then usually around forty five or fifty, the wheels start to fall off the wagon. They don't feel good, they're on a hike somewhere, they start to feel terrible, and they come in and say, what's wrong with me? Well, Ryan's anxiety level is off the chart, so he should go in like every two months. I don't ever see a doctor, but we should label

the anxious guy and the group. We almost need to take a break just so you can have like five minutes with arrested to do something on him. Right. Question about the prostate exams, where is that? Are we talking about the finger? Is that what you're referring to? When Amy asked if we've ever had it, well, that that's a good question. That's my question is that the is

that really the only way to check? So it's really it's really not a great The truth is his digital rectal exams are not a great screening test for prostate cancer. I mean, I've examined who knows how many thousands of prostates and I've very rarely detected a primary prostate cancer through that exam. Now, there are other things you might find on that exam, like an enlarge prostates that's causing

problems with urination. You might hypothetically notice blood and erectum that is, you know, maybe from colon cancer or something related to that. But you know, there's a lot of debate about prostate cancer screening, and without getting into the specifics of that, ultimately what we talk about is when when patients come in, we make a decision about prostate cancer screening based on lots of things including age, personal preference,

family history, risk factors, etcetera. And so not everyone needs to come in and have a digital rectal exam, because I can tell you I have had that exam and the finger, yeah, I have had it, and um, I gotta tell you it's it's it's not it's uncomfortable. But funny story was, you know, I've actually had it a couple of times. Um, all the doctor's appointments. Dmitri gets it weekly. Sorry and my right. But so I went

and I had it done. And then I hadn't gone back to the doctor in like two and a half years, and I was like, oh, so I knew I had to do it, have it done again. And while I was there, the doctor walks in and I just you know, I look at him, you know, in the face. He walks in, and all of a sudden, I'm thinking to myself, oh, look at he's getting a little bit of weight. And I'm like, hands were bigger too, His fingers were bigger.

I was like, and I got all nervous and so at that point, so I've never cared about the size of a doctor until I had to start getting that exam. So I was wondering if we could do like it. There should be like a tinder for doctors where they just show their hands and you can swipe left or right and then you can figure out which one's gonnarea to do that without getting the finger. Well, yeah, so there are blood tests that you can screen pretty well

for prostate cancer. But again they cause quite a bit more anxiety, we think, than prevention of disease. So we're we try to be careful when we order those tests, who were ordering them in how often there's a lot

of nuance to it. But again, this isn't a perfect reason why everybody is afraid to go to the doctor in their forties because they think some guy with big hands like me is gonna put it up their butt and they're gonna be super uncomfortable and they're gonna forget everything else had happened in there, and then everything else they wanted to ask because they were so worried about this exam lacked out for three days. That's right, Well, then that that is my biggest fear, and that's why

I don't want to go get that test. And a half year, half year behind, I would say that it would be totally reasonable to go into a doctor's office and say, I do not have a family history of procesct cancer, I have no urinary symptoms. I would prefer not to have this exam. Let's talk about it. So

here's my question. Then, So I'm thirty six years old, I'm a very active I believe healthy mail, but I'm I'm also not arrogant enough to think that there might not be something going on in me that I don't know. So if I come in to visit you or come into a doctor's office, I don't feel like just talking about I feel phenomenal. I feel fantastic, better than I ever have in my life. But I think that is setting me up for a massive failure. Like what kind

of tests? UM? What as a thirty six year old male, what what might I be susceptible for? What is on radar that we want to test for? What does a doctor's office appointment look like for me? Because I don't want to say I feel great and then you go, okay, we'll see anything. Are you trying to get like the full body check up? I don't even know, Like I don't know, I've never had Like I always have this imagination of having it like a scan that you just

go in and it does everything. I think that I don't think that's a real What movie were you watching

last day? UM? We had to do full medicals at the start of every hockey season, so at training camp, the first day of training camp was full medical evaluation UM and you weren't allowed to participate the next day in the actual on ice activities unless you passed your medical So that was my yearly check up, and then we had access to amazing physicians doctors all year long, where if something was wrong, they would have caught it

on me. Now I don't have that team around me, those people around me, and I haven't been to the doctor for a year and a half. So my fear as though I might feel physically exceptional and healthy, there might be something persisting that I'm not aware of. Exceptional. You know, you couldn't say that exceptional. You know what Dr Todd? He works out a couple of times a week for thirty minutes because I'm not arrogant. Thirty seconds later, I feel physically exceptional, he was, So what am I

