# Weight Discrimination - rant thread



## BigChaz (Mar 14, 2013)

I thought this forum needed another thread for people to bitch in, so I'll kick it off.

Lately I have been having really bad headaches because I hurt my neck in just the right spot to give me some serious pounding head action. I went to the doctor to see what can be done to get my neck fixed and I swear I couldn't get a single helpful thing out of him. Your neck hurts? It's probably because of your weight (Not the fact that I got hit really hard by a falling shelf that gave me the injury). He then told me that if I worked off some weight, my "natural aches and pains" would begin to disappear as my body had less stress on it. And then to top it off he said, "You are 28? You are much too young to live the rest of your life so big."

FUCK. YOU. I want pain killers and help with my neck. I have another doctors appointment next Tuesday with a different doc in the same practice. 

Ok thats my rant. What is yours?


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## sarahe543 (Mar 14, 2013)

Similar really. People always treat weight as a health issue. It is so NOT! I had a stroke aged 31 and I was sent to a dietician despite it being caused by a hereditary condition and I wasn't even *over weight* (hate that term) my mum's health deteriorated when she went from cuddly to skinny, and my partner has gout which is hereditary and a bad knee due to an accident not due to his size.


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## Melian (Mar 14, 2013)

BigChaz said:


> I thought this forum needed another thread for people to bitch in, so I'll kick it off.
> 
> Lately I have been having really bad headaches because I hurt my neck in just the right spot to give me some serious pounding head action. I went to the doctor to see what can be done to get my neck fixed and I swear I couldn't get a single helpful thing out of him. Your neck hurts? It's probably because of your weight (Not the fact that I got hit really hard by a falling shelf that gave me the injury). He then told me that if I worked off some weight, my "natural aches and pains" would begin to disappear as my body had less stress on it. And then to top it off he said, "You are 28? You are much too young to live the rest of your life so big."
> 
> ...



What a cocksucker. He works for you (especially since you are in the US and probably paying out of pocket to go get your painkillers!), so he should have to follow any reasonable instructions you give him, i.e. "a shelf fell on me, and I'd like a few days worth of painkillers, and perhaps you should check to see what is wrong with my neck." MDs are mostly fucking useless.


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## cakeboy (Mar 14, 2013)

Melian, as per usual, is 100% correct. Most MD's rank slightly below a dung beetle on the usefulness scale, and are by nature (and training) prejudiced, cynical, and are usually socially retarded. I was told once that the green slime I was coughing out was "probably due to my weight" and that I should "see about the South Beach Diet" to rectify the situation. I told that bitch she should see a priest and a surgeon about her face and saw another doc, who happened to be an actual human being.

The moral of this story is to ALWAYS fight back against assholes, whether or not they have a degree conferred upon them which they believe denotes '*M*inor *D*eity' status. Fucking human ass pimples.


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## BigChaz (Mar 14, 2013)

I've had plenty of good doctors, I didn't realize they were so reviled around here. I had a bad doctor..I'll just get another one who is better. 

Cakeboy, if you ever get sick or injured, what are you going to do? Treat yourself? Seems really ignorant to write off doctors like that - they are generally pretty fuckin smart and heal boo boos.


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## cakeboy (Mar 14, 2013)

Thanks to the Internet, I can now do open heart surgery and cook meth. But seriously, after a lifetime of verbal abuse from lots of asshole doctors, I find myself a bit on the cynical side. I also appreciate excellent medical care when I receive it. Since I am currently a student in a medical science degree program and a veteran of hundreds of doctors appointments (due to a raft of medical issues past and present), I'd say my attitude is a lot more forgiving than most would reasonably expect me to have.


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## GordoNegro (Mar 14, 2013)

I was able to find a list of fat friendly doctors that went by state, from Dimensions via NAAFA. I'm not sure if its' updated or relevant, though its helped me find one a few years ago. It's good to go to a doctor's office who knows that your visit to the Dunkin Donuts or Popeyes is not the reason you walked in with pneumonia symptoms; or that a workout at Crunch doesn't solve migraine headaches.


