I just want to vent a bit about something that occurred to me & has been bothering me. I had a rash/allergic reaction that wouldn't go away & was sent to an allergist to have some tests done. We hadn't even fully discussed the rash that was causing me to scratch myself bloody (at night while I was asleep) when the allergist starts suggesting I get WLS.
First, I don't think I'd qualify for WLS b/c I don't meet the minimum weight loss requirements and...
My doctor was a good 75 lbs overweight himself.
I understand that he's a doctor and is concerned, despite my explaining to him that i'd already started a plan to lose weight, but I felt really crappy that I was being steered towards surgery I hadn't inquired about by a doctor who was more preoccupied about my weight than the fact that I had hives all over my lower body that hadn't gone away in months!
My weight didn't cause my hives!!!
At any rate I graciously told him I had researched WLS prior to my first weight loss (of 150+ lbs) and had decided it wasn't for me. The whole thing got to me though.
Maybe I'm being oversensitive, but I just wanted to get it out so I could move on.
Thanks for letting me go on my
BTW I'm now on an allergy med to control the rash/hives. Now I have to wait for the scabs to heal (icky subject I know, but at least I can sleep through the night!)
Sorry to hear about the allergies, owlmonkey. Sorry also to hear about the way your doctor acted. It's been going around lately, I think. It's not something I've personally experienced, but I've heard similar stories from other chicks about doctors obsessing on the weight issue instead of treating what they came in for.
I think that there's a certain novelty still to obesity being categorized in the US as a disease and therefore legitimized for insurance claims. Hopefully as doctors get used to having surgery more available to their patients the craze will wear off.
And I can totally relate. Early this year I had a bad cold that settled in my chest and got worse. My doctor was booked, so I went to one of those clinics that are inside drugstores. After checking me out all over, the nurse prac. told me that I needed a gastric bypass, and that's why I'm having trouble breathing. THEN...she called me several times in the weeks afterwards to see if I'd talked to my doctor about it. SHEESH!!!
Yeppers, some health care folks need to learn that obesity isn't the cause of every single little thing!!!
Did they ever find out what was causing your hives or are they just treating the symptoms? If they don't find out what the cause is, how will you get it to go away and not have to be on the meds for ??
FWIW, I (and several family members) have had many encounters w/docs that are just complete putzes. My personal experience is that if you walk in and don't have a 'readily-diagnosed-ailment' they just look at you with a blank stare or pull something so ridiculous out of their heads (WLS . . really??) that I just want to bonk them! My daughter had a stomach ache once for about 5 days. No fever, no vomitting, no diarreha (oh I know I botched the spelling on that) and he deduced from 'hows school going' (she was 14 at the time) that she had acid reflux and gave her nexium samples. Howz that?? Turns out -- she had asthma (oh and the nurse practioner farted around w/the asthma for MONTHS w/no definitive adviced or dx) and a possible side effect from asthma could be stomach problems. Personally I think she just had a bug, but hey I'm just a mom right? The only good thing that came out of this putzy-nexium-doc-visit is that he recommended she go see a pulmanologist (lung guy). HE's terrific! He's tweaked her meds and advised to use the smallest amount that controls her symptoms. If once a day instead of twice a day does it, then that's what she should do.
Sorry to get off track. Docs makes me nuts. No offensive intended for anyone in the medical profession. I'm sure there are plenty of competent, intelligent, caring medical types out there . . . we just never have any luck finding them very frequently!
I hate that that happened to you and I know exactly how you feel because it happened to me too.
I had just been diagnosed as diabetic (3 months ago) and when I went in for my second visit, I had already lost alot of weight (mainly because I was super freaked out by the diagnosis). Anyway, the nurse takes me to the scale, weighs me, sees that I've lost a pretty good amount for my first visit back, and promptly says to me, "Did you see our receptionist out there? She got lapband and has lost alot of weight. You should look into getting lapband."
I told her that I thought that WLS was a measure of last resort and, since I really hadn't put in an effort to go at it the old-fashioned way, I thought I'd give that a shot first. She said, "They'll approve you. You have diabetes, right?"
Whaaa.....?!
Jay is right. Whatever happened to professionalism and decency at least?!
This is one of my pet peeves, especially being on Tricare and being limited in my options with who I can see. While we were in the keys, we were only able to see the doctor on base. I went in to see the doctor about tweaking my weight loss program AND another issue, and he wouldn't even see me, just sent me straight to the nurse/nutritionist... and she promptly asked if I had considered WLS...even though I had already lost 30-40 lbs myself (which i have gained back since, but that's another story). I told her that I couldn't see myself doing it since traditional exercise/eating right seemed to be going okay and I didn't have any other significant health issues. she was shocked and tried to push me towards it, to the point that I almost had to be rude to get my point across. I was appalled... since when did it become acceptable to throw WLS at anyone who is obese. I think it is a good option for some, but if eating healthily/exercising is working, and all i wanted to know was how to make it even more effective... aarrghh.. ah well
hope your scabs heal quickly, and that we all are able to find doctors and health care professionals who are non-putzy in the future.
Im sorry to hear he was so insensitive for what you needed treatment for then. I too have been to doctors who act so rediculous, I wonder how they are still in practice.
I was diagnosed with PCOS and my Dr said that I had to lose 60lbs in 3 months. Excuse ME??
So you aren't alone. But I agree with a previous poster; he probably gets kickbacks.
I really don't understand how an allergist can suggest weight loss surgery, but maybe that is just me? What do the two really have to do with each other? Especially when you are there for a skin allergy.
Wow! I can't believe they'd just go out and say that when you obviously were making progress on your own. Ugh, I'd definitely be offended if my doc did that.
It seems like surgery is getting to be the quick answer for a lot of doctors. I'm not judging those who do get it because it's not the easy way out, but good for you trying to lose it a safer way-- I don't think you were being too sensitive, either. It would have really bugged me, too.
Getting something off my chest