looking for when I come in there? So I think you would. You are a fit person, you are a healthy person. You've had a lot of access to great healthcare over the years, good food. Um, you probably didn't have a lot of horrible childhood illnesses because of vaccinations, probably where you grow up. I'm just assuming lots of things, but just based on how you look right now, I would say it's not urgent to go running into a

doctor and say, you know, help me, help me, help me. However, it would be reasonable to go through things like family history, you know, talk about whether you have a history of corner disease. Are there bad habits that you're involved with that you want to learn how to think differently about? Um, it might be worth at your age thirty five, looking at cholesterol, blood sugar for most people, not yourself, but looking at body habituts. Are they overweight, are they underweight?

What are the issues around that? So you know, not necessarily speaking to you, but speaking to the whole world. And again this is a little bit different than the way that I practice in a very small practice. Is that it's an opportunity to have conversations about things that you may not even be thinking about. The unknowns, the unknown unknowns, you know, the things that aren't even in your sensorium yet. Um. And is it an urgent No? Is it something that could be done once a year

for sure? And that's typically what would happen for someone your age. And and you know, it might just be nagging stuff like um, you know, maybe you had a lot of concussions during hockey and you're concerned about what that means for you, and how do you think about that? What does it mean for your family? Does it mean for your few? Sure those would be reasonable conversation. Okay, okay, So we have a question here. I'll be the sacrificial

lamb that reads it. It says Brooks. Question read it. Um. This is a question that I've had actually conversations with people before on But how many times a day is it healthy to be going to the bathroom? And by the bathroom, I don't mean a pee, I mean some people. I have friends I played with guys that took a crap. Let's just say it took a crap once a day and I couldn't believe it. Um, and myself, I'm a lot more than that. Upwards of five to six times a day a day. He's gone three times since we

started the podcast. So so I've had burying. I've had a lot of people say that that's abnormal. Is that abnormal? I eat a lot of vegetables though, a lot of full sessions a day. Like you're not talking like, oh no, no, how to's go a little bit full? Wow, jeezy, I'm lucky to get one. Why are you really okay, I can go like not. I can skip a day and then definitely go the next day. But I'm basically once a day my juicer spits out lest than you. How's

that possible? Maybe that's a reason too, because I I juice like, I make my own um organic cold press uses at home and so that you drink that and that's going through you. But what would I eat? A lot of vegetables? Zucchini sticks don't count? Why are Rick and I so different in that? So I would say that there's there's everybody's a little bit different, and everybody's GI tracks are are different. But the primary issue, I would say would be nutritional, meaning the type of food

that you're eating. And then the second is everybody has what's called the gastro colic reflex, meaning when food gets into your stomach that your your stomach is gastro and colic is colon and there's a reflex that reflex not reflex reflex that when food hits your stomach, it relaxes your cold and you move your bowels and you go to the bathroom really to clear out room for that food that's coming down. It sounds like you have a

more pronounced gastrocolic reflex than someone like yourself. But you know, I would say once a day is normal. Five times a day would probably be on the high end of normal. If you said to me, look, I'm having cramps, an abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea and I it's a nightmare for me, that's a whole other issue. But if you're like, look, I feel great. I have five four bound movements a day. I'm not losing weight, there's no blood in my stool.

Everything seems this is just the way I've always been. That's normal for you. If you say, look, I feel fine, and I have one bowel movement a day and that takes care of business. Sometimes I skip it in the next day a little bit more, that's also fine. Um. But there are certain medical conditions that we would think of it with really abnormal patterns of bound movements, but those are typically painful diarrhea, of blood, etcetera, often associated

with weight loss, weight maybe weight gain. So I have none of that. You just have six really healthy bowel movements a day. You poop six times a day, you work out six times a day. Rick Coop's not once in a day it doesn't work out. You know, he considers the bathroom working out. Yeah, exactly, So we can we have another question. I want to welcome to the show for his first ever appearance on the show, we have Brett with us today. Welcome. So Brett is my friend.

His baby brother is Wells Adams from the Bachelor, and he's the bartender on The Bachelor and Brett and I. This sounds intimate, but we have vacation together and that is how I learned about Brett's very fascinating issue. So I asked him if he would open up about it because I think he's not alone, and I also think we can, dare I say, cure him? Okay, Brett, welcome to the show. Brother. Well, thank you, just really quickly.