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## KittyKitten (Mar 14, 2013)

cakeboy said:


> Melian, as per usual, is 100% correct. Most MD's rank slightly below a dung beetle on the usefulness scale, and are by nature (and training) prejudiced, cynical, and are usually socially retarded. I was told once that the green slime I was coughing out was "probably due to my weight" and that I should "see about the South Beach Diet" to rectify the situation. I told that bitch she should see a priest and a surgeon about her face and saw another doc, who happened to be an actual human being.
> 
> The moral of this story is to ALWAYS fight back against assholes, whether or not they have a degree conferred upon them which they believe denotes '*M*inor *D*eity' status. Fucking human ass pimples.



Yes some doctors are plain assholes. I had one female doctor tell me, "You are a beautiful girl, but you need to lose weight. I don't want you to have joint problems later in life." The hag had the nerve! It's bad enough I hear it from my own mother constantly.

I hate those doctors that follow the bullshit BMI scale down to the tee. Don't they know that's not a very accurate measure of good health? 

No wonder so many people hate going to doctors. They are some of the biggest fatphobes and base their beliefs on outdated research. But thankfully, not all of them are like this. Some just do their thing and send you on your way without making stupid comments. I know I'm a big girl and I'll always be a big girl even though I eat healthy (most of the time) and exercise regularly. If I go below a certain number of calories, I become lethargic.


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## LeoGibson (Mar 14, 2013)

BigChaz said:


> I've had plenty of good doctors, I didn't realize they were so reviled around here. I had a bad doctor..I'll just get another one who is better......
> ....- they are generally pretty fuckin smart and heal boo boos.



I have a good mechanic, he fixes my cars boo boos pretty good, but if he talked to me like a dickhead, I'd fire him and go seek out another. That's about the same esteem I hold for M.D.'s as well. They are glorified mechanics. As Woodrow Call said, " I hate rude behavior in a man, I won't tolerate it."

But that being said, you are right, there are plenty of good ones out there you just sometimes have to put up with some assclowns along the way.


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## BigChaz (Mar 15, 2013)

LeoGibson said:


> They are glorified mechanics.



Are you saying that to be derogatory? Because if you really think doctors are just beefed up versions of a mechanic, then that is just kind of a silly thing to say.


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## analikesyourface (Mar 15, 2013)

BigChaz said:


> I thought this forum needed another thread for people to bitch in, so I'll kick it off.
> 
> Lately I have been having really bad headaches because I hurt my neck in just the right spot to give me some serious pounding head action. I went to the doctor to see what can be done to get my neck fixed and I swear I couldn't get a single helpful thing out of him. Your neck hurts? It's probably because of your weight (Not the fact that I got hit really hard by a falling shelf that gave me the injury). He then told me that if I worked off some weight, my "natural aches and pains" would begin to disappear as my body had less stress on it. And then to top it off he said, "You are 28? You are much too young to live the rest of your life so big."
> 
> ...





I once had a psychiatrist tell me that my OBVIOUS chemical imbalance was based on how "overweight" I was. 

I was 170 pounds, 5'6 and INCREDIBLY muscular. Like, no chub. I had FUCKING ABS. 

But yeah, I definitely was fat, right? That's what started my bulimia issue, mind you. I got my mind on a number (120) and not on actual health. Which has completely made it impossible to easily maintain my weight, because my already prevalent hypoglycemia has become more of an issue because of starving/purging constantly. So I'm literally always hungry. 

So yeah, a lot of doctors are jerks. And sometimes if they're jerks to 15 year olds with body issues, they're actually working against their apparent goal. 

At least in my case. I know all doctors aren't like that.


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## HDANGEL15 (Mar 15, 2013)

BigChaz said:


> Are you saying that to be derogatory? Because if you really think doctors are just beefed up versions of a mechanic, then that is just kind of a silly thing to say.



*I think they are in between architects, mechanics and carpenters when it comes to orthopedic surgery...they use saws, drills, hammers...and no doubt understand the body incredibly well...but they know how to REBUILD PARTS...having a new rebuilt knee, 2 hips (and a 3rd after dislocation), all kinds of wrist parts, foot parts...yeah I am SILLY*


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## Amaranthine (Mar 15, 2013)

I know a few people who just avoid doctors because of similar weight discrimination issues. It's rather unfortunate that some awful doctors will intimidate people from seeking medical treatment whatsoever.

