The article talks about seeing a gynecologist, a good one, who then said:
“So, I’ve noticed that you’ve gained 19 pounds in the past six months. Maybe you should think about changing your lifestyle habits.”
Though the debates in the comments of this article are remarkably civil (much more so than places like Jezebel), some people couldn't understand the problem with this statement. Or they said it was "poor choice of words" but not disrespectful.
The problem with it is the doctor's assumption that the weight gain was due to "lifestyle habits"! That's terrible! I think it's ok for doctors to bring up weight, but not like this. It just shows their own prejudices, and as one commenter said, it seems like doctors are the last ones to hear that weight is not always the best indicator of health.
xojane has another article on this subject. When this woman's gynecologist brought up her weight...
“I’m not concerned about it,” I said tightly, “and if it comes up again I’m going to have to find another doctor.”
“Any other doctor would tell you the same,” he said, as though I hadn’t been coming to him, just as fat as now, for several years.
“Well, I prefer a doctor who at least waits to hear what I eat before telling me to eat less.”
He looked exasperated. “There’s no possible way you’re not eating too much.”
Jeepers creepers!! A lot more ignorant comments on this one.
I really like my GP, but she just seems uninformed when it comes to weight issues, so when she says I should exercise I'm like "ya ya" and then forget about her. Mind you, when I weighed less no one ever asked me if I was exercising... even though I wasn't exercising. Don't they care about my overall health? Jimminy Cricket.
I had a check-up last week, and as I approached the scale, I said: "I gained weight when I went on Elavil. The weight gain mostly stopped, but it's pretty much not gonna come off." And that worked! She didn't say a word on the subject after that.
One commenter shared a good experience, and it really is the perfect way for a doctor to approach the subject:
"I have noticed that there has been a change in your weight since your last visit. Is there something that I should know?"Here are some bad experiences. Cuz Mabel Reads the Comments So You Don't Have To: [Frighteningly, the worst experiences seem to happen at college med centers! Basically, to the women who are probably most sensitive, and least likely to stand up for themselves. Awful!]
I told her broken foot, and winter and grad school...
She replied "If the change in weight is something you would like me to discuss with you I can, otherwise, since you are having no other symptoms, and your labs are great, then I think we are done."
I once had a doctor (GP) say to me, "well, if you are happy being fat." I was there because I'd had my period for literally 2.5 months. I walked out of his office, gave him the finger and NEVER went back (to him).
I stopped going to a doctor who used to fat shame me and yell at me for my squishy belly even though I'm only 126 lbs. I felt so terrible about it that I burst into tears when I left the office.... I found a new doctor who says there is nothing wrong with my squishy belly as long as I'm getting exercise and eating my veggies.
I'm one of the fat women who avoids doctors and other medical-related situations because of shame I've been made to feel throughout my teenage years. ...It seems medical health professionals are the last to hear about "health at any size".
I don't need another doctor to lecture me and ask if I've considered gastric bypass surgery (this has happened TWICE to me).
I wrote my doctor- school doctor, a long email about how agressively she was behaving in regards to my weight.. like talking shit about my skinny jeans and low cut shirts. "Aren't you supposed to be skinny in skinny jeans?" Sort of thing. ... I got a plantar's wart, and I suffered so much for about six months because she tried to tell me that it had something to do with being fat.
i have had asshole doctors who, in no small way, contributed to my eating disorder ("you're too chubby to go into the Air Force," 'You're not thin enough to be anorexics," "You're too fat to be anorexic,"...yes, all REAL things that REAL doctors have said to me.)
One woman was telling her obgyn about how she was working on her eating disorder, had only purged 5 times that year instead of every day, and went from 400 lbs to 300 lbs and was feeling really confident and excited etc. Doctor's reply: "My sister in law had weight-loss surgery and she looks like a brand new person and is so much happier now - it's amazing!" I also once had a therapist named Buddy - yes Buddy - who suggested that I get Weight-loss surgery so I would be "forced to really deal with my issues."