I just want to get off. In regards to going to the doctor once a year, what type of doctor is that? If I'm saying, okay, I haven't been in five years, who am I looking to go see? I would say that would be a primary what would be referred to as a primary care doctor usually in turtle medicine or family practice. Okay, um, thank you. I needed to know today that was that was that was the problem? Yes, Well, I Ran always says that this is a trust tree, this,

this is a safe place. Let me just check before Brooks. Do you have to go and drop a doucey? You're good for a little far. I'll go around four o'clock. We're way pass. That's because what my issue is, um, and a lot of it is in my head. But I have to always be somewhere where I know there's a bathroom around. I constantly, if I'm on a plane, if I'm in a car, if I'm in a house, of wherever I am, I have to know that I

can get to a bathroom. And it's a head game because I can go to the bathroom and and I'm talking going number one. Um, I can go to the bathroom like I did five minutes ago, and I'm already thinking how long am I going to be here? And if I have to go, what's my exit strategy. I also do that with going number two as well, but not as much. It is is mostly the I've got to go pee and and and how can I get there? And make sure there is a pathway for me to

get there? Okay, so is your question what's wrong with me? Is this normal? Or I have a question. Did you pee your pants as a kid one time and we're ostracized by it or something and it could scarred you. I don't think I peed my pants. I'm sure growing up, I probably peed in my bed, you know, you know, going through that potty training or something. But I don't think I've ever had there's no like magnificent moment that

you're like, no, I don't. I've been drunk a couple of times, and you know, yeah, I mean, I mean, just to make you feel comfortable. I mean, I that goes through my mind as well too. And I don't know how old you are, but I'm forty five and a half, but I think not maybe as much as you do about that. But like I'm flying back tonight, so like I'm thinking, Okay, well I have to go before I get back in the car. And then when

I get to the airport, i gotta go. Okay, I'm gonna go check in, I'm gonna get my ticket, and then I'm gonna go to the bathroom, and then I'm gonna go through security and I'll probably have to go to the bathroom after that. I do the same thing. To be honest, I'm like the same thing that it don't worry you lose control of it. I know, I treat myself like a five year old though. I'm like, Okay, I should go before I leave the house, and then when I get somewhere, like I should probably go now

just in case I can't go later. Same here, and like to me, not to take away from that, but like I feel, I want to be on the plane and I want to be comfortable, and I'm thinking to myself, well, I'm want to fall asleep on the way home on the airplane, so but I want to I don't want to have to go to the bathroom because they don't have to get up, go to the back of the plane, go to the war or if you're on the plane and it gets delayed and you haven't gone, then you're

stuck because you're on the tarmac and you can't get up, And then I start to freak out. Yeah, this is this is you know what's really interesting about this? This is the most anyone has ever sounded like Ryan. It doesn't rick sound like trying right now? Way do you hear this? Sometimes when I pee, I turn around and I wash my hands and something about the water hit in my hands. I got a pee again, so don't I turn around a p and I wash my hands again.

So I'm doing like double sets. It's like you used to work out twice. Dr Todds just laughing over yeah, like Dr todd Yeah, this is uh, this is the greatest hits of of male urinary complaints. Let me ask you, do you guys because I think that it's crazy. I'm kind of with Peroks on this. Do you get up multiple times in the middle of the night to go pee? Yes? You do. I'll get up at at least once, sometimes twice. Have you guys ever? Once you guys ever like looked

into diapers just in case? Okay, hold on a sem wondering Mr six deuces a day. Let's let's have roa stones and back from some what can what can we really do about Regret's question? Like? Right, so this so this is a what would be a primary care question at least to get started. I don't think you necessarily need a subspecialist yet, which would be a urologist, someone who works in the general urinary track kidneys, bladder, penis, etcetera. But this, you know, most of the time when people

come to me with this complaint. There's two components to it. Some people have a little bit more irritability in their bladder, and their bladder fills up and they they're sensitive to it and they feel this urge to pee, and everybody's bladder tone is a little bit different. There are other people who have a lot of bladder irritants in their diet and not casting any stones here, but those are things like tobacco, alcohol, caffeine is the biggest defender, spicy food,

or even just high volume hydration. I mean a lot of people like Brooks who are working out a lot are probably pounding water. And there are other people who are, like, you know, drinking bulletproof coffee and then pounding water, and then they're having wine and they're having spicy you know, soup or whatever it is for lunch. So there's just a lot of liquid volume, add a lot of bladder irritants. So that would be the first place that I would look.