Not weight related, but I have a pretty strong distaste for one doctor I've experienced. I was going in for severe pain/a few other symptoms. I describe them to her. She asks if I'm sexually active. Then lectures me on how I'll get boys' germs (what?) and whatnot. Then tells me all my symptoms are normal and gives me an STD test. Pretty sure paralyzing pain isn't normal. And so goes the story of how I learned to lie about certain things when it comes to Dr.'s appointments.


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## Melian (Mar 15, 2013)

BigChaz said:


> Are you saying that to be derogatory? Because if you really think doctors are just beefed up versions of a mechanic, then that is just kind of a silly thing to say.



Obviously, all MDs are going to vary in quality, but as for your average family physician-level MD, yeah, the beefed up mechanic comparison is pretty fair.

Candidates for MD training are selected based on their memorization skills (and their bitch-like nature, i.e. many required hours of volunteer/voluntold work, stupid extra-curriculars, etc). The MCAT is a behemoth of a memorization task, and then all the MD courses are more of the same - I know, because my undergraduate program was almost identical to the Canadian MD training, minus the bedside manner portion (few decades ago, when you could just elect to become an MD without all this MCAT shit, my undergrad program was the MD training). The result is that you end up with these human encyclopedias of viruses, drug names (ask them the mechanism, though, and they have issues....) and diseases, but they are so well programmed that they have difficulty encountering a patient that is even somewhat "abnormal." This has been my experience with MDs, so these days, I just show up and tell them what I need.

Specialists are a different story, as you need to excel in med school in order to get a placement, and it is so highly competitive that it often weeds out the morons.


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## LeoGibson (Mar 15, 2013)

BigChaz said:


> Are you saying that to be derogatory? Because if you really think doctors are just beefed up versions of a mechanic, then that is just kind of a silly thing to say.



I'll grant you that it is a little silly and was said with some sarcasm. But not entirely untrue. I also, in agreement with what Melian posted above, was speaking mainly about general practitioner M.D.'s. For an actual serious answer, let me say that what I was getting at was that I agree with both cakeboy and Melian in that doctors work for you and anyone I hire, I will not put up with what I consider to be poor treatment. I do respect the fact that they have many years of education and that shows a certain amount of dedication and drive as well as a great memory as Melian pointed out. However I really don't hold them in any higher esteem than I do anyone else that has been trained in a certain field of work. I have the utmost respect for specialists and research doctors as well as many surgeons, especially those performing micro surgery. Those folks are, for the most part gifted as well as highly trained. Most regular doctors are not. But I also agree with the point you made about just going and finding another one that is better, there are good ones out there too.

For myself, I tend to favor D.O.'s in place of M.D.'s as their training philosophy is a little different. I also try to find a D.O. that specializes in sports medicine if I can, as they tend to in my experience know that you can be healthy at different sizes due to their work with athletes, and are more willing to treat the causes of issues rather than just throw meds at the symptoms. I have also found them to be more open to alternative therapies with nutrition and supplementation as well as more natural approaches to treat ailments and using those therapies in conjunction with drug therapies.

As an example, I had a recurring bout of tendinitis in my wrist and after discussion with my doctor, a D.O. who specialized in sports medicine, we decided to try fish oil and turmeric and vitamin B6 to fight the inflammation in lieu of steroids, saving that as the next step if the natural approach didn't work. He gave me some beefed up NSAIDS to get me over the short term pain hump, and boom, the natural cure kicked in after a couple weeks and no more tendinitis. He was open to hearing what I had to say about that and we followed this course with his and my input. Fast forward a few years, and I developed tennis elbow, tried natural therapy, did nothing, went to a mild steroid and it helped but didn't knock it out all the way, so then we had to do the cortisone shot to knock it all the way out and he gave me valuable info on how to curb against doing it again. He treated the cause as well as the symptoms with my input and an open mind along the way. The reason I include this story is to show that I have found way more D.O.'s to be that way than M.D.'s

I do have respect for doctors that are good in their field, but no more than a true artisan from any other field, and those with out of control egos and/or god complexes had better be one hell of a specialist for myself personally to put up with them.


