Absentha

I've been on antibiotics for the last three days and they were giving me horrible stomach pains and nausea so I went to the doctor today and she spent 90% of the time she dedicated to me asking me if I ate too much, if I ate a lot of junk, if I didn't do any exercise... I told her that I've been on a diet for a long time, that I've lost weight, that I eat healthy and that I exercise everyday and she just did not believe a freakin' word.
I hate this. Not all doctors, but many of them, just won't believe that I don't spend my day on my ass eating chocolates. But if you're not going to believe anything I say, why would you even ask? She told me to lay off the junk and I almost screamed at her I do not eat junk, just tell me what's wrong with my medication.
Any of you guys have similar experiences? It just makes me so mad how she treated me, disregarding everything I said, only because I'm fat (and you know, if you're fat, you must be a liar).

cjohnson728

I had a doctor fiasco yesterday myself, at my son's new doctor's office. It is a very helpless feeling when they just don't hear you; I understand. I'm sorry that happened to you. I have two thoughts. One, find a doctor who listens. Two, keep doing what you're doing, and by the time you go back, your weight and blood chemistry will look a lot better, and you won't even have to say, "I told you so."

I think you need to see Mern's doctor . Of course, there's a little transportation issue, since she's in Ohio.

Rubystars

I think doctors in general often have a callous attitude toward people who are overweight. They consider fat people to be deliberately causing their own health problems and I think for that reason the doctors see the fat people as lost causes or people who need to be reprimanded.

I've looked around on some pro-fat sites. I don't agree with their main philosophy, that being fat is acceptable or that being fat is healthy, etc. but I did find some good information there which I'll share.

They say that if you have a health problem, and you're fat, that doctors will automatically attribute it to your being fat and won't be as willing to treat the problem.

For example, if you're fat and you have acid reflux, the doctors may just tell you to lose weight and it will make it better. It probably WILL make it better, but thin people also have acid reflux issues, and you should demand the same treatment that they would get for the same issue.

I think you need a different doctor immediately, one who will treat you as a human being and not just someone who needs to be scolded.

Absentha

I know right?? I'm asthmatic and three summers ago I had these horrible attacks where I just choked until I lost conciousness. I went from doctor to doctor until the last one told me that his colleagues were probably retarded and that the problem was not my weight, but the medication I was taking (which was up my lungs). Of course he told me that I should lose weight, we all know that, it's good for you, but last week I had my blood tests done and I don't have high sugar levels nor cholesterol, which should prove I'm eating alright. Somehow it's now enough, though.

Fortunately, though, today's was not my usual doctor, he's much nicer.

LMB2011

It is really sad that those of us who have a mabalic disorder, have to be our own advicates and really get pushy with the dr's. You would think they would treat each case as a medical mystery.

Rubystars

They could have killed you. At least one doctor was able to actually look in to why you were having the problem and not just assume it was weight.

The really sinister thing is that if you HAD choked to death because of their horrible attitude towards you and unwillingness to help you, they probably would have believed it was your fault rather than theirs. They wouldn't have cared and would probably have figured that was one less strain on the health care system. The attitude that society in general has toward fat people is a very evil, cold, and cruel one.

Absentha

Well, I must say I've had very nice doctors who have adressed the issue with all respect (after all, let's face it, being overweight is not healthy), but what really bothers me is that some people expect you to be perfect just like that. I mean, if I have to drop 30 kgs, somewhere in between that weightloss I'm going to have to go to the doctor, and I will still be fat. It bothers me because I do eat healthy, much healthier than my family, for instance. When my skinny dad has stomach issues no one asks him if he's eating healthy, which he's not. In my case, they just assume I eat crap all day. Like I told my endocrine, if one day I eat a pizza, I will tell you because I'm not a marine, I'm a normal person and every once in a blue moon I like to go out with my friends and eat something good. But that's the exact reason why you have to believe me when I say I'm not eating junk.

tazigirl

I understand how you feel, when I was pregnant with my last child I had a doctor who was just like that. I had morning sickness so bad that I could not get off the floor in my restroom. As uncomfortable as it sounds it was, even found myself getting woke up by my boyfriend carrying my in to our bedroom and putting me in our bed. It was really bad and when my boyfriend took me to the doctor and she thought that I had been eating sugary or greasy foods, but I tried to explain that I had nothing to eat in days. I got my told you so, when I went to another doctor in the same office and he put me in the hospital for a week and by that time I had lose almost 30 pounds. Which would have been ok if I wasn't pregnant, and it had been longer than a few week weeks. I do not care for doctor either, but especially the one that we happened to get. I am sorry for your bad experience it really sucks when people do not believe you, even when there's no reason for them to doubt you

wildbeanerz

Sounds like you got a bad experience with a doctor. You might try speaking up for yourself next time. I know that is always easier said than done. But when they won't listen to you, you aren't accomplishing anything anyway because they aren't going to help you. So just speak up for yourself. I had a doctor who ran blood tests on everything under the sun on me once 'just because'. I was about 25 at the time and other than being about 350 lbs there was nothing wrong with me. He was astonished when all my bloodwork came back clear. I just looked him in the eye and told him "I'm not sick, I'm just fat." Luckily he and I had a pretty good doctor/patient relationship but I believe firmly in sticking up for what I or my family needs. Doctors are a business same as anything else and they want you in and out so they can get on to the next patient. If I don't feel that we are receiving the level of care that we should I stop them and make sure that things are taken care of before they get to move on to the next patient and forget who it was they were just seeing in my room.