The second place, and again this is not something that we see until later on, would be prosthetic hypertrophy. That's when you see the commercials about the guys who are the football game and everybody's running into the bathroom and they're looking up at the scoreboard trying to figure out

how much time is left. And there are the prostates basically smooth muffle, muscle gland that surrounds the neck of the bladder and men and as that enlarge as it can be caused that type of irritability in your urgency and frequency that that you're it sounds a little bit like you're having. But I I typically start with what's going into your body, in particular the type of liquids and hydration. He's saying, it's not a going problem, it's

a growing problem. Um, it's only commercial problem. It's a growing problem. Correct. I think his might not be a growing problem, might be a going problem, but it also could be a total head game. Well, you know there are I might be speaking a little out of school. So some of my eurologic colleagues would take, uh, take exception with this, Yes, exactly exactly. They love that when you said that, don't be piste off at me. Um. But I think that there is a um a psychologic

component to it as well, because it's a behavior. So we feel this irritability and it's like it's sort of like holding your breath when you talk to people who get really into prolonged breath holding is an exercise. They get to a point where thirty seconds feels really long, and then they go past that and they're like, wait, I'm still here, nothing has happened, and then they can kind of condition themselves to go longer. I have a question for you, Bread, is this is this show up?

Does this show up anywhere else in your life? Like you're terrified of being laid or your tear, Like, is there anywhere else where some sort of fear like this shows up that maybe it's not actually a health problem, it's just, like you said, possibly a mental problem. I would say no to that. I mean, I'm pretty o c D. I am always early, I'm I'm very I'm punctual person. But it's I don't think that has anything to do with any correlation. No, it's just I think

it's a head game. I mean, yes, I'm I'm older. I'm I'm gonna be forty eight, so I am on the older spectrum. Um, and something that probably is going to the process is gonna start to change or has already changed, and I'm already in that um. Maybe need medication. But I also think a lot of it is head game because I'm sitting here right now and as I'm talking, I'm not thinking about going to the bathroom because I'm

in conversation. But the moment I'm not doing this, then my mind immediately goes, okay, is there a bathroom by? And how am I going to get out of this situation if I need to go to bathroom? Will you mark the bathrooms as soon as you enter a new room, like will you be like okay, I'm not gonna here, yeah, not marked like a dog? Well you if you entered like a new like this house, right, so you enter this house, so you are you gonna cut a like a hot lap and be like okay, one to bathroom.

I've found out immediately when I got in here where the bathroom was, and that Will you go to a restaurant that will be the same situation or well, I know that if I'm in a restaurant, I know that there's a bathroom in there, so I know that I can get to it. So that's not it's not necessarily the pathway because from getting from point eight point B is not the issue. It's just in my mind thinking I've got to have if like we were talking about

earlier the airplane. If if we're on a tarmac and you're not allowed to get up, then I started panic because how long am I going to be stuck on this tarmac if I have to go to the bathroom. Tell the story how when we went on a walk, So Brett and I went on a walk. We went from like maybe it's a mile walk from the country club to the hotel. Yes, And I stopped the at the porta body of a work site that I didn't

belong in. That's all right, I know, But I but that my mind was, Okay, I've got a twenty minute walk. I'm not gonna make it twenty minutes. And I saw the the outhouse or whatever you call it, and I stopped there to go the restroom so that my mind would be at ease that I'd make it all the way. Is it possible Dr Todd that he just maybe has a smaller bladder, like do men? Some men have a

bigger bladder and some have a smaller bladder. Well, there was a there was a Monty Python skit about that from Live at the Hollywood Bowl where they do the h It was a hundred meter dash for men with small bladders, and they start the race and they're all drinking water, and like every five ft someone peels off and in first, and he's back, and they kept changing. The lead kept changing because people have to run off to the bathroom in a hundred meter dash. So you

know there are people who have different size bladders. Um, and we can measure that with an ultrasound UM. I don't suspect the that's the issue here. You are what we would refer to in medicine as well preserved. So forty eight. You look younger than your stated age, as

