Doc: "So this is real?" Patient: "Real as you are sitting there!" Doc: *continues talking unironically to himself*

Just hearing the words "This is real" can make all the difference in a person's whole life. One doc - one person - can change everything for the better. Thanks for keeping that in sight in the face of success, Doc Schmidt. 💜👍

I really wish all patients with "invisible" diseases could get this type of validation!

when your doctor says your tests are normal say "ok well I still have symptoms so what is the next step"

“Your diarrhea is in your head?!” I laughed.

As an IBS sufferer, I understand that people don't really take my condition seriously and that's because I won't die from it and society considers feces and defecation as funny. Although these are true, what people don't see is that a lot of end up living our lives around our stomachs. It's not life-threatening but it's life-ruining.

A few months ago I told a friend that I think I have IBS (they have IBS) and I said I never bothered to talk to a doctor about it because they can't do anything, and they pushed me to go to the doctor because "I take medication for it! There is treatment, it doesn't have to be this bad!" Turns out I had a different diagnosis, treatable, but the lesson was don't dismiss yourself, talk to your doctor--and if you feel dismissed by the doctor find a new doctor!

Thank you for this. My parents insisted my IBS was in my head and would deny me access to a toilet, then physically and emotionally abuse me when I would have accidents. 20 years later and I'm still working through the trauma.

Really wish we had more doctors like you. The invalidation from my previous health care providers was so hard to handle. I felt crazy for so long until I finally met my current provider. Really grateful for your kindness and sympathy/empathy.

Thanks for saying this doc. I had over 16 years of being dismissed. Thanks for seeing us 🥰

Yep this happens a lot. I had been dismissed by my parents(doctors) and other doctors for a month about my gut pain. It was a damn parasite

Genuinely just love this guy, I have learned so much while it’s still entertaining. On some Bill Nye BS, wish I had this in elementary.

Thank you! I was told for years it was all in my head and originally I got slapped with an IBS diagnosis and then received no treatment for it from my PCP. Years later it turned out I had gastroparesis but IBS is no less real and I’m glad you’re out here making sure people understand it is a valid and real disorder that deserves respect and treatment just like any other!

Thank you for doing this! I have fibromyalgia and IBS-D, so it's great hearing a doctor saying these invisible illnesses are real and treatable.

Headache with WNL diagnostics. Dynamite analogy Doc! I will use this with so many pts to describe symptoms without concrete oetiology. Thank you, and congrats on new job!

Thank you so much for validating me! This is so real. “Why would You make it up?”

How I felt when I finally got diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I felt validated for the first time ❤

This genuinely has me tearing up. So many times I've seen doctors and they just tell me I have anxiety or that I'm exaggerating. When I am able to get tests, if they don't show anything visibly wrong, there's rarely any follow up. Hearing that doctors care enough about their patients not just to rule out conditions, but also to follow up and come up with a treatment plan that can improve their lives is great to hear, we need more doctors like yoh

I wish all Doctors were this compassionate, humane, & HUMAN. ❤️

Thank you for this! I recently got told I very likely have rumination syndrome, but it was so phrased like it was intentional and in my head, and I could just stop it without any advice or anything. I saw a new doctor and she was a lot more sympathetic and willing to help me understand and get treatment for it. I was literally about to cry walking into that appointment because I didn’t want to be told it was in my head again.

Me, but with IBS-C “Why would you make it up?” EXACTLY. Why, other than an immense amount of pain and pressure, would I unabashedly express how much I wish I could fart or poo or for someone to pop me like a balloon?! That’s not the attention anyone wants 😂😭

This is so important. When people around you, especially medical professionals, dismiss your symptoms, you learn to ignore them and not bring them up. That's how my mom almost died of a blood clot.

