Fat-shaming in doctors' offices can often dissuade patients who are overweight from seeing medical professionals.

“For decades I was told to lose weight — even while I had an arrhythmia that required two different surgeries..."

“The effects are real in that if people avoid the health care system so they don’t feel like crap when they go, it might be too late when something is diagnosed that’s not related to their weight.”

https://www.scarymommy.com/cancer-patient-obituary-fat-shaming/

Edited August 3, 20188 yr by Missouri-Lee's Summit

Shame the Person couldn't have said " how long have you had such poor people skills, poor assesment skills and been posessing a nasty tongue?"

@insta_adventurer I think many of us can relate. The person you know you went to urgent care for urgent care was given a big dose of fat-shaming instead. I'm sure she got a prescription for antibiotics, too, but that doctor just couldn't see past her weight.

And sometimes it seems that the care obese individuals receive is palliative in nature and not curative. Like the goal is to keep them comfortable because they’re basically as good as dead anyway.

Brilliantly stated, insta, except for your crime of not using people-first language.

My primary just retired. I adored her. She trusted me and I trusted her. Her replacement is a new, untested doctor who just finished her residency in family medicine. I have an appointment with her next week. I hope she's someone I can trust in the same way.

@Frustr8 I doubt her friend would have had the strength to say all of that, Big Sister. (You're too young to be my mother.)

Bless you, I am 72, and as I related before, I was the one a former friend said " Oh you're STILL. alive!" Did so hate to be such,a disappointment but I surely will look,better in a smaller casket someday.

On 08/05/2018 at 13:07, Missouri-Lee's Summit said:

@insta_adventurer I think many of us can relate. The person you know you went to urgent care for urgent care was given a big dose of fat-shaming instead. I'm sure she got a prescription for antibiotics, too, but that doctor just couldn't see past her weight.

And sometimes it seems that the care obese individuals receive is palliative in nature and not curative. Like the goal is to keep them comfortable because they’re basically as good as dead anyway.

Brilliantly stated, insta, except for your crime of not using people-first language.

https://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/417677-weight-bias-and-people-first-language/?tab=comments&comment=4670423&embedComment=4670423&embedDo=findComment#comment-4670423

My primary just retired. I adored her. She trusted me and I trusted her. Her replacement is a new, untested doctor who just finished her residency in family medicine. I have an appointment with her next week. I hope she's someone I can trust in the same way.

Please do not check me about which terms I use to identify a group that I 100% still belong to. It is not your responsibility to educate me or dictate how I choose to self-identify.

@insta_adventurer It is extremely difficult to insert a bit of gentle humor into one's comment without being misunderstood. I obviously failed in sharing what I considered to be humor with you. Darn those emojis. They didn't help me out one bit.

I am also obese. Actually, on all my medical records I'm classified as morbidly obese. Your profile is blank so I'll take your word for it that we are in the same group.

Again, my attempt at humor did not go over well with you. I mentioned person-first language in my post because it's something that I recently encountered, so it's on my front burner. PFL is about respecting people by not labeling them with their diseases. Yes, it's just silly semantics to some, but it's also an interesting movement with heartfelt objectives.

It's not my nature to be disrespectful or unkind to others. I would never be so pretentious. I'm sorry that you misread my poor, poor attempt at humorously mocking your words.

Do you have a surgery date yet, insta adventurer? How far along are you in the pre-op process? Are you planning to have a sleeve done or a gastric bypass?

Edited August 5, 20188 yr by Missouri-Lee's Summit

Yep, Frustr8... you're just too, too young to be anything other than an older sister to me. And you're a gem, too. Do you recall how we "met"? If I'm not mistaken, it was a post in which you brought up your memory of "syrup of figs".

Yep sure was, who would have thought I'd go into a chorus of Memories light the Corners of my,m8nd. Misty Water'colored memories of the Way we were!
And here we still are and in exactly 1 month I WILL be,having my surgery, that which. I yearn single-kindly for! My Day will come! If there such a thing as Song-Title disease I've got,it BAD.

Ooh I HATE non- editing abilities. Words above should be:mind, single-mindedly. Honest I still have a mind, I can spell,and used to think. I could post and text. Now IDK.

On 08/05/2018 at 15:38, Missouri-Lee's Summit said:

@insta_adventurer It is extremely difficult to insert a bit of gentle humor into one's comment without being misunderstood. I obviously failed in sharing what I considered to be humor with you. Darn those emojis. They didn't help me out one bit.

I am also obese. Actually, on all my medical records I'm classified as morbidly obese. Your profile is blank so I'll take your word for it that we are in the same group.

Again, my attempt at humor did not go over well with you. I mentioned person-first language in my post because it's something that I recently encountered, so it's on my front burner. PFL is about respecting people by not labeling them with their diseases. Yes, it's just silly semantics to some, but it's also an interesting movement with heartfelt objectives.

It's not my nature to be disrespectful or unkind to others. I would never be so pretentious. I'm sorry that you misread my poor, poor attempt at humorously mocking your words.

Do you have a surgery date yet, insta adventurer? How far along are you in the pre-op process? Are you planning to have a sleeve done or a gastric bypass?

Sorry- I am a bit touchy to accusations of ableism or innuendo that may liken me to a deplorable. ??

That said, I had RNY surgery July 17th. Are you pre-op or post-op?

I'm post-op. I had my bypass on June 16, 2018.

I've lost almost 44lbs so far.

The rest of my stats are under my user pic.

Some doctors think,obesity causes everything from hangnails to halitosis. They need course in Rational Thinking, Compassion and then someone needs to write them a Reality Check.
Mini-rant over(for a while).?

And as time goes on, the Fat!-shaming may go underground but. I doubt it ever goes away.

This topic really hits home, now more than ever. My dad was pretty low on energy and not feeling very well and went to get a few blood tests drawn to make sure everything was working as it should. On November 10th, ten days later, he was dead from liver cancer that had spread to his spine, lungs, prostate, and kidneys. We went through his medical records that we could see online, and 6 months ago he went for a physical. Six of his blood tests came back abnormal then, including liver function tests and his blood sugar. His liver clearly showed that it was not functioning up to par, and his records indicate that his blood sugar qualified as a type II diabetes diagnosis.

The worst part of it? His doctor diagnosed him with obesity and told him to lose weight. My dad died because the only thing his doctor could see was his weight. His oncologists believed that he had the cancer for about six months, so if the doctor had seen past his weight and investigated the blood results further, the cancer would have been caught very early.

I fortunately never experienced really any medical discrimination due to my weight. Every single doctor would always MENTION my weight, but always listened to me and treated my problems and didn't blame them on my weight. The only time anyone ever said anything that upset me was when my OBGYN mentioned that being obese means I would struggle to have kids (this was during the time I was baby crazy and actually wanted one). I cried for like 3 days straight. I don't even want kids anymore so whatevaaaa. But it's pretty annoying when every doctor points out your size. Like, yes, I realize I am obese. I see myself every day, thanks.

When I was diagnosed with pseudotumor, the neuroopthamologist said if I lost 10% of my body weight it would go away. Except, before I saw him, I had lost 30% of my body weight and still had it. I told him that and he didn't believe me. He is still convinced it will go away when I lose more weight. I dunno if it will or not. I also have Mirena which causes it (class action lawsuits going on now), and he refused to investigate that possibility. I had the Mirena out for a few months, but decided to put it back because periods suck.

When I was 140lbs doctors would shame me for my weight constantly because I was considered overweight for my height by like 5lbs. It made me really depressed and contributed to my eating disorders, eventually ACTUALLY creating the obese-me.

Edited December 21, 20187 yr by mousecat88