we would say in the business. So I think that you know, probably at forty eight with these type of issues, I I it's not necessarily a call for medication, but there could be behavioral modification in particular around what you drink and how when you drink it and changing sort of the input. Like you know, people can do pelvic floor physical therapy, etcetera. To kind of retrain themselves out

of this. But I think that you're you do have some bladder irritability, probably some prosthetic hypertrophee, and it probably related it to the volume in the in the caffeine alcohol spicily whatever it is that you do. I don't know whether they do that or not, but I suspect that that type of stuff would probably be irritating you. Is it true that you live in a one bedroom, fourteen and a half path custom build that custom building? So I was gonna ask a question, Brett, have you

to try to fight it? Like h this morning is a class example for myself. Like I got up, I was I was at the gym at six o'clock and I went and worked out. But before I stepped into the actual gym portion of it, I was like, oh, I should probably I should probably go to the bathroom, you know, and then I something else. I went and brush my teeth or something, and then I got it in the gym and I'm like, oh shoot, Like I never went to the bathroom, and so I ended up

working out for an hour. And then as soon as I started working out, I didn't even like, didn't even phase me. I didn't even think about it. I didn't feel like the pressure to go to the bathroom. But when I was done, then it. I got back into the locker room, I was showering and was like, okay, cool, done, Now relieve myself. Yeah, I don't. I don't think I avoid it. If I can solve the problem immediately, I solve the problem, hence stopping it up. But that was

my whole thing was like I ended up. I thought about it, but then I was either I got distracted by something else and then kept going, and then through that hour of workout or whatever that time was, I didn't didn't even bother me, didn't even cross my mind. I didn't even feel it. Yeah, I mean I think I should. I should. I'm not. I'm not saying get in your car and drive home for two hours and go and hold it. Get you in the traffic on the four oh five. That's a bad place there. I

can pull over if need be. I can pull over side road all. I can pull over the gas station. So I always have that in my mind. If I'm stuck somewhere, what is my what is my exit? Typically the biggest culprits that I see are soda. People drink a lot of soda, and people who just super hydrate, and then people who drink a lot of coffee. Okay, we're gonna move on from this one. Dr Todd, I have another interesting question for you, Um are cold showers

better than hot? Doesn't matter because there's I'm always after performance, like I'm always seeking better performance, and so I study and learn and read a bunch of different things. And there's a lot of discussion now, not only in wellness and in health, but in performance that cold showers are better than hot? Can you weigh in on this? So um, I have always wanted to start a journal of anecdotal medicine, which is basically not evidence based medicine, things that people

just say that are true. You know, most of the things that we say are true, for instance, should I take cholesterol medication if I high cholesterol? Those are backed up by huge studies that are randomized, placebo controlled studies where there's hundreds of thousands of people and we can look at outcomes. We don't have that kind of data with hot and cold showers. Which one is better, which one's worse? Do they really improve performance? Do they really

improve long term outcomes? We don't know. Personally myself, you know, I am very similar to you. I've always been an athlete. I've always been interested in performance, and so I'm constantly looking for things that are benign me and they're not going to cause any harm that will actually make me feel better and maybe improve my performance so recently, you know, So there's a lot of stuff and maybe we'll get to later in this conversation that people are doing to

improve performance. And you know, there are people who say, look, when I take a cold shower, it wakes me up. It gets my you know, I feel like my immune function is better. It just sort of shocks me and stimulates me, and I feel really good. I don't know if there's any real evidence to suggest that cold or hot showers are better, but I do find that you know people who ice after exercise, who you know, you as a hockey player, you probably know that I played football.

We ced all the time, and it does improve in my opinion with it does improve recovery, but I don't truly know if it improves performance. Yeah. I would sometimes do it too after a hockey game because the intensity level is so high, um that I didn't want to add more heat to it. Your body attempt is so high that I would take a cold shower to help me calm down and be able to sleep when I

went home, So I would for anybody listening. I would sometimes do it later in the evening to to help myself calm down and then I could go to bed. I just wanted to see which you thought. There's a lot of people doing that ice therapy where they're getting an ice tanks and yeah, yeah, we had cryos in our locker room. You guys ever done a crydo therapy? Oh? Were? I think we're going to go as a team. Yeah, I have a place we can go do it. Um it's fast team. Are you guys on you know, like