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## fitforfat (Mar 21, 2013)

So I haven't been on here in a VERY long time and almost never post, but I'm training to become a doctor right now and I feel a little obligated to post something in this thread. A huge part of being a doctor is basically customer service and just like with any other profession, some people just plain aren't good at it. The great part about the health care system in the US is that you can just switch around until you find one that works for you. PLEASE don't decide to just stop seeing a doctor. There are good ones out there that will only want to discuss your weight if it's directly relevant to your current medical complaint. 

If you are open with your doctor about your view on your weight, he or she should respect your wishes and it shouldn't be an issue. Just like a treatment for any disease, there has to be a cost/benefit analysis to weight loss. If you love being fat, then maybe that means more to you than reducing your risk to develop certain diseases in the future. I'm not very big, but I know that being able to eat what I want and not having to stress about diet/exercise constantly means more to me than an increased risk to develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes, etc twenty years from now. However, a lot of the population doesn't feel that way. 

If you put yourself in a physician's shoes, I think you'd see that you feel somewhat obligated to at least breech the subject with your patients. Most of the overweight population doesn't like being overweight and if there was a magical skinny pill, they'd take it tomorrow. So part of a physician's job has to be to help them to achieve their weight loss and health goals especially if their weight may be contributing to what caused them to seek help. 

It sounds like most of these situations were just insensitive, maybe overworked, doctors that didn't do the right thing in those situations. Doctors make mistakes also, which you should be aware of, unless you were using "Major Deity" literally. So unless you expect your mechanic to know what's wrong with your car (plus a bunch of other parts that modern science still can't figure out... ) without being able to open up the hood, maybe you should cut them a little more slack and put yourself in their shoes... but also switch doctors if they suck haha.


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## fitforfat (Mar 21, 2013)

Melian said:


> Obviously, all MDs are going to vary in quality, but as for your average family physician-level MD, yeah, the beefed up mechanic comparison is pretty fair.
> 
> Candidates for MD training are selected based on their memorization skills (and their bitch-like nature, i.e. many required hours of volunteer/voluntold work, stupid extra-curriculars, etc). The MCAT is a behemoth of a memorization task, and then all the MD courses are more of the same - I know, because my undergraduate program was almost identical to the Canadian MD training, minus the bedside manner portion (few decades ago, when you could just elect to become an MD without all this MCAT shit, my undergrad program was the MD training). The result is that you end up with these human encyclopedias of viruses, drug names (ask them the mechanism, though, and they have issues....) and diseases, but they are so well programmed that they have difficulty encountering a patient that is even somewhat "abnormal." This has been my experience with MDs, so these days, I just show up and tell them what I need.
> 
> Specialists are a different story, as you need to excel in med school in order to get a placement, and it is so highly competitive that it often weeds out the morons.



Having just gone through the medical school acceptance process, I wanted to correct a few of the misconceptions here and defend my future profession haha.

I suck at memorization... like a lot. You obviously need to have some information stored in your memory to do well on the MCAT, but it really has almost nothing to do with memorization beyond that minimal point of scientific knowledge. It's a strategically hard test. Also, that community service and "stupid extracurricular" part is where you get people with actual interest in taking care of patients, and weed out the ones that just want to make money and wear a white coat. 

You have to be an encyclopedia in order to do your job well, but there isn't a "normal" patient really so I'm not sure what you meant on that part. Maybe your undergrad program isn't an MD program anymore for a reason because it's A LOT different that what you're talking about. 

Also, you don't need to excel at all to be a specialist haha. You could literally be the worst student in your entire class and specialize. They encourage you to pick a specialty you like, but certain ones are more difficult to get into (neurosurgery, ophthalmology, dermatology, anesthesiology, radiology). 

You guys, DON'T HATE DOCTORS. There are good ones out there that you should find and see just in case you have something really bad someday. The end. Sorry for so many words.


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## LeoGibson (Mar 22, 2013)

fitforfat said:


> Having just gone through the medical school acceptance process, I wanted to correct a few of the misconceptions here and defend my *future* profession haha.
> 
> I suck at memorization... like a lot. You obviously need to have some information stored in your memory to do well on the MCAT, but it really has almost nothing to do with memorization beyond that minimal point of scientific knowledge. It's a strategically hard test. Also, that community service and "stupid extracurricular" part is where you get people with actual interest in taking care of patients, and weed out the ones that just want to make money and wear a white coat.
> 
> ...