This reminds me of when I got my ibs diagnosis, I saw a nurse practitioner and she was so good, believed me when I told her my symptoms (my old doctor didn't) and did a great job explaining what was going on in my gut to cause it and we ended up finding a medication that works really well for me.

dude the amount of times i’ve cried after a doctor believed me!! it’s incredibly emotionally taxing being told that there’s nothing wrong and it’s all in your head. thanks for doing the work you do doc

After watching my mother and grandmother be medically gaslighted for years while cancer took hold, this video means the world. It's important to really listen to people.

You can also refer to a dietitian! With some patients we can help develop an individual eating plan to help manage symptoms along with the meds

This entire video is just pitch perfect 😍😍 My heart sinks when I see patients who feel they've not been believed or their symptoms have been overlooked. Just because the tests are normal, DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT REAL! It doesn't mean the suffering is "just in their head"! I know first hand what that feels like. The sooner ALL doctors recognize and believe patient suffering despite normal tests, the better it will be for everyone.

THANK YOU! listen as someone who has fibromyalgia, the amount of times docs have told me it's "all in my head" is ridiculous. it's so hard to find validation for something that cant be proven with a blood test. so just, thank you

THANK YOU! I was told at 13 yo i had IBS and needed to learn to relax, meditate, and try bio-feedback. That was in the 70s. Forebears I felt dismissed. Same answer for my daily headaches. I eventually concluded it was a dumping ground dx when a doctor wanted me to shut up and leave their office. The comments above felt like they were blaming me for my issue. "Shame the patient" deal; "you are causing your pain. If YOU relaxed, you wouldn't hurt. It's YOUR fault! This is a REAL problem for many of us. We've been blamed and shamed for years! I refused to go to any doctor until I was 38 because of the shame game. Turns out in my case, 95% of MY gut and migraine issues were food related. I eventually went through an elimination diet and learned what foods cause me problems. Milk fat, dairy, gluten, and corn are the worst offenders for my gut. When I ditched those foods, VIOLA, I haven't had severe gut pain in decades! In wasn't all in mybhead after all. I had one PA tell me, "there isn't any reason you can't eat any food you want. Food allergies aren't real." This was a GUT doctor. I wanted to throw a chair at her. I left her office sobbing and went straight to my PCP. I stand up for myself now. Thank you for all you do! I yelled this at a doctor one day and told them I was sick of this dx as the treatment in the 70s felt like

Such a great explanation for patients!! I always find it hard when I tell people I think they have IBS because there definitely is a stigma against it. A lot of times they might feel like their symptoms aren’t being taken seriously or that the doctor is just saying “it’s all in my head”, but there are so many people with IBS and it’s great you’re educating the public that it really is an established condition with many useful treatment options!

I wish I could find a GI that really cares like this (over-sharing and all lol)! I literally had surgery to get an ileostomy and they basically said "Welp, that's good enough. We still don't know _why_ a major organ in your body doesn't work, but here's a new butthole in your abdomen to help with the whole broken colon thing!" It's good to see videos like this and know that there's a whole new generation of doctors starting up that seem to bring more empathy and understanding with patients (not saying all older doctors don't though of course, several of the best doctors I've had are older and very compassionate!)

This is so important! Medical gaslighting happens way too much. So many young women are told it's "all in their head" when they have very real and significant health problems. I have Ehler's Danlos Syndrome which caused Craniocervical instability so my spine was literally subluxing all over the place causing all sorts of neurological symptoms and I was told for years it was "all in my head" I'm currently waiting for my second spinal surgery after one amazing doctor diagnosed my EDS. The worst case of this was an A&E doctor trying to brush off my difficulty breathing and extreme pain as anxiety after I had Neurosurgery... I had a CSF leak, my spinal fluid was literally leaking out the surgical site and they had the audacity to blame my symptoms on anxiety... Thank you for being one of the good doctors!

As someone suffering from Long Covid, this hits me hard. I wish doctors were more understanding

A lot of doctors tend to say it's all in your head. In my experience, it tends to be older doctors. Younger doctors have a newer take on functional disorders and how to treat them.