a podcast team? Yeah, we're thinking you other people, so it's a competition ratings. I got a question Dr Todd, intermittent intermittent fasting. Is that's a big thing now? Is that a legitimate thing or is that like what's the deal? Good question? Um so, so intermittent fasting, there's a there's a lot of elements to this, and I'm I could speak to this for walks. I get asked this question a lot, and I'm interested in it myself. UM, I think that for people who you're you really have to

find out and what works best for you. Um. There are not a lot of huge studies out there that look at long term data about in intermitten fasting. So again, there is. There are small studies. I've read them, and I'm going to speak a little bit to that. So, the the idea behind intermittent fasting, if you just think about it from an evolutionary perspective, is there was very few times until the last three years where people sat down for three high caloric meals a day, right, breakfast, lunch,

and dinner. We like that, it's the way we behave. Um, you know, people always went to sleep when it got dark and they always woke up when it got light. It wasn't the other way around. But there wasn't a lot of times where people sat down for three meals a day until recently. So the idea I think fundamentally behind intermittent fasting is it mirrors more closely what we evolved to do, more calories in a shorter period of time,

with lots of walking and exercise between. So I have a thought on that too, because I've looked into this as well. The reason, well, a lot of pulls see results immediate, very urgent results from intermittent fasting. Um, they can lose ten pounds in the first three weeks or something, and they'll swear by they say this is amazing intermitute

fasting works. But what you're doing is, as he said, you're there's a portion of the day where you are not allowed to eat, where you're not eating, And really, what you're doing, if you were to just what you're doing is portion control. Is essentially what you're doing by restricting this time where you're not eating, it's just restricting portions really, and so as he said, there aren't studies

that really prove it. If a person was to take that restraint and portion control into their standard diet, eating three meals a day, the results would probably be the same. So it's the jury is out on intermittent fasting. It's of course, if there's an area of the day, like if if it's all of a sudden, only sixteen hours of the day or eight hours of the day that you can eat, of course you're gonna lose weight. You just most likely are because you can't eat that much

during that little amount of time. Um, But if you just practice portion control in your regular diet, you would probably get the same thing. But I do feel better almost when I eat less during the course of the day. When I'm highly active, i eat very little. I'll eat a big meal in the evening. I'll have a shake in the morning, sort of a shake around noon, like a little bit of fruit or something. Um. But I don't eat a lot during the day, but agree with

intermittent fasting. I don't know, Dmitri. Instead of getting the double double cheeseburger, just get the single cheeseburger, Okay, But then I get that four times a day. Yes, you know, we cut that into two and then you're fine. I have a question on that topic. Well we'll move on. Are there benefits or negative aspects to how we sleep? Whether you're on your side, your back, your stomach? Um,

what other good question? Um, I don't know if it really if it really matters where are you sleep, whether it's on your side, your back, or your stomach. I think that the amount you sleep and the quality of your sleep is the most important thing. And you know what I I think what I tell people is the foundation of health is food, exercise, and sleep. That's it. And mood is the some of those three things, and it impacts all of those things. And sleep is super

fundamental to human function. There's there's a lot of good books out right now about sleep, um, that are written for general population, not necessarily medical providers, and they go through the history of sleep, why we sleep, what's you know, things that you know, ambing and this and that that people take. But but essentially I really like to see

adults get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. I don't care whether it's on their back, their stomach, or their side, and does it matter at what time of day they get those eight hours of sleep. Um, well, there's there is some thought that some people are night owls and other people are early risers. So the early risers, and you might see it in your own families. You might have you know, three people in your family who just seemed to go to bed at nine or ten o'clock

and they wake up at five or six. And then you've got one kid who's up until you know, eleven and twelve o'clock at night and sleep so ten in the morning. There is evolutionary components of that too, Like the teenagers they needed to stay up late so they could go out and make mistakes and score around when all the grown ups were asleep. You know, there was there was you know, early risers and in night owls

because that could provide the most coverage for us. You know from protection from people trying to eat human beings, and so every you you have to find your sleep pattern and stick to it. I think all of the travel that people do is really disruptive. All of the air travel, time zone travel. We did not evolve to do that. That's brand new. So you know, people like going back and forth between all these time zones is really difficult on them. Sleeping in different places every night,

it's really difficult. I have a question on the sleep topic, which is my arms constantly fall asleep because of the way I'm laying on them and while I'm sleeping, and I have have to stay up. If you're asleep, it's pretty good, Dmitri uh, moving on. So, and I have friends that have experienced the same thing. And one of my buddies was telling me that he basically has like fashioned himself a straight jacket of sorts because he's desperately