Since it will be your future profession I take it to mean that you're not through with your training, so I would have to wait and see what your thoughts are at that time before being able to know if you still feel the way you do now, or if they have lured you over to the dark side! If you still have this same thought process, then you'll be considered one of the "good" ones. The problem isn't that there are no good docs, it's just the 97-98% of bad ones in the bunch that spoil it for the good ones!  (I kid, I kid!)

Speaking for myself, I don't hate docs, in fact I really am grateful that I live in a country where there is access to competent medical care, even the ones that have really large egos and elitist attitudes. I just don't treat them any differently than anyone else I hire to perform a service for me. They either do well and get my repeat business, or I move on to another and tell them why I no longer require their services so that perhaps in the future they might remember that good customer service skills may help them out.


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## Melian (Mar 23, 2013)

fitforfat said:


> Maybe your undergrad program isn't an MD program anymore for a reason because it's A LOT different that what you're talking about.



Yes, and the reason is that the universities want to hit you with 8 years of tuition fees versus 4. Seriously though, I had a few classmates decide to go into med, and they all felt like the course material was about 85% overlap or more.



fitforfat said:


> Also, that community service and "stupid extracurricular" part is where you get people with actual interest in taking care of patients, and weed out the ones that just want to make money and wear a white coat.



Volunteer work doesn't prove that an applicant gives a shit about patients - any jerk can inflate their CV with volunteer work, just because they know they are forced to do it. What this requirement DOES do is select for the wealthy, as they didn't need to spend their free time working to pay for tuition. They are also more likely to have been involved in organized sports, played an instrument, or any other activities that required both time and money. Also, many extracurriculars don't have anything to do with "caring" for anyone.



fitforfat said:


> Also, you don't need to excel at all to be a specialist haha. You could literally be the worst student in your entire class and specialize. They encourage you to pick a specialty you like, but certain ones are more difficult to get into (neurosurgery, ophthalmology, dermatology, anesthesiology, radiology).



This is what I meant (that the more demanding specializations were more difficult to land). Sorry, I didn't really word it very well.



fitforfat said:


> You have to be an encyclopedia in order to do your job well, but there isn't a "normal" patient really so I'm not sure what you meant on that part.



Yes, I understand that every patient is different and requires some critical evaluation. What I'm saying is that the quality of the evaluation is often too low. Example: my husband had a foot problem and two different MDs essentially told him, "we don't do feet." They said it wasn't really taught in med school anymore, which I found to be completely ridiculous. They had nothing else to offer, other than "go find a private clinic and pay out of pocket." And pay we did.

Let's get this straight: I don't hate MDs, however, I do think that many of them are not as intelligent as they should be, and that the selection/hiring process is excessive and somewhat corrupt. As a result, I'm suggesting that everyone should scrutinize their MDs, rather than treating them like (to quote Seinfeld) "delicate geniuses."


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## fitforfat (Mar 24, 2013)

Melian said:


> Yes, and the reason is that the universities want to hit you with 8 years of tuition fees versus 4. Seriously though, I had a few classmates decide to go into med, and they all felt like the course material was about 85% overlap or more.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Reading your first post, your attitude definitely did not come off as such, but I don't really care about your attitude anyway. If your general animosity towards doctors prevents you from getting good medical care or educating yourself about your medical system, then that's your problem. However, I think the overall sense of bitterness and superiority that you write with is a real bummer for everybody else, especially those of us who have good relationships with their doctors or who have worked super hard to become doctors or other medical personnel. 

Firstly, 15% is a gigantic amount of coursework to be not the same. If you think that doctors are generally incompetent, I'm not sure why you advocate for less school and an easier selection process. Those are just completely contradictory. 

Obviously volunteerism doesn't prove you care about anybody. In fact, there is no reliable way to prove that, so what do you suggest? You seem to think you know exactly what medical school admissions boards should be looking for and how to look for it, so maybe you should write the magic algorithm and make a billion bucks. Most people do care 

The process, like literally any graduate school process in existence, selects for people that have made it through college successfully with good academic standing and extracurricular activities. That is obviously easier if you are rich. However, the class average of debt at my school this past graduating class was 179 grand in student loans and I think the national average was 150K. Also, almost every school has a program for underserved populations that lets them go to school for free if they agree to work in an underserved community for 2 years after graduating. And another point is that the most common extracurricular of medical school students is PAID research positions. None of my extracurriculars cost me any money at all. One of my classmates' only extracurricular is having a daughter with special needs. Most people in my class are genuinely caring individuals who are in medicine for the right reasons, but just like any school, there are a few bad apples that are dickheads (but they all wanna do plastic surgery anyway haha).

