Pediatrician appointment?

Question

Hi, I was wondering what the doctor does during a pediatrician appointment (I am 15 years old). also, what they check for using the urine sample.

Thanks

Answer 1

Pediatricians are children doctors. They basically deal with younger children, and children in general (sometimes older children) to see how they are developping. Its basically like a normal check up. They check to see if you are growing properly, if everything is in balance and answer any of your growing questions, or questions in general.

In urine samples, they check to make sure that vitamins and all that are all at a normal, elevated level, so that they can rest assured that you're growing properly and don't have a deficiency.

I know though, that they usually always check to see if you're drinking enough fluids and have enough iron in your system to keep it running properly.

Answer 2

Whatever  they have a reason to check for. If mom wants them to check for certain chemicals, they will.

Answer 3

During the visit, the doctor will both talk with you and examine you.  Since you are 15, s/he should offer to do both with you alone in the room.  In the unlikely event that the doctor doesn't offer this, know that you have every right to talk with the doctor alone.  You should also know that you have the right to privacy about your medical record; if you discuss something sensitive with the doctor, s/he generally does not need to tell your parents unless there is reason to believe that you are going to hurt yourself or someone else.   Do feel free to discuss any concerns that you have with the doctor.

The exam does not differ much from any other doctor's appointment; they will check your eyes, ears, throat, heart, lungs, abdomen, check your spine for alignment, test your reflexes...if you have any specific problem, they will examine you for that.  They will take your blood pressure, temperature and your height and weight.  They may need to draw blood and they may need to update your immunizations if you have missed any.  The blood test might be just to look at your cell counts to see if you are anemic (low red blood cells) and certain other things like glucose (to be sure it isn't too high).  If you have any medical issues, they may look at other things--they can do sets of tests for thyroid function or for liver function, for example.

In a regular urinalysis, we are looking at color, clarity, specific gravity, protein, ketones, leukocyte esterases, nitrites, bilirubin and urobilogen, gross blood and pH (level of acidity).  The associated microanalysis will show numbers of red blood cells, white blood cells and "casts".  All of these things can tell us something about whether certain diseases may be present:  protein in the case of kidney disease, ketones in the case of diabetes, and so on.  Normally there are no cells or casts; if you had RBCs (and are not a girl who is menstruating) or WBCs, that could indicate an infection or another problem.  Nitrites and leukocyte esterases are also indicative of certain kinds of infections.

If you did have symptoms of a urinary tract infection (or UTI), we would also do a urine culture to try and identify the organism causing it, so we can be sure we are giving the right antibiotics to cure it.

If you are concerned that the doctor is checking your urine for drugs, that is a separate test and would not be done routinely.  The same is true for blood tests.  

Hope this helps!