My gyno(who I love very much) told me that I'm getting too fat and perhaps I should join the YMCA. I nodded in agreement but really he was the last person I wanted to hear tell me I was fat and that I should do something about it. I was getting divorced, graduating from grad school, moving to an apartment and suffering from a bit of postpartum. Instead of tell him off I went home and ordered a pizza.
This woman went to the doc because of painful TMJ keeping her awake for days--she was exhausted and in pain, and for the first time had a slightly above norm blood pressure: she does not want to talk about my jaw. She, instead, tells me that I need to stop eating fast food (which 1. she did not ask me if I eat and 2. I don't eat fast food more than few times a year) and that I clearly need blood pressure meds. I try to explain my eating habits, that my blood pressure reading is unusual for me, and that the problem is my jaw pain. Her response was the if I lost some weight and stopped eating so much fast food, I wouldn't be having this problem
the nurse who weighs me and takes my vitals before I see the doctor loves to tell me I need to lose weight. I'm still 45 pounds overweight but I also workout like crazy and am in good health but she doesn't know that. She just makes a snap judgement when she sees me and the number on the scale.
Doctor who had been cool and chubby for years suddenly was very thin and trying to talk to me about weight watchers. Never mind the fact that she asked ZERO questions about my habits.
my friend had that happen with her THERAPIST. Lady went on a crazy liquid diet or something and suddenly couldn't stop proselytizing. That friend, incidentally, is very small AND was there SPECIFICALLY to talk about her ED history (among other things)
same weird experience with dentist as first gyno; at what point do these doctors stop doing the "inquiring minds want to know" thing without your prior consent?
Especially when your shitty nurse practitioner goes, "Well, we're gonna need the LARGE speculum for you!"
I had a terrible experience with a new doctor last year when I went in for a respiratory infection. He listened to my lungs briefly, told me they sounded fine, and then said, "Let's talk about your weight." He asked me a series of leading questions like, "How many times a week do you eat fast food? How much soda do you drink in a day?" When I told him I rarely eat or drink either, he hounded me until I "admitted" that I take sugar in my coffee 3-4 times a week. He seized on that, and told me it was "vital" that I see a nutritionist, and that he also worked as a personal trainer in his spare time so if I wanted to come by his gym he could "show me some easy moves that even someone at my weight could handle." Fuck. You. He ignored the fact that I said I had an untreated pituitary tumor (clearly going to the nutritionist was more crucial than checking my hormone levels), and obviously didn't believe me when I said I do get exercise, even if I'm not at the gym. I was too chicken to say anything at the time - I was already sick, exhausted, and dealing with this douche was too much - but I did get some satisfaction when he had to call to tell me that my blood sugar and cholesterol looked great.
I once had a ob/gyn who, when he saw my weight on my chart, said "Why? You like to eat? Haha!"
My gyno fat-shamed me several times, and I politely side-stepped the issue every time she did, but the last time I saw her she actually handed me the phone number of a doctor who does gastric bypass surgery.
I have had a nearly identical experience with my GP, except that the first she said upon meeting me were, "Have you ever considered gastric bypass surgery? I can refer you to a bariologist." I
parted ways with my GYN last year when she tried talking up lap-band surgery to me while she was giving me a breast exam.
My chiropractor tried talking me into one of those wacky New Age diets with the lettuce and the water/cayenne shit AFTER I had told him I lost 30 pounds using the Mayo Clinic food pyramid. I was so shocked that I just blurted out "Did you even hear a word I just said?"
