Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire MD vs DO

Would someone explain the difference between a MD and a DO?

Alwaysoutdoors can answer that.

Is yer Google broke?

The way I understand it,if your wife can't sleep, an MD gives her a script. A DO would reccomend a C pap for the husband.

LOL, that's some funny chit right there

Had an MD that was a DO. Pretty much a regular doctor that was (at least for me) a professional chiropractor

I’ve had several DO s over the years. The way I understand it, their training takes a more wholistic approach treating patients. They believe in diet, nutrition, supplements, chiropractors and the like. Most are not bought and paid for by big pharma. My experience has been very good.

I had a DO as PCP for several years. He prescribed pills when needed, but preferred other options. Was not quite as anxious to send you to the Surgeon as many MDs.

I went to see him with a serious case of Strep Throat. He had no problem prescribing the needed antibiotics in that case.

I much prefer the DO's style of medicine. But they are much in the minority in the profession.

Two of the finest eye surgeons that ever practiced at our Eyes of Texas Clinic and Surgery Center were DOs.

One did cataract surgery and one did retinal surgery.

My PCP is a DO. I’m usually a once a year person for my PB meds, but he got me hooked up with a great surgeon about five years ago when I had a hernia.

I go straight to a gal that flips lenses for me.

They’re the best and know everything.

Be watching for a voluminous copy and paste.

I put Alwaysonthecomputer on ignore.

He is the only one, except for a couple that always have annoying pics on every post. Forget their names, but I hate scrolling threw the pics, on every post.

Different professional degrees. Medical Doctors receive their degrees from accredited Medical Schools. Doctors of Osteopathy receive theirs from accredited Osteopathic Colleges.

There are a lot more Medical Schools than Osteopathic Schools, so only about 11% or so of practicing physicians are DOs. The curriculum for DOs is somewhat different than that for MDs, but there is quite a bit of overlap.

Once the degree has been obtained, though, further post-graduate training (internships and residencies), in whatever specialty, are identical. So, it doesn't really matter near as much which graduate degree was obtained. What is far more important is where the post-graduate training was completed.

That being said, and I'm sure there are those who would profoundly disagree, I believe a significant number of DOs initially enrolled in an Osteopathic College because, based on their undergraduate performance (college grades, mostly, or MCAT scores, or extracurriculars), they were simply not accepted to any of the Medical Schools to which they applied.

I went to a DO once. Crazy bitch. Did her own thing, different than the reason I went to see her. Her office was in the 2nd basement of a hospital. Down deep and hidden.

This is the most accurate response so far. Several posters are confusing DOs with ODs (optometrists) and DCs (chiropractors). And, no, it isn't easier to get into a school of osteopathic medicine than an MD program. Both are highly competitive. Depends on the school. Check out the MCAT scores and acceptance rates of various schools. Our experience with DOs has been excellent. My wife had surgery performed by a DO, and, until she retired, my VA primary doc was a DO. Might be the best doctor I have ever had.

Best PCP I ever had was a DO. Prescribed when necessary, but pill pushing wasn't his thing. When I experienced traumatic or acute type problems, he wasn't afraid to send me to an allopath (MD).

Allopaths are best used for acute needs like surgery, osteopaths are best used for chronic conditions. Osteopaths generally focus on keeping immune systems healthy. Once you get something like an organ transplant, however, you are locked into allopathic medicine.

May be true, certainly as a philosophical basis, but in practice there is little difference. They do the same residencies, including surgery. Because of time constraints, etc., few osteopaths actually get to practice their osteopathic treatments.

I'm not a medical professional, but did work at a DO school and a VA hospital at one time.

When I went to my D.O. after a year on Carnivore, I told him I was no longer concerned with my cholesterol or my triglycerides or my diabetes. He simply said, "I'm not either and took me off my diabetic med's. He cut my blood pressure med's in half. All of my stat's looked great.

An M.D. would not have done that.

A1C is at 5.4
Triglygerides at 100
Cholesterol at 240
Blood Pressure at 120/74
215 lbs 5'8"
65 years of age

I have never felt better. I walk 2 miles a day & I sleep like a baby.

MDs go to. medical school, DOs go to shopping center