When I had surgery to remove 3 ovarian cysts, my doctor found stage 4 endometriosis. When she came to my room after, she said “your pain is real.” That meant so much to me

Thank you doc! I cried. I was just diagnosed with IBS after years of doctors telling me there was nothing wrong with me.

Thank you for this, I've never had a doctor validate my IBS. They just told me nothing was wrong while my symptoms ruined my life. Still haven't found an effective treatment regimen but once I took my health seriously myself, things got a whole lot better.

Literally my experience. They jumped to brain tumor before they were like hm maybe we try putting ypu on fodmap. Years of chronic stomach pain, headaches, constipation, diarrhea, nausia, all nearly gone in the first couple of weeks

This is an infinitely more helpful explanation than my doctor going: "You're just stressed" or "you just have anxiety". Thank you for understanding how to talk to human beings.

Man, being told “this is real” is something that’s been changing my life recently. There’s something about finally being heard after years of being told I’m overexaggerating or faking it that just… it completely changes my viewpoint and calms me down.

Thanks for spreading this message. As someone who suffers with an invisible illness, this touched me deeply

My doctor told me my chest and arm pain was just be being pregnant, went to get a second opinion and turns out i was having a full blown heart attack for 3 days.

I had bloating and pain in my stomach for a few months, it'd been almost debilitating. I couldn't really sleep because I was anxious and waking up to pain in my stomach was awful. I went to several doctors and since the tests showed no inflammation, they sent me home. It feels nice finally having a name for it, thank you ❤️

Thank you so much for posting this. A Dr who acknowledges IBS-D instead of just making people feel blown off. I cried tears of joy. Thank you, thank you, thank you

THANK YOU Your head is a real place, and so is everything that happens in it. If you're suffering something is actually wrong. If a doctor tells you otherwise, make a formal complaint and then find a better doctor. And yes, this is especially true if you really are imagining your symptoms, in that case you have a real problem and you need real help real soon.

That is something that is so true. I at one point felt like my pain could not be real and I was just being dramatic but then I thought about it and realized that my friend were telling me I look pale and there were other symptoms that could not be in my head.

As an ibs sufferer this almost made me cry. I was told I had ibs, given a sample of probiotics and told to change my diet. No help, no direction, no follow up,no nothing. Just dismissed.

Thank you for this!

Thank you! I was almost sent to a pain rehab center (where they basically tell u to suck it up and deal w ur pain cuz its not that bad) when I was 12/13 because they thought I was making up the pain I was having because of my headaches-which I had to drop out of school for. So I have chronic migraines and it’s not just pain. It also messes up your thinking, emotions, and vision and I get the pain all the way down my back. It got so bad I was sitting in a cancer facility taking an IV there. So now I’m on 9 different medications for them and I’m still out for half the month, unable to function. But hey, it’s just a little headache, right? Again, thank you. Most people dont just bring crap up. And especially kids. Please take them seriously. I would be so much better off if 11 years ago any one of the doctors I’d seen from then to today had listened to me.

I’m gonna cry, I wish my doctor took me seriously, I gotta change doctors

The first time I had a doctor actually listen to me, acknowledge what I was saying and make a plan to treat my symptoms, I burst into tears. I'd been sick for 6 or 7 years by that point.

Seeing this, from a real doctor, even just as a comedy sketch, gave me so much encouragement. -someone with a genetic disease and multiple chronic conditions

I wish I had doctors like this, I'm afab and last time I went in for year and a half long vomiting, fluctuating appetite, and feeling tired and sick the doctor said it was most likely anxiety related, and then they didn't even attempt to address that either:/ Same thing happened when I literally fainted, both the male doctors said I got "overwhelmed" even when me and my mom both said there wasn't anything going on that would prompt that😐

This is very informative and I was laughing throughout! 10/10 content

Thank you for saying this. When I was diagnosed as a child I always felt like doctors didn't care and it wasn't a real thing, even though it's crippling. I've only recently started looking into medical treatment again after years of just coping and avoiding lots of foods and situations.

