this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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Trying a new doctor at the same clinic I usually attend as when I got diagnosed with PCOS my original new doctor straight up just told me to lose weight to treat it...yet somehow sitting here feeling guilty for changing doctors.
What a lot of doctors forget, and what we're conditioned to forget, is that doctors are providing a service.
If what they're providing is less than satisfactory, why should you put up with it?
Sometimes it's hard to hear, doesn't mean the doctor is wrong.
A doctor who doesn't tell a patient facts about their health isn't a caring doctor.
One would hope a doctor is tactful, aka good bedside manner, and helps patients rather than just says stuff.
And there is also being a good patient, ask your doctor questions, ask what they can do to help you and ask what you can do to help yourself.
mm, true, but blaming weight for unrelated conditions (or worse, the condition that is actively causing the weight gain) helps absolutely no one. And there is a massive tendency in medical professions to prejudge a patient and fob them off with "lose weight" rather than actually diagnose the issue.
Exactly this, telling me to lose weight but not offering me any support or help with it doesn't help me to treat my pcos and weight loss should be slow and methodical, so it doesn't help treat some of the issues associated with it now.
mofo didn't even discuss helping you lose weight beyond his (it's always a him) imperious mandate to do so? Someone should go take a shit in his letterbox.
Disappointingly, it was actually a her.
Well yeah, but all too often doctors say 'lose weight' as the only option without even considering others.
"One would hope a doctor is tactful, aka good bedside manner, and helps patients rather than just says stuff."
laughs in chronic health condition
Definitely agree with this, it was "lose weight and you'll be fine" but not "losing weight will help the most, however it can be difficult with PCOS, so here are some options that might help"
had a mate get told her ankle problems were caused by her weight.
.....her weight was caused by the fact she was unable to exercise because her ankle was fucked. By a misfused bone.
hugs
I suffer sciatica and ocular rosacea. Both are chronic conditions. I was lucky to have doctors who taught me how to look after myself and I try hard to do everything they said. It's hard though, there's no magic bullet , no cure, just management on my part.
It's more so that losing weight is a part of treating PCOS but the doctor didn't acknowledge or even consider the difficulty of losing weight with the hormone imbalance and insulin resistance associated with it.
That's definitely true, I forget that the doctor was just doing their job and probably is unbothered and also didn't give me the medical help I required for one part of my overall condition.
Losing weight in conjunction with other treatments really helps. Your doctor is right. But don't feel guilty.
I have to lose weight to take the strain off my joints, I have so many past injuries and if I'm not careful I'll end up in a bad way in my old age.
Also have to help my cardio system, being over weight taxes my system and I don't need that. It's also way easier to get fit when I weigh less.
I'm treating changing my eating habits and weight loss in the same way as I would quit cigarettes if I smoked. Slowly retraining in short bursts. I don't fret when I go back to bad for a short while , tho I noticed it's never as bad as before. Making it as easy as possible .
I recently watched a series on hbo on the food industry, it was enlightening!! It's NOT you. It's not your fault. So do NOT feel guilty. big hugs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pEkCbqN4uo&t
The problem isn't that she told me I need to lose weight, I know I do, the problem is that PCOS makes weightloss complex and difficult and without other supplemental help is disheartening. The doctor I saw today recognised the complexities of losing weight with PCOS and was much more helpful and generally more reasonable in her approach. I now have a new medication to try that helps treat the insulin resistance caused by PCOS and this will in turn (with a change in diet and lifestyle) help me to lose weight at a reasonable healthier pace.
Big hugs. I hope all goes well with you.
Thank you, I'm feeling hopeful and ready to take care of myself.
🤗
If PCOS effects insulin resistance and makes it difficult/complex to lose weight, would it not be a pretty good case for the use of Ozempic?
I mean eh... kind of. Like it's a medication that isn't made for PCOS, thus isn't necessarily approved for it. While there are people who do take Ozempic and have PCOS, everyone's symptoms vary. There are skinny people who have PCOS, and there are some who don't have insulin resistance. So a lot of people won't benefit much, if at all, from GLP-1 agonists. However, one of the major concerns around Ozempic are that not only is this a medication that is for diabetics, but that the side effects are insane (while they're very regular for every type of medication they're still crazy). And the effects if you use Ozempic for long-term use are terrible.
God I hate having PCOS and having to deal with doctors. Because so many tell me to lose weight or to do pretty invasive surgeries to lose weight and it's like "maybe I'm fine with my body?" Weight stigma in the medical field is really really gross and outdated.
Because you can be any weight and healthy just as much as you can be any weight and unhealthy.
That is just not true.
The wear and tear on your skeletal system is brutal, your endocrine balances are destroyed, there is a great strain on the heart and lungs, you get cirrhosis.
These are not choices, these are proven outcomes of being over weight or obese. Being healthy is not possible. Well, maybe at first you feel ok, but over time the body and it's systems wear down.
There are people who are fat/plus size who work out as much as someone else who is skinny, who will eat "healthy" (in terms of not eating a lot of junk food) and can lead healthy lifestyles but are still fat because sometimes that's their body makeup unfortunately. Just as much as there are people who are skinny who don't work out, who will eat junk food, and don't lead healthy lifestyles but are still skinny.
I have a mate who doesn't work out, sits around for work, can eat 10 dim sims and still be hungry, but he's still skinny and is often regarded as "healthy". Whereas I can workout 5 days a week, not eat junk food, and can be active, yet I will still be fat.
Yes, there are fat people who aren't healthy, much like there's skinny people who are healthy. But wear and tear can happen to anyone regardless of weight. I'm not trying to say that every fat person is healthy, but to say that every skinny person is healthy is vastly untrue and hurtful. Especially when it comes to people who have eating disorders (not only that but A LOT of fat people have eating disorders too, they're just not seen as "valid" in the medical field because they're fat), a lot of people will see them as healthy and as a beauty standard, when they are not healthy.
Sorry mate but being overweight is a sign of being unhealthy. Your skinny mate who eats 10 dimmies is also unhealthy. There are plenty of unhealthy skinny people.
Edit: in case I come across as preachy, I'm overweight and I'll readily admit it's unhealthy
But the thing is you wouldn't know that he eats like that. You would look at someone like myself and say unhealthy because we've been taught to see fat = unhealthy and skinny = healthy.
What I'm trying to say is that we don't know if people are unhealthy or healthy. Like weightlifters, wrestlers and sumo wrestlers are all big people and will be seen as fat, but they are athletes. They are bloody pros in their field! If you want to view fat as unhealthy, or you want to view yourself as unhealthy, then fine. I'm not going to obviously try and change your mind, much as you won't change my mind.