I've had a lifetime of doctors telling me I'm too fat. Oh, except that one time when I was severely exercise anorexic (ran 3 miles a day and danced for 4-8 hours a day) and ate nothing but lettuce and brown rice for 6 months. When I was weighed in at the doctor's office, they PRAISED ME for my weight loss and how "good" I was doing, without asking for any details on my "eating" or exercising habits.
he ordered a complete physical and told me he thought the results would be "educational" for me and help me face facts. When the numbers all came back not only normal, but OPTIMAL, he was humbled and I got at least a tiny bit of satisfaction. "I guess you DO eat health-food and exercise. There must be some other reason for your weight retention." *rolling my eyes*
7 comments:
I'm just surprised there aren't more justifiable homicides of these primordial-ooze pond-scumbags!
Ugh. I had a similar experience last time I saw my GP. I brought it up and told her I was concerned about my weight gain because I hadn't changed my diet or exercise habits and thought my thyroid might be acting up. (I was already on thyroid medicine so this was not out of left field.) She told me she thought it was fine (without running a test) and that I needed to eat less and exercise more. It's like they don't have any other way to look at things.
-Sonja
For a long time I did not have a scale, but knew I had put on weight. When I went for my yearly physical (this was in 2001) I was BLOWN AWAY to learn that I was up to 161. Not that there is anything wrong with 161, but I was just shocked because as a teen I remember feeling fat at 117!!! It's insane to think about now!
I was so surprised I laughed and my doc said: well you don’t seem to be that worried about it and left it at that.
The next year I was up again to 168 - she then suggested that it was a little on the high side for my body structure but ASKED me if I ate right or exercised etc... She never just assumed. I fessed up and said no I was not. She suggested Weight Watchers and it was eye opening. I was AMAZED to learn what a normal portion size was!
She said that she would prefer to have me closer to 145 and I was impressed because as per BMI, I "should not" be over 141. I liked her approach because she was more "real life" about it all and agreed that the whole BMI thing is a little arbitrary. These days, I am hovering around 135 and that's fine. I can't imagine what I was like at 117! Jesus, I would have to cut off a limb to be that low again! No thanks. I like a little jiggle in the wiggle.
@widder - It's hard to murder ooze.
@Sonja - It just seems irresponsible. Hmph!!
@Simone - Glad she had a measured approach. I never remember what the number on the scale is--that's me and numbers for ya!
As for Doctors in general ... I only had to spend a couple weeks reading up on "my disease," (an autoimmune disorder), and I realized that from then on, I knew MORE about it than 90% of the doctors I talked to about it.
The specialists who were treating folks for this disease on a regular basis were 99.9% shut off to any new ideas on the cause, EVEN Though they would blatantly state that: "We don't understand the cause of this disease..."
Talk about a lack of logic and incredible ego combined with short-sightedness. 'We don't know what causes your disease, BUT we are still treating your symptoms with a therapy that doesn't actually work in the long run for most people, AND we are also NOT considering any newer thinking on the topic.'
You wonder how they made it out of med school .... oh wait! Med School is actually where they learned to "think" like that - then never cracked another book since then, except for the information pamphlets from Multi-National Pharmaceutical companies pushing new drugs to treat never-ending, chronic symptoms.
Wow - that sounds like a formula for printing money for everyone - except the patient.
Okay - I shall end my rant now with this wonderful line from the book: The Fourth Horseman - A Short History of Plagues, Scourges and Emerging Virusus, by Andrew Nikiforuk:
"... ...the flu was just what the doctor ordered ("everybody ill, nobody dying")..."
some years ago i went to the doc because i had a pain. i was fairly sure it was my liver because i would get irrationally angry over nothing and traditional chinese medicine says thats liver.
the doc took one look at my fat self and said, gall bladder. i said, no, liver. he said, no gall bladder. i said let's do the tests for liver and gall bladder. we did. when i came back a week or so later he said - you have hepatitis whatever (the one that goes through you in 6 weeks from bad food or water) according to your liver scan. nothing wrong with your gall bladder.
what if i didn't know about tcm & livers & anger? what if i were a weakling pushed around by the md?
@gmc - I can understand a GP not being up on everything, for every disease. But for this reason they need to not be condescending!
@JJJ - !!!!!
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