trying to avoid having nerve damage. And I don't know if that's a thing, if you can actually have nerve damage if your arms are consistently on a nightly basis falling asleep. But I every single night, at least three times will wake up and I cannot I have no feeling in my left or right arm, so that, um, is that a new thing that just started up in your whole life? No, I think it's the No, it's within the past few years. And maybe the way that I'm sleeping with my one of my arms under part

of my head. I guess yeah, I think that that's pro reliate, it's positional, and that when we are sleeping, our bodies are literally catatonic. They're paralyzed. And so if you fall asleep in a position where you have a compressed nerve that will ultimately fall you know, fall asleep, you'll get in It's a little it's a transient neuropathy, meaning the nerve is not working great for you know, a few minutes until you shake it out and get

some blood flow back to it. But I do not think it would cause permanent damage if it were something. You know, there are people who have spinal stenosis, for instance, in laying in a certain position they start to get pain in their legs, or if they get cervical stenosis, they might get pain in their arms. So there's lots of different things that could be causing that. But if it sounds like if it goes away pretty quickly. You know what I mean, weakness or any other difficulty during

the day, It's probably not a problem. I I sleep on my back. So we we'd have our team would have sleep doctors. We had sleep doctors that came in every year to talk to us. But I sleep on my back and tried to as much as possible. We were sort of advised on this. Why. I don't know why, but um, do you sleep on your side? You sleep? What do you guys do? Sleep on my side? And I keep a pillow in between my legs because I was told that it's actually more comfortable for me. And

right Ryan actually has a nest. But I have like all pill down pillows just around me, one in my arms, one in between my legs, one hovering in case one of those falls on the floor, and then one of those masks and cover to go over like a helmet to where to protect his hair. To meet you, How do you sleep? I honestly I don't sleep well. Um, but I in terms of position I move. I keep rotating all night long. Really, so I'm I'm on my back and I can a lot of nights I can

fall asleep. The question here is doesn't matter how we sleep. Um, I can fall asleep on my back and I'll wake up the next morning in the exact same position. Um, you probably changed a lot and made your way back to that position. Yeah, that's possible, very possible. But um, we've talked about sleep on this show before. I think sleep. For me as an athlete, sleep was and I've said this, the number one thing that I prioritize in my life

is sleep. And for people listening, if you want to be if you just want to think overall wellness, Um, sleep will affect everything. So there's something called you might have heard of this stuck Um. The five factors of health. The five factors of health, there's a discussion around this is how you sleep, how you eat, how you move, how you think, and the last one is how you connect with people. Are sort of the five overarching factors

of health and wellness. And of the five, whenever I talk to people, I say sleep is the absolute most important. If sleep is in line the next morning, how you think will be clear. You're probably gonna make a better nutritional choice, You're probably going to move, and you're probably going to be more receptive to your wife or kids. If you have adequate sleep. So sleep for me is the thing I prioritize the most. That's what I was

gonna say. Dr TDD you said, what was What were the three things that the sum is mood, food, exercise, and sleep. Right, So, ladies, if your guys being a dick, don't dump him. Just get him, tell him to eat something, sleep, and tell him the workout and then give him a second chance. Don't just up and leave or a second opinion. Okay, let's let's get on. I do really like those five fundamentals and some of the longitudinal studies about what really

makes people healthy. I think we can human connection and the quality of the relationships. Yeah, I think. Um. There was a longitudinal study I think it was called The doctor's name was Valiant. He did it for years. He looked at data from Harvard that was collected from ninety three until almost two thousands, and he um he summed it up that the most important thing in successful human behavior was love. Was the connections that we had to our family and to other people, and that's really what

drove vitality. It sort of goes in line. I also heard a study about the the two fears that people have and what you're saying speaks to this. The two fears that people have is one being ostracized from the group and two that they might get some physical harm, are really the only two fears that people have, and so the communal element of it, Um, what you're saying is is love and connection is massive too. I think overall wellness and health um Rick just touched on it.