Also, feet=podiatry. It's a separate job and they have podiatrists at every hospital I've ever worked at. It's a simple referral process and you'll get great specialized care, which is what you said you wanted before anyway. 

The specialties that demand the highest board scores and everything aren't by nature harder or more special, they are all the ones with the highest salaries and/or the shortest work week. Primary care doctors could be just as smart, but want a job they actually like instead of the easy one. Orrr they could be dumbies. It just depends. 

Anyway, I'm sure everybody else on the forum is super tired of reading this bullshit, so just message me privately if you have any more questions or misconceptions. I'm sorry I'm so argumentative, but when people are so maliciously ripping apart something that I believe in and have so much experience with, I feel compelled to correct them. I don't do this about anything that I am not extremely knowledgeable about and I suggest that you do the same. Sorry everybody else!


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## Sasquatch! (Mar 24, 2013)

I've spent the last couple of years around medics. It seems to be pretty evenly split between people who think they're God's gift to the world... and genuinely really nice people.


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## CastingPearls (Mar 24, 2013)

fitforfat said:


> Reading your first post, your attitude definitely did not come off as such, but I don't really care about your attitude anyway. If your general animosity towards doctors prevents you from getting good medical care or educating yourself about your medical system, then that's your problem. However, I think the overall sense of bitterness and superiority that you write with is a real bummer for everybody else, especially those of us who have good relationships with their doctors or who have worked super hard to become doctors or other medical personnel.
> 
> Firstly, 15% is a gigantic amount of coursework to be not the same. If you think that doctors are generally incompetent, I'm not sure why you advocate for less school and an easier selection process. Those are just completely contradictory.
> 
> ...


You'll do well. You certainly have the condescension down pat.


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## fitforfat (Mar 24, 2013)

CastingPearls said:


> You'll do well. You certainly have the condescension down pat.



Likewise. I'm just defending myself.


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## Surlysomething (Mar 24, 2013)

I spent some time sourcing out the proper Dr. before I even stepped into an office.


I found an AMAZING physician. They're out there. And just like anything else, you're going to find good and bad. But someone's good might not work for you and vice versa. (and lord help the Dr that ever talked down to me...haha)


Good luck, BC.


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## Melian (Mar 25, 2013)

fitforfat said:


> Reading your first post, your attitude definitely did not come off as such, but I don't really care about your attitude anyway. If your general animosity towards doctors prevents you from getting good medical care or educating yourself about your medical system, then that's your problem. However, I think the overall sense of bitterness and superiority that you write with is a real bummer for everybody else, especially those of us who have good relationships with their doctors or who have worked super hard to become doctors or other medical personnel.
> 
> Firstly, 15% is a gigantic amount of coursework to be not the same. If you think that doctors are generally incompetent, I'm not sure why you advocate for less school and an easier selection process. Those are just completely contradictory.
> 
> ...



Diagnosis: chronic butthurt

Prescription: the hell if I know. Go google yourself a proctologist.


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## Surlysomething (Mar 25, 2013)

I know it's a given, but I still love you so much and had to say it out loud.

Haha



Melian said:


> Diagnosis: chronic butthurt
> 
> Prescription: the hell if I know. Go google yourself a proctologist.


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## Goreki (Mar 26, 2013)

I go to the same clinic that I've been going to since I was in utero. All the doctors there are awesome. The few times I've been outside the practice have only reinforced how lucky I am to have good, caring and very lovely doctors. 
I will talk to any of them about my prescription for my depression and general health concerns, but only my main doctor about my weight. I have never had any of them bring it up before I did either, which is awesome.


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## Diana_Prince245 (Mar 26, 2013)

I only see NPs because too many doctors have yelled at me about my weight. NPs are much more likely to access how you feel about your weight and how it affects you. My current one referred me to a health coach because I said I wanted to be more active and lose some weight, but she had never lectured me about being fat.


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