LIKE THIS IS A SURPRISE TO ANY OF US!!

it's not 100% better but it is much MUCH better than what it was.  it got toa  point with the swelling that if I had a pimple there and it popped, my jeans would be soaked with water leaking out of my leg!  But you know, i think I've had this since High school.  I remember thinking I had cancer or something way back then when it first showed up and no doctor could tell me what it was.  it was only recently that they actually had a name for it I think.......or a doctor actually had a clue.  So I have been dealing with this for a many years.  it doesn't actually hurt at all.  for the most part, it itches........and when i scratch it, you can definitely see where I scratched because if it's itching on the hard part of the skin, I just leave a trail of dead skin where my fingernails scratched.

some doctors prescribe diuretics for this pooling of fluid in the legs and edema. 

You know when i tried to have this surgery done back in 2002, my PCP was an old quack of a doctor and i requested that he recommend bariatric sugery and he immediately agreed with me and started ASSUMING that I had all these co-morbities.  I could just tell he looked at me in disgust.  hell he wouldn't even touch me for an examination!  What a waste of office space he was.  My current PCP is WONDERFUL!!!!!  and my orthopedist is also awesome!

And you should expect nothing less than WONDERFUL and AWESOME!!!!

I took K to her pediatrician once for strep throat, and her doctor didn't blame the strep on her weight (thank God), but he DID push on her stomach (gently, but...), and say, "You need to address this!!" to me!!!  I thought K was going to die, and it took EVERYTHING I had to NOT punch him right there.  I asked K to step out of the room and told him that we are, in fact, trying to address it by emphasizing healthy eating and activity, and that if he EVER put his hands on her again like that, he'd be drawing back bloody stumps!!  K said while this was going on, the nurses were clustered around her outside the door, listening!!!!!!

K has refused to see him ever since!!!

T

I have had the experience of having doctors just blame everything on my weight.  Fine, things MAY be because of my weight, but lets at least do some tests or exams to MAKE SURE. 

It got to the point where I felt like if I went to the doctor for the flu, they said it was because I was fat.

I have back issues.  Doctors just blame it on my weight.  I ended up in a wheelchair.  Well, my back does feel better, and I don't need to use the wheelchair anymore (except if I will need to work for a super long time) but it hurts the most when I'm laying down.  It locks up.  That doesn't scream weight related to me.  Especially since I've lost 160 lbs and am thinner now than I was when I didn't have back problems.  I'm smaller now than when I got married.  I spent practically that entire day on my feet with no issues.  No way could I do that now.  So I think there is something else going on there.  And even if it is caused by my weight, that doesn't mean that the docs can't help.  It is just frustrating.

But I am happy to say that I no longer need the "big" gowns!  I was thrilled when I last went in for a test and the woman gave me a regular gown and I thought "crap, this isn't going to fit" but it did.  I wanted to jump up and down.

Sweetbea, I know ALL about back problems too girl. They always blame that on weight. I'm hoping my back problems get at least a little better once I lose weight.  Have they tested you for a herniated disc? Or even sacroiliac (sp?) joint dysfunction?  That is what they are telling me I have now.  I've been through back surgery, injections, facet blocks, all that stuff and I am still constantly in pain.

 

Congrats on fitting in the regular gown. It's so awkward when they "size you up" for the larger one.

I had an xray and a CT and they said that they were clean.  That's pretty much all of the testing I got and then was sent to a pain management specialist.  He gave me narcotics.  I was reluctant to take them, but I couldn't work because I literally could not walk from the front door of my office to my desk the pain was so bad.  They didn't help.  I ended up having to quit my job because of the stupid back issues.

How are you tested for the herniated disc or the sacrocilliac joint dysfunction?  I just kind of gave up because no one took me seriously.  I just got the "lose weight" advice.  But I've lost 160, and while my back hurts less, it still hurts.  What kind of doc are you seeing for it?  I went to my PCP, an ortho surg and the pain mgmt guy.

If any of my doctors were ever disrespectful to me, it would be time for a new doctor. I don't care how much I weigh, disrespect has no place in a doctor's office. I can understand that they want you to be healthy, and losing weight would be a big part of that (no pun intended), but a little tact is all that is needed.

Reminds me of when I was in high school and I was actually throwing up stomach bile for a good 5 or 6 months. They told me it was just my diet. It took a few years before they finally tested me for gallstones - which were made of calcium. My calcium levels have always been out of whack, either too high or too low. They were really really messed up when I was a kid. This one case really had nothing to do with my diet or weight. It has to do with a condition I've had since the age of 6. Yet they dismissed me and I was miserable for a really long time between the stomach bile and what felt like horrible heartburn. Since they have taken my gallbladder out, nearly 10 years ago, I have not had heartburn or the bile problem once.

I have been lucky enough to find a great PCP. He actually LISTENS to me. No one knows your body better than you do. I can't stand a doctor who thinks he knows everything.