YES!! A doc that gets it!! I've had a recurring UTI for the past few years, and i have been examined by Urologist and Gyneocologist to see if there is something wrong. Both concluded that its all in my head since they cant see anything wrong. But like.. i'm still in pain, lab test shows that there is an infection, but after been prescribed meds to rid the infection, i still get UTI !! 😓

Excellent vid Doc…. Could feel kindness in your explanation. I’m glad you GI docs exist. Much love.

i've got IBS-D. and i know this discussion all too well :(

A someone who has spent all of their adult life with chronic illnesses where doctors don't know what's happening, this is all I ever want to hear. "This is real" means everything. Thank you so much.

This is what chronic pain and fatigue patients need. Thank you for this

Thank you. Mine causes my abdomen to swell to way more than the average amount of bloating. I often have to explain to people that my spirit animal is a puffer fish: if you stress me out I go poof.😂

I finally found a fysiotherapist that took me this seriously. Its amazing how much progress I've made in 3 sessions that consisted of mostly talking l.

You explain it so well, I needed to hear that. The whole 'it's in your head'-thing can make you feel so unseen and unheard.

😭 this was so sweet. It's so nice to be acknowledged, I'm also recently accepting I've had IBS for years but never had a doctor take it seriously.

this kind of brought me to tears, it‘s nice to hear this. thanks!

Even my last GI Dr. blew off my IBS (didn't have the IBS-D differentiation back then) as nothing AND that I had stomach ulcers. I was 26. I was passing blood for days after the last upper and lower scope and his nurse blew off my Mom for calling for me because I was in so much pain. I haven't been back to anyone until scheduling with a younger PA for this month. Older Drs have made the mistake of basically telling us we're overly dramatic women for years, then act like we're to blame when it turns out we have cancer that THEY should have caught years before. But no, we "just had anxiety" and "just needed therapy to better deal with stress." Sure. That's a great way of taking zero accountability for a generation of doctors failing women. 🤨

Thank you for this video. I've been dealing with IBS for about a year and half and it's been absolutely terrible. It took a lot of tests and a change of doctors, but I've still had this lingering feeling of that it was my fault or something. Thank you for the validation and kindness.

First doctor I saw about my joints didn’t take me seriously. I’d be in so much pain after a shift at work. Knees, elbows, ankles, but especially my knees. I shouldn’t crack and pop as much as I do. My current doctor, she’s amazing. She took it seriously and now it’s just a matter of working with my schedule to get lab work done to rule out serious issues like diabetes. I recently also had a zoom visit with her about gut issues too. Which can also affect joints. It’s refreshing to hopefully soon be able to manage the pain. We’ve also been talking about me wanting to get my tubes tied. She takes it seriously even though I’m 33 and doesn’t give me the “you may change your mind” crap I’ve gotten for the last decade. It’s nice to be validated! Thank you!

honestly one of my favourite videos of yours. thanks doc!

OMG this. 🙌🙌🙌 Thank you Doc.

30 years ago I was sent to a shrink, shrink said find another Dr. 8 doctors later and tons of money down the drain... finally I got diagnosed with diverticulitis. Took me going a strange route, of signing up for a clinical trial, where all kinds of expensive tests are done free to me, but hey thinking outside the box got me to my answer and a treatment plan.

Thank you thank you thank you. As a woman with endometriosis, fibromyalgia and IBS, I always feel like my doctors are saying “oh nothing is wrong, you’re crazy” and I DO have anxiety so it’s easy to believe. But the sometimes debilitating pain is REAL. It’s a totally frustrating cycle.

Are there neurological treatments or does that fall under the pain management of the syndrome such as gabapentin?