Here's a question for you, Dr Todd. Do doctors get piste? Like if I come in and say, you give me an answer, and I say I want a second opinion, do doctors get piste if we want a second opinion? They shouldn't. Um. You know, I think that you know one of the problems in medicine, and I like to refer to a lot as this. You know, these aren't my ideas. That this is Carol Dwex ideas about growth

and fixed mindsets. And I think that a lot of doctors become fixed mindset people because they have to accept a paradigm and practice it, and when it gets challenged it's very unnerving for them. But I think a good doctor who's a lifetime learner is someone with a real growth mindset who can look at these failures or challenges an opportunity to learn. So I would say, if your doctor does get pissed, it might be a good opportunity

for you to look for another doctors. I know, I know doctors hate when you say I googled something, that's for sure. But I once had a doctor snap at me because I guess I self diagnos I went in, I was like, you know, Dot, my legs have been hurting. I don't know if it's a m if it's poor circulation. Why do you think it's poor circulation? As I know,

I'm just guessing. He's don't guess, and I'm like, well, that's why I'm here, Like, that's only a function of time, I think if doctors, I think, really, doctors don't have enough time to In the old days, where doctors saw, you know, four or five people a day, and the problems were not quite as bizarre as they seemed to be today, we didn't know as much, so there was

simpler solutions. They had more time to talk. But now, you know, when you're seeing people a day and a real smart guy comes in and wants to talk about his hypotheses that he got from Google, you just don't have time to do it. You just call me a real smart Was that a sarcastic smart guy? Or like really want air quotations when he said he did lift his giant hands up and do his air quotations. Dr Todd, I appreciate your time. Um, do any of you guys have I'm gonna come see you at some point because

does anybody else have any questions that they want? One quick one? Okay, I'm late. I mean my you know, mid forties. Is there one food that I should like totally be avoiding, or one food that I that I should be trying to eat more often, or just you know overall health like super food or gluten or whatever. I would avoid anything Brooks is eating that makes you

dump six times a day. But well, I would say, without going in this is another huge topic, but I would say that, you know, eating whole foods and avoiding process foods would probably be the number one rule, And if you can avoid genetically modified foods, that's probably number two.

And the question about gluten and all of these other hypersensitivities and autoimmune things that are coming from nutrition are because our bodies are seeing genetically modified foods that that they just haven't seen in our evolution and it's causing inflammatory reactions. So I would say if you can, try not to stay away from process foods and try and be careful with that genetically modified foods when you can.

It's hard because everything has genetic modification in it. But to your point about gluten, the glead and protein that's in wheat is the classic genetically modified protein that in order to provide nutrition for huge growing human population. Wow, so we can eat spam. I don't know what that is. Dr Todd. I want to thank you so much for your expertise, uh and taking the time to come in to see us. Awesome, appreciate you. I feel better already.

So Dr Todd was awesome. And going back to the beginning of the show, Ryan, I just want to say, what did you think about our friend Dr Todd that all doctors are not evil as you had a connotation or perception of before does this? Does this patch that wound a little bit that there are doctors that do care about you, you sensitive soul. Dr Todd changed my opinion and the generalization that I had on physicians. That said. I am going to call him tonight and send him

an email tomorrow. No, no, you have no contact with Dr Todd unless this Dr Todd if you're listening. If I do not, you're back from me. I'll tell you what man you're on the list. No, no, you know, Danielle Amy, make sure Ryan does not get Dr Todd's info. We'd like to have him back. And no more faking your own death. Yeah, no more, please, no more. Um. But I hope this is able that Dr Todd showed you that he does care about you. He loves you

as his child. He doesn't even remember your name. He was like I was on this podcast, but Dr Todd was fantastic. He was cool. I'd like to have him back again. And by the way, Brett has been in the bathroom for the last thirty minutes. We haven't seen him, but he's our number one guest. Well, I want to thank Dr Todd for coming uh and we always appreciate your guys questions, you have health questions. We'd love to

have Dr Todd back again. But if you have health questions, we can forward those to him, get him back on the show. So you can email us men at I heart radio dot com and find us on Instagram. How men think podcasts. Send us your questions there. Thank you good sirs, which got to check. Check Gavin's tour schedule. Go see a show if he's near you. That is my favorite part of the podcast. To sign off from Brooks. No, no, no, I'm not going to sign off today. I'm gonna let

you do it. I remember it and remember love one another, protect one another, don't fake. Hey guys, it's Brooks and one last thing before we let you go. If you like today's episode, you would love to get a five star review from you on iTunes and if you could possibly share it with a friend, that would be amazing

as well. We always look forward to your questions, comments, or insights, so you can send us an email at men at I heart radio dot com and also follow along with us on Instagram at how Men Think Podcast