Is your doctor an osteopath?

[tenofcups]

I'm looking for a new doctor (new to the area) and one of the ones that a friend of a friend referred is an osteopath. I've never gone to one and am curious how an osteopath might different from an MD. Anyone go to one or have any experience with one?

[emmjay]

I go to an osteopathic doctor. The office is very "whole body" oriented, and they have massage, accupuncture, nutritionist and counseling available in-house in addition to the regular general practice stuff.

I have back problems, so an osteopath is great for that - they do something called OMT - Osteopathic Manipulation Treatment, I think - which is a hands-on treatment (it was like an alignment from a chiropracter, from what I could tell). They also do all of the everyday stuff - I've gone for blood tests, physicals, etc. as well.

Also, I don't know if this is just my doctor or something that is typical of osteopathic physicians in general, but I have never had a doctor spend so much time with me as my doctor - he is very receptive to questions, and asks lots of questions as well. I absolutely love my doctor- I would recommend an osteopathic physician without hesitation.

Edited because I don't think he's actually an MD - but he is a licensed physician (sorry - I was confused!!)

[houseblend]

My family doctor is an osteopath (DO). He is by far the best doctor I have ever had. He asks me lots of questions about my health, actually listens to me and is very patient if there is not an obvious answer to the health problem.

Their training is very similar to MDs and has become even more so over time. They were originally differentiated because they were more focused on the whole body and preventing illness. If you have a stomach ache, an MD might give you medicine to help the pain, whereas a DO would try to figure out what is causing the stomach ache and stop the problem, not the symptom. These lines have supposedly crossed more now than in the past.

I would definitely recommend giving this doctor a try!

[tlew12778]

My Dr is not an osteopath but she works like one. She is very holistic in her treatment approach and like houseblend said, she really listens to me and evaluates EVERYTHING. She was able to resolve a problem in one visit that took me 4 years of OB/Gyn visits (3 different drs and every single test available) could not (as opposed to treating the symptoms she treated my entire immune system so that my own body could attack whatever the problem was). She is also licensed in acupuncture (is that a license? She has a few certificates/degrees from Asia) although I have never tried it.

[UTChick]

My dad is a DO and he is the best doctor in the world!:) Ok, I am a bit biased, but really he is a fabulous doctor. There really isn't a lot of difference between MDs and DOs. They receive the exact same education, but DOs do receive some extra courses in manipulation as emmjay stated. Let me tell you how great that is considering my back problems. There is also a great focus on bed-side manner and patient-doctor relationships. houseblend really explained the difference in philosophy well. Good luck choosing a doctor.

[Kinetic]

My doctor is a DO, and I would totally recommend seeing a DO as your family doctor. From what I understand, MD's treat the symptoms, while a DO will treat the body and look at what caused the symptom in the first place.
In a doctor, I am looking for someone to ensure that I am healthy, and not just prescribe something to make my symptoms go away. I also prefer to avoid antibiotics/drugs if possible. And I have to agree with the above posters about the bedside manor of DOs.

[jeanine]

I second what the other ladies have already stated. My OB/GYN is a DO and I absolutely love her. She has a much better bedside manner, and really listens.

[heather 8^)]

Oh man, this sounds like EXACTLY what I need. I'm looking for a new doctor because the one I have now just doesn't seem to *get* me. I searched for an osteopath under both osteopath.org and under my insurance, and the nearest one is an hour away in another state. Can anyone suggest another place to find a doctor with this kind of philosophy?

[UTChick]

heather~ You might want to look for a doctor who also has an MPH (Master of Public Health). I am currently in that graduate program at an osteopathic medical school campus. There are a lot of doctors in the program getting an additional degree. My dad is currently working on his MPH specializing in Epidemiology. Doctors who study public health are very well-rounded because with the medical degree they can treat the disease/illness and because of the public health view, they also look for the cause and prevention of a disease/illness. That might be a place to start since all the DOs are so far away from you.

[tlew12778]

Oh man, this sounds like EXACTLY what I need. I'm looking for a new doctor because the one I have now just doesn't seem to *get* me. I searched for an osteopath under both osteopath.org and under my insurance, and the nearest one is an hour away in another state. Can anyone suggest another place to find a doctor with this kind of philosophy? Can you call your insurance co. and just ask for a "D.O." in your area? An osteopath will have D.O. after their name instead of M.D. but they are required to take the same licensing exams as M.D.s.

[heather 8^)]

Thank you for your suggestions, ladies. tlew, I did the "find a doctor" thing online, but I didn't think about just calling my insurance company directly. They might have a more updated list of doctors than what is posted online. UTChick, thanks for the tip. I didn't know that doctors might carry that degree as well, and that is something any kind of doctor might have (internalist, family practitioner, etc.), so it definitely opens up more possibilities for me.

Thank you both! :D

[tenofcups]

Thanks everyone for your comments about osteopaths--sounds like that would be a VERY good way for me to go since when I have one problem, it frequently affects numerous parts of my body.

Unfortunately, the osteopath that I wanted to go to isn't taking new patients. Her partner is, but not for another month or so. So, since I needed a doctor immediately, I've made an appointment with another doctor in another office, but also an appointment with the partner so that hopefully if I need to go again, I can get in sooner.

[emmjay]

That's great! Just as a FYI - when I first started going to my doctor, neither of the doctors were accepting new patients. So, I ended up going to a Physician's Assistant in their office instead. After my first appointment, the PA wanted me to see the doctor and now he sees me every time. I think you definitely made a good choice to get your foot in the door by making an appt with the partner!