I've literally never been this early dkskssksk

As someone with IBS I encourage anyone with symptoms to persist in getting the medical care you need! With meds, diet changes, and enzyme pills, my symptoms have greatly improved and I can eat almost anything I want - it is worth it, keep trying and don't let anyone deny your experience or deny you care.

I was told I had IBS after 5 years of tests with no results. I was having a lot of pain and chronic diarrhea. If my parents hadn't demanded to go with me to my GI doc and demand that he take me seriously, I probably would be dead now. I finally got a surgical consult and it turns out I had a necrotic gallbladder. Recently I went through another 5 years of pain and no test results to have another kind doctor finally send me to a surgeon who took out a 2x3 x2 in chunk out of my abdomen that was severely inflamed and had lots of extra nerve endings. It was the scar from one of the incisions from my gallbladder removal. I am glad I went through the gallbladder experience and my faith in God let me hang on long enough to finally get it taken care of

I wish more doctors were like this

I've been dismissed by doctors a lot with all sorts of symptoms. World needs more doctors like this one!

Wait. WHAT? MY IBS ISN’T JUST ANXIETY?! My doctor told me to consult with my therapist to make the symptoms stop!

I have IBS. The doctor that diagnosed me also had IBS. I ended up in his office after being in so much pain for 4 days I could barely move (and the pain only subsided because I was taking meds) I've struggled with stomach pain my whole childhood, whenever I got upset, scared, or stressed. Or ate too much 🤷🏻‍♀️ It was a relief to finally have a diagnosis

A lot of doctors said my endometriosis pain was in my head until I finally got a diagnosis

I had my gallbladder removed when I was 16, I am 39 now. I have not had a single day since then that I have not been sick to my stomach. I have been told for over 20 years that aside from an ulcer, there was nothing wrong with me & go take Imodium. My husband was in the Navy so when I say I've seen dozens of different doctors in dozens of different states, I mean it. I wasn't until I met my current gastroenterologist at the University of Michigan that someone actual listened to me. He said I have a combo of BAM & IBS-D and after a scope found out I have autoimmune atrophic gastritis and started me on medication that actually allows me to eat meals without getting sick within minutes. I've gone out to eat with my family for the first time in decades. I've had lunch at work for the first time ever. I've not sent the entire night doubled over in pain crying. No one should ever spend over 20 years waiting to find a doctor who will listen to them when they know something is wrong. I really believe that if there were more doctors like you and him, people like me would have very different lives. It is amazing the difference in the quality of my life after I started seeing him. I pray no one ever has to wait to find someone who will listen like I did.

The tone of his voice and how fast he talks makes it sounds like the ads on tv for new medicines

Can I see you as my GI doctor please!? I’ve never felt more seen then now. It’s so hard to get people and doctors to believe that’s it’s real. Also did you see the studies where they say that it’s the IBS/Gut diseases that cause the anxiety and not the other way around? That was a good one.

I wish my doctors were this understanding. I have bad nerve pain in my hands and feet, stiff muscles and joints, extreme fatigue and my body starts pouring sweat at random moments during the day. My doctors did tons of tests and said " you have fibromyalgia." Then, they cycled me through 7 different antidepressants, one every 4 months. None of them worked!

I wish I was taken seriously. My constant dislocations, joint pain, stomach pain, headaches, etc. Were blown off as growing pains and anxiety while I was growing up. I only was taken seriously when I was 13 and had lost 50lbs in two months because I couldn’t eat, and my heart rate was over 160 when I was lying down. They finally dx’d me with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Intestinal Dysmotility, and Anterior Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome. I was born with EDS, it’s genetic, and I had symptoms from birth, yet it took 13yrs for them to take me seriously. 13yrs of seeing doctors and therapist and being told I was fine and it was in my head because my blood work never showed anything abnormal

I would give anything for my doctors to listen and find what’s wrong with me 😭😭😭 hearing “this is real” would probably send me into tears.

