Why do we have to educate our PCP's

  Sorry this is so disjonted, just got back from dr and am pissed. So i went for my yearly. My dr asked if i was satisfied with my weight loss so far and of course I said wi**** was more and it appeared to me he thought it would be more too. I explained my body is stingy and i have to work for evey ounce i lose which is nothing new for me. I ask him what he thought he said well i figures 6 or 7 lbs a mo so I guess it is ok. To me  he obvousily  looked disappointed. Sc**w you I wanted to say almost 68lbs in a year to me is great. Later before I left he came back and said look don't expect to  lose so much so fast your small. No one has ever called me small before. So what he said was good and bad.
We talked about calores and what I eat and was very upset to hear I don't eat breakfast every morning. I explained I am tight in the morning so Ii eat later if I am home or wait till lunch if I am at work. He wanted to know if that was with everyone who gets banded. I said for lots of us but we are all different. 
Boy it is bad evough we have to educate our family and friends but our drs too.
The bariatic drs need to educate their collegees not just take then for lunch.
Goodbye 68 lbs and one of my pressure meds.
wendy

My PCP asked me what a port is!! I expained it to her and she said:" That's weird. I know people who have had WLS and they don't have ports"  Beat that !!

Petra

 Wow I conceed you Pcp is stupider than mne.
LOL
wendy

My pcp was not up on bariatric surgery either.  What info he had I feel was outdated.  He was actually quite negative about the band.  Don't know how he feels about the other wls.   In all fairness to them tho, our primary care dr are just for our general health issues and to monitor our general health care.  Everything today is so specialized and bariatric surgery is a special category in itself.   Just like a cardiac specialist or eye,ear, throat, etc.   Once upon a time our family physicians took care of almost everything, now they refer us to others.  Just another sign of the times.  You've done GREAT to lose what you have in a year.  Don't let him take that away from you!  Hey, he called you SMALL!!!!  hehehe

I'm a RN and we rarely see any of our patients with a lapband.  We have mostly Ortho patients and some cardiac etc... To keep updated on every single issue is impossible.  You could always print off some basic info and mail it to your PCP.  I'm sure more Dr.'s just assume that all WLS lose as fast as a bypass. Prior to my surgery I printed off some basic info and posted in our breakroom bulletin board.   

Congrats on your 68 pounds.  That is wonderful. 

My very first "6 month supervised physician weight loss visit" was with my PCP that I had gone to for over 15 years.  He was such an expert, he told me, just eat 500 cals less a day.     Well HELLO, ......    I called my surgeon and asked who in our health system might be more supportive and I have never gone to my original PCP again.  Maybe I should go back to him and tell him that the band is working for ME! hahaha

My PCP is great. He makes you feel good about yourself before and now. Every time I see him for anything he always says you are doing so good with your band. I really didn't expect you to lose so fast. That doesnt mean he knows that much about it, he is just very supportive.

Well I gotta stand up for alot of the PCPs. Not excusing their ignorance but in this day and age a Primary doc is basically a clearinghouse for the specialists. They know a minimum about alot of things and nothing about others. Everything is so specialized these days that they just start any process and then hand it off to the proffesionals and specialists. They practice basics but usually don't learn about every specialty there is, no doc can know everything about all the specialty groups. So while they know there is such a thing as bariatric surgery they probably don't have the time or interest to delve into the particulars they just refer us to the bariatric professionals. I also agree that some PCPs are just plain dumb, but I try to avoid them!

My PCP is pretty knowledgeable about the band and I know it is because he is a social friend of my surgeon and my surgeon had the Lap band done some years ago.  Even if he did not know much about the band and other WLS I am OK with that because that is not his specialty.  My OB GYN is not very knowledge but she is open to the information.  The reverse would be true for my band doctor/surgeon in that I would be somewhat surprised if he knew alot about pregnancy, delivering a baby and the complications that could occur there.

Just give them some basic info and hopefully he/she would be open to it.

Yeah for that 68 lb lost!

A PCP is exactly that - your primary care physician.  Not a specialist in bariatric or any other surgery.  Besides you he has patients with hip replacements, patients with heart disease, patients with diabetes .... you get the picture.  You have ONE doctor, HE has hundreds of patients.  That he takes as much of an interest as it sounds like he does with you is pretty good, I think.

Instead of wondering "why oh why do we have to educate these ignorant PCPs??" (sorry, but that's what it sounds like), why not approach his ignorance on the subject as an opportunity, not an annoyance?  Maybe by educating him a bit, and ultimately succeeding with this surgery, you will encourage him to seek more information on his own and maybe even be comfortable enough with it to recommend it to other patients.

My WLS clinic has a "doctor's package" which they offered to send to my PCP - I asked him if he'd like to receive it and he said yes.  When I see my PCP now he only asks me "okay, how much have you lost NOW?", with a big smile on his face.  I talk, he listens.  I love my PCP almost as much as

I LOVE MY BAND!!!!

We need a "like" button on OH.  Good Post.

I've had various doctors respond in different ways.  2 that I know socially thought I would only lose 50lbs with the band. (this is from studies that are way outdated and only considered the first year of loss with the band).  I so LOVE proving them wrong.

Another doctor when I told her I was considering banding said "OK, if that's what you want to do to yourself"   (???  Like being morbidly obese and having very poor appetite control wasn't slowly killing me ???)

Yet, another doctor I know recommended banding to me because he was banded.  His wife (another doc) didn't want him to do it, but he did anyway and they're both now very pleased.  And my PCP is very supportive, but I rarely see him because since banding and weight loss.. my health is so good.  :)