[tenofcups]

Thanks emmjay--that's good to know! I was hoping it might work like that... or that I might actually like the partner too :)

I've recently moved to PA and I had heard that there's a real health problem here, in terms of doctors moving away because of insane insurance premiums, and now I've encountered it a few times myself when I've been unable to make an appointment for MONTHS with certain specialists even though I needed pretty immediate attention. In New York, I'd always been able to get into any doctor within a few days. It's been a real shock that I can't get in to see even a general doctor for weeks. But I AM hoping that once I become a patient of an office, it will be easier to get an appointment when I need one.

[BTB]

For information's sake:

An osteopath will have D.O. after their name instead of M.D. but they are required to take the same licensing exams as M.D.s.

The DO licensing exam is known as COMLEX (Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination). The MD licensing exam is the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exam). They are not the same, but legally are equivalent. Either results in a license to practice medicine, and each requires three separate steps.

DO training is "osteopathic" training, MD is known as "allopathic" training. If an osteopathically-trained physician desires to complete an allopathic residency, he or she may take one or more USMLE steps to become more competitive with the other allopathic candidates. There used to be more differences between the two types of physicians, but now there is much less in terms of their backgrounds and most variances in focus (prevention vs treatment, holistic vs symptomatic, etc) are largely the product of the doctor's preferences and personality.

My old PCP (prior insurance) was an osteopath, my present PCP is an allopath, and I feel well-managed and personally cared for by both - but I've been a bit anal and a bit lucky about choosing PCPs. :)

[heather 8^)]

Ok, doc, how do YOU pick a doctor? What should I look for when trying to find a doctor that will treat all of me or at least look at my problems in a greater context? I have tapped out everybody's recommendations, and the insurance company "find-a-doctor" thing doesn't tell me anything about them except their specialty and phone number.

[Linnybubbles]

FYI-My husband is a DO, and it is true, they take different licensing exams, but in order to be Board Certified in their specialty (ie internal medicine, cardiology) they ALL take the same board exams.

[tlew12778]

My FH is a doctor and I pick all my drs by going through all his fellow drs recommendations. For instance, when I needed a new gyno, I talked to all the women drs he works with and went with their suggestion (I tried both recommeneded to me until I settled on one). For me, it's really important that my drs know their stuff even if it's at the cost of their bedside manner. I mean, I like drs with a good bedside manner but that only goes so far you know? I tend to want my drs to be in the 40-50 year old range bc I want them to have at least 10-15 years of experience. I also prefer that they are affiliated with the best hospitals for their speciality (like my gyno is the chief of gyn. at the women's hospital here), but that's not an absolute must.

When I need a specialist appt, FH arranges everything for me bc it's a alot easier getting "squeezed in" into a busy drs schedule than it is to make an appt in their private practice (it's a lot cheaper too!).

[BTB]

but in order to be Board Certified in their specialty (ie internal medicine, cardiology) they ALL take the same board exams.

True - the specialty's board is the specialty's board, and it either rubber-stamps you or it doesn't. But that's not what the quote talked about. :)

Heather - My current doc I picked because I knew her. But lemme tell you how I picked DD's pediatrician:

First, I picked the hospital I would want her to be admitted to should she need hospital admission. Not only by insurance coverage, but by subspecialty availability, a peds ER, and housestaff coverage of the peds floor and PICU (yep, I would want DD to be seen by resident physicians in addition to attending physicians. It's "in addition to", not "instead of", and that means more brains working together, more attention, better care IMO). If you need admission, where is going to be crucial, so this is really important and should come first.

Then, I got a list of those pediatricians with admitting privileges at that hospital who are covered by our insurance.

Next, I reviewed their backgrounds. My minimum is that someone trained in the United States, is board certified, and takes the time to fill out their profile on either the hospital site, if one is offered, or on the insurance company's site, or if your co. offers one. So that narrowed my list further. I did consider age - a teeny bit - in the sense that I did not want to choose someone who will be retiring soon. Aside from that, I don't put much (really, any) stock in age. Experience is a great teacher - like no other. But there've been studies that show younger physicians are more knowledgeable about newer diagnostic options and treatment plans. So I consider those two a draw, and more important to me is the individual and his/her approach.

After that, I wanted to know about the doc's staff, so I called their offices. I explained the purpose of my call to whomever answered, and asked if they had a few minutes to answer a few short administrative-type questions then or if there was a better time I could call back. I asked about making appts, for both well visits and sick visits, office hours, call availability, and the office structure - is there nursing staff, and at what level? PAs? Number of partners and number of offices they cover? While the answers were important to me, I also wanted to know whether the person on the phone was a PITA. I would not have axed an otherwise great doctor on the basis of the staff, but it was a huge plus to find a doctor I was happy with, who also had an efficient, friendly staff.

Lastly I met with the doc. :) Peds do this with some regularity, some other PCPs will set up this type of appointment too. Remember that if they do it, it is donated time (can't bill an insurance co for chatting) so come with pre-planned questions and don't count on more than 10 minutes at most. If a "meet and greet" isn't offered, that's not a sign of a bad doc - make an appt when you need one, and if you're unhappy afterward keep looking. You will still have an office at which you're an 'established patient' to be seen if you're desperate.

By the time we'd done all that, we were down to 3 docs and we liked the second one so much we cancelled the meeting with the 3rd. We're still really happy with our choice. :)

Don't be afraid of a little trial-and-error. It's very much worth it to find someone who will both take care of you and not always do exactly what you want (if it's bad for you - antibiotic for a virus, anybody?) but who will also make you feel cared for. Good luck!

[heather 8^)]

BTB, thank you so much for your thoughts! You mentioned some things I never ever would have thought to ask. I bummed around various sections of my insurance company website and some association websites and found an MD, MPH covered by my insurance who also does acupuncture. A little bit country and a little bit rock&roll? :) I have an appointment next week and will print out your post to think about the questions I have for her before then.

tenofcups, sorry for hijacking your thread! Thanks to everyone for your input!