Wharton Medical Clinic - Disappointed

So I just left my 2nd visit at Wharton Medical Clinic and I am really disappointed and a bit pissed off.

I don't see how this clinic is really beneficial to an obese person. They want you to go every 6 weeks. Isn't part of healthy eating for us, the accountability?

Who is there to help me if I can't make it to 6 weeks? Every time I'm there I met with a different doctor and a different bariatric educator, and those Bariatric Educators (BE), don't really seem to care one bit!

She gave me my meal plan and ran through it in about 5 minutes, didn't really give me much help at all. Thank Goodness I know how to do it, or I'd be really confused.

Then the doctor comes in, asks about any changes in meds, etc, and says, Are You Motivated? I said No. He says, Well this is for you. and THAT'S IT. Huh? No words of encouragement from anyone? He then tells the BE to write in my file, encouraging words given. Really? That was encouraging? He listened to my heart and he left.

At one point I asked the BE, I'm a little confused how this place helps an obese person? She noted the classes and coming to get weighed once a week. I asked do you speak to anyone when you get weighed? She said, well the nurse who weighs you.

Oh.

It feels like it is an OHIP money grab to me.

Is it me? Am I expecting miracles?

Does anyone feel the same way as me? Any other better experiences?

is this a new clinic?
Never heard of it before.
Doesn't sound like they  specialize in obese patients, rather just some clinic to weigh and measure. I'm assuming  you are just there until you get into a centre of excellence, that's where you wil get the knowledge and encouragement and of course on OH...

But do what you have to do in order to get thru to the bariatric clinic.

I know someone else going there - my understanding is that it is an 'alternative" program to the WLS program in Hamilton.  Sort of like an OHIP sponsored version of Weigh****chers.

Hi I have been a patient at the Wharton clinic for over five years and with their help have lost just short of 155 pounds.  You have to ask specific questions and to be honest, most of the time the BEs were not very knowledgeable, but that being said Dr. Wharton himself was great to me!  He encouraged me every step, kept track of my progress and suggested exercise changes when I hit a plateau.  As I lost the weight, my prescriptions began to drop off , and I began to get my life back.  

My last two visits however were markedly different.  About ten days ago I went and saw a doctor I had never met before who suggested because of some changes I was experiencing put me on a Ketogenic diet, which is high fat, low carb.  I was shocked actually, but decided to try it short term to see what happened.  I started to drop weight like a stone, but was very concerned about doing high fat, due to my high cholesterol which had leveled off with the high protein diet.  So this past Wednesday, I went back for my calorimeter test, which showed my metabolism dropping slightly, so talked again to a BE and yet another doctor I didn't know.  They both told me to stop the Ketogenic diet immediately and that there was no record of the change in the previous doctor's notes.  Then the doctor proceeded to tell me that because of my body's 'set point', it was likely that I would gain back a great deal of the weight I had struggled to lose, and that if that happened she would help get me lined with for surgery.  I looked at her with open shock and said 'So you are telling me that all that work and change might have been for nothing'???????  I was so angry I could have spit nails.  But here is the thing

In those five years, I had more positive results at the Wharton clinic then negative.  Why?  Because I was on my side!  I didn't rely of them to do it for me, I did my research and even took 8 nutrition courses so I knew what I was talking about.  If I hadn't have gone to that clinic , I would be in a wheel chair, waiting for double knee replacement and my left hip.  I would be taking the 11 medications I started with plus more to tamper the ever increasing amount of medical issues that come with obesity.  I now take one medication for hypothyroidism, and work out daily.  

I can't say what is going on , at that clinic, and am thinking about lodging a complaint about my last two visits, because it seemed to me that things have indeed changed.   I don't believe in bariatric surgery, because of the complications which go with it,and the high failure rate, and because I now know that it is absolutely possible to do it safer without surgery.  

If you need some explanations of your plan, please feel free to respond to this post and I will send you my email and we can talk.  With or without the clinic, you can have results and be proud of what you have accomplished!  Take care.  

I am so nervous about going there. Is it just another calorie reduced diet? Do they assess my diabetes or does my gp follow that? It seems that they put you through a lot of tests and "lectures" and all is free. I just may be jaded but it seems like a lot done just on OHIP. Are there hidden costs like buying food from them or is it just another run you through everything OHIP pays for. I just don't have any more patience to be part of yet another diet factory  please help!

Would really appreciate talking to you.

Thank you.

Carol

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 oh no its  not just you, i went there apx 3 years ago thinking i was going to do this surgery um wrong and i know of  many  others that whent to  the  clinic that felt the same, but at that time his clinic was in Burlington, the seminar's a real wast of time as well. but thats my opinion.

Joy

I haven't heard anything good about that Clinic or the Dr. who runs it.  Google it and him and you'll find lot's of unhappy people.

I went to the clinic in Burlington for an initial visit and never went back because there was no way I could fit anything into my schedule. Not only that I looked at the seminars and my feeling was that between everything I have already read and seen there wasn't any new ground he was going to cover. Having said that I do know some people who very much like the clinic and it has really worked for them. But different strokes.

This man's name comes up from time to time and it makes me shudder...I went to him several years ago as I was starting this journey and after waiting in his office for over 2 hours, Wharton graced me with his presence for about 5 minutes.  Not once did he look me in the eye, or regard me as a person.  At one point he had me lay on his table, pulled my pants low enough to expose my stomach - lifted it and commented on the horrible yeast infections I had because of the excessive fat...(here's the glitch - i went home and not once since then have I ever found evidence of any type of skin infection there-lot's of skin mind you - but no rashes-did he think i wouldn't look?) I left his office feeling violated and somehow less than...I never went back and complained about him to my endocronologist who then refused to send any more patients to him.  My advice...STAY AWAY!!!!