I have just been diagnosed with colon cancer after a year and a half fighting and struggling with doctors who told me it was all in my head it's a shame that there are more doctors who act like this than actual doctors that listen and take your seriously I'm very highly disappointed that in this time and era we still have closed-minded people who rather believe they're right and the patient is wrong

I went through something similar with my fibromyalgia diagnosis. Because I wasn’t dying my general practitioner had no idea what was wrong or how to treat me. He said I could just be depressed and sent me to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said my symptoms were definitely real but all she could do was medicate me. I switched insurance and they diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, told me about how my anxiety and depression can increase my pain, and now they’re teaching me to calm my nervous system with physical therapy and occupational therapy as well as meditation and icing. It’s very real, but some part of it is based in trauma and emotion.

I love this. IBS runs in my family and all the tests say there is nothing wrong with my guts so I got an IBS diagnosis but it was made to seem like it was just "don't know what's wrong with ya. That'll be $75". I had to ask for something to help treat my symptoms, which I have learned is labeled as IBS-D. I'm doing decently well, but still have days where it can be pretty bad. Recently had an accident in a Walmart where I didn't make it to the restroom in time, which is humiliating. This is something I've dealt with all my life and I can still have such accidents. So frustrating to hear people try to give their advice when they have no idea what is going on. But this short is great, it feels great to hear a Doctor say that IBS is real and treatable and something to work on and then have that doctor actually want you to keep working on it with them.

Thank you for having this outlook, doc. I was eventually diagnosed with a severe motility disorder (that has resulted in a few blockages) at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, which presents like IBS-C, along with a “grossly tortuous” colon. But when my issues first began, one of the first doctors I saw palpated my stomach and proceeded, based off that alone, to tell my mom “her guarding is way too dramatic, it can’t hurt that much, she’s definitely seeking attention.” My mother cried in front of him because we so desperately needed, and thought we’d be receiving, help. It is devastating when doctors respond that way, and had my parents been the type to believe him, I wouldn’t be here right now. Thank you for listening to your patients 💛

I normally associate doctors with medical gaslighting for everyone with a chronic illness, it's so nice to see a doctor spread awareness that just because a condition isn't acute or deadly doesn't mean it's made up

I love hearing doctors talk like this. I've had so many dismiss me because my tests come back normal or so ambiguous they can't figure out the problem. I've been told either my symptoms are anxiety or that I'm simply too young to have my symptoms, or that it's not possible to have all of my symptoms at once. All of those statements have eventually been refuted by further testing and doctors who actually care about my health, but the trauma of being disbelieved runs deep. If you listen to your patients like this, you're a real hero.

My new OBGYN told me my endo symptoms were real and it almost made me cry to finally have someone acknowledge my issues

Thanks for putting this out. A few years ago I had terrible terrible stomach aches and headaches. Everyone told me it was in my head and did nothing to help the symptoms. A few years later, my new primary doctor finally listened to me and worked with me to track my symptoms. With a strict diet and meds, I no longer have stomach or much head pain. It’s very nice to be heard!

I have IBS-D. Searched for relief for years. Finally saw a gastro and actually have medication that has changed my life! Still have occasional issues and there are things I can’t eat but I’m so glad to have found a doctor that could treat me and believed me. Thank you for posting this!!

Thank you so much for this post! I suffer from IBS and I know it can be really frustrating for some of us when people don't get it.

Thank you for being a good doctor! ♡ As someone with psychological problems suddenly everything was from that for doctors... Now I fight for my health every time

I found that DOs are way better than MDs, because the former looks at the entire person as a whole, rather than just the disease/symptoms that are presenting.

I'm literally having an IBS flair and watching shorts as I run back and forth to the bathroom. Doc, I love the hell out of you. A lot of my issues don't show on tests and I struggle with even believing I'm valid. I have a RSI that didn't show up with MRIs, X-rays, and nerve tests. I spent a year of my life trying to be taken seriously for it. I wish more doctors were like you