Radical idea: Doctors should give fat patients the same amount of care and thought they would give to thin patients.
wait is this an actual problem?
Yup.
Oh yeah.
And like… It’s deadly. Fat people die while doctors ignore actual problems and suggest weight loss instead.
And were forced to live in pain.
“Your arthritis hurts your knees? Well, the only advice I can give you is that you should lose some weight to take the pressure off your legs.”
“It…hurts…to…move”
Another side to this is the fatness eclipses all other problems, even outside the actual appointment. I was sent a bill for $300 because a general check up was billed for a reason not covered by my insurance. I scheduled the appointment because I had such horrible foot pain that I could barely walk at times. I was referred to a specialist, and ultimately treated for plantar fasciitis and a heel spur.
But my doctor billed the insurance company as me coming in for “obesity”, so I got a bill for what the insurance wouldn’t cover.
Now there’s two problems with this. First of all, did he think that I woke up that morning, suddenly notice I was wearing size 20 jeans, and immediately run to the doctor for an explanation????? Secondly….my insurance won’t cover anything related to obesity, apparently. So if this asshat doctor decides that *all* of my health problems are because I’m fat, I’m fucked.
So by this doctor’s logic thin people have NEVER had heel spurs? Like, apparently it’s a fat person ONLY thing.
I went in to ask my doctor to switch my antidepressants because I’m having awful side effects. Instead she suggested exercise and liposuction. During this visit she also admitted to lying to me about why she put me on metformin (a pill that regulates insulin production, if I’m not mistaken). She said it was because my pancreas could use the assistance but then admitted that it was because she thought maybe it’d make me lose weight by killing my appetite or making me poo constantly. Needless to say, none of this helped with the depression
Seriously DeAunna?? Fuck that doctor.
I recently lost 150 lbs, going from ~300 to ~150. No one ever took my joint pain or my depression seriously. Now that I’m skinny, and guess what ALL OF MY PROBLEMS ARE WORSE my parents are freaking out because suddenly?? I’m sick???? Like, no bitch, I been sick, you just never treated my illnesses.
That sounds about right. Like, the only way for them to take us seriously is for us to lose weight??? But that shouldn’t be the case???
My doctor lectured me about my weight because of back pain I’d suddenly had. She laughed and said at my weight, of course my back and hips hurt. Keep in mind, I was in the middle of a Diet Bet and had lost 40 pounds in the previous six months. I was still very overweight, but I was clearly working on it. (Even if I hadn’t, I still deserved health care!)
So I asked her what I should do because walking over 3 miles makes my sciatica flare up and I literally can’t walk the next day. Her suggestion? Starve myself. Literally. “Get used to being hungry. It’ll be hard at first, but it’s the only way for someone your size.” Never saw her again.
Fuck these doctors. I was told that my arthritis would be fine if I lost weight. Nup. It was actually the worst when I was at my thinnest, because… You know, I was starving.
I had to take 4 hour showers a day to warm my aching bones.
Doctors have recently suggested I cut calories, not listening to me when I say I am STARVING. I’m sick and unable to eat, the fuck is cutting my already unhealthily low calorie intake going to do other than kill me faster?
I am going to have to find a new obgyn bc the one I’m going to now keeps bringing up my weight every 5m like … no, really, how many times do I have to tell you that I *do just fine* with anaesthesia and that I’ve been knocked out many times for surgery and testing and they do it to me all the time for my celiac biopsies and for having my teeth worked on so can we move on to scheduling my procedure please?
And that’s not counting the doctor who literally refused to perform tests on me for upwards of 2 years that would have found the TUMOR IN MY SPINE because he had already diagnosed me as You Fat, You Have Fat Problems, Only Problem Is Fat.
Like, no, dude, ACTUALLY I have a tumor in my spine and an autoimmune disease which you said you suspected but decided not to run the tests bc you decided I was a drug seeking fatty.
I should have sued his ass.
I saw a rheumatologist, he told me to lose weight to help with the pain. Here’s the advice he gave me on HOW to lose weight:
1) Write down EVERYTHING I eat. 2) count calories and try to lower my calorie intake. 3) weigh myself once a week. 4) increase exercise output. (I already walk like 2 miles a day or more depending on the school quarter)With my obsessive personality that is just going to lead to me developing an eating disorder. I mean I’ve already thought in the past about starving myself to lose weight. My parents constantly blame all my health problems on my weight. An eating disorder would be fucking inevitable.
I’m not following that rheumy’s advice though. No eating disorder for this person.
Nnnngh. Good on you for not taking that advice and knowing yourself better than your doctor. ❤
I have major issues that have been going on since I was 12, which haven’t been getting effectively treated bc it would interfere with my fertility and debilitating pain does not eclipse ‘omg but babies’. The most recent treatment has masked but not addressed the underlying issue, as well as causing me to gain quite a bit of weight. I’ve been talking to various doctors about a more permanent solution that could actually let me live without pain. The repeated suggestion? “Try losing weight first, that’s probably what’s causing the problem in the first place.”
So if I lose the weight I gained BECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEM the problem will go away? Wow. Amaze. That won’t put me back to square one or anything. How could I not have seen it sooner.
konekorambles 