Don't mess around with stool samples
One issue of increasing importance is unnecessary and often expensive faecal examinations. Very few very useful tests can be carried out with a stool sample. But it can also be used to do a whole lot of - to stay on topic - crap.
Conventional medicine must first of all take a good look at itself for the fact that there are more and more of these unnecessary tests. We conventional doctors have ignored or even ridiculed the whole topic of gut flora and microbiome for too long. Today it is clear - and that is a good thing - that this is an important topic for health. Incidentally, this is also one of the reasons why we paediatricians are so careful not to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics, as these can damage the gut flora.
However, it must also be said that from a conventional medical point of view: Unfortunately, we still know very little about the microbiome, its composition and its function. We don't really know any markers where we can clearly say that this is pathological and we need to do this or that therapy. We don't even know whether one value is okay in one person and not okay in another. We don't know how the individual gut bacteria interact in the microbiome. This means that the state of knowledge is (still) such that meaningful diagnosis and treatment are not possible.
And yet extremely extensive tests are increasingly being offered, usually costing between 150 and 200 euros, from which therapy suggestions are often derived that are scientifically untenable.
That's why our attitude in practice is that we don't know what to do with these tests and advise parents not to go ahead with them.
However, we are, of course, always available for all topics relating to digestive complaints and abdominal pain. And there are also a few useful stool tests, for example for an inflammation marker called calprotectin, which we of course also carry out.
If you would like to read more about this topic, here is a link to a very good article: www.cme-kurs.de/kurse/sinn-und-unsinn-von-stuhlanalysen/
Further interesting tips
Whooping cough
Whooping cough is a disease that has unfortunately not completely disappeared and is unlikely to disappear completely. One problem is that the vaccination only offers around 80 per cent protection. Even with good immunisation coverage, it must therefore be assumed that cases of whooping cough will occur again and again. So here are the important facts about this disease.
Immune training
Is it Christmas already? At least when we look at how many children are currently coming into the practice with mild respiratory infections, you could almost think so. While we had virtually no mild infections last autumn and winter, we can hardly save ourselves from children with coughs, colds and fevers. This is extremely atypical for summertime - but it's not bad. Quite the opposite.
Buckling/lowering foot
Today a topic that can be categorised under "avoiding unnecessary visits to the practice", a true classic: the child's foot or the child's foot position.