Patients, drs, fat, and PE

This is a must read. I got the link from Fat Doctor's blog.

I have always seen military drs all my life, till my dh got out of the military about 7 years ago. They all insinuated weight was why I had this issue or that. Some insinuated weight caused me to have PE and partial hellp syndrome. Some insinuated that I didn't eat right and that caused it too. My first civilian pcp I fired. I fired her for several reasons. She told me to never get pregnant. She told me that my weight caused me to have pe and hellp and a premature baby. It took me about 4 years to fire her (and I will never put up with that again!!!!). I havn't looked back on it. Drs are there to help, not humiliate.

When I had S. at my first visit I was told that I needed to do the diabetic 2000 calorie diet because I was overweight. I was at 267lbs! Unfortunately, God had other plans with me which included having severe hypermesis. I literally lived on vanilla milkshakes, mac & cheese, icecream because I could not keep anything down. It was so bad the same midwife that prescribed the 2000 calorie diet ended up writing the justification for me to get approved for 40 Zofran a month and this was in addition to B6 and unisom every single day. Karma huh. My insurance at the time approved 10 zofran and this was for chemo patients! But I had lost over 20lbs in 2 months. She got the 40 zofran appoved. But then I was in the second trimester and the swelling started. I ended up regaining the 20lbs plus 8 for a total pregnancy gain. The day after delivery I weighed LESS than when I had become pregnant. The weight melted off. I lost 68lbs after delivery in less than 2 months. AMAZING. It also prompted a slew of slow down on the weight loss comments from my ob and pcp.

My current pcp is overweight. She will counsel you on diet but she doesn't ride you. My ob was great. When I finally started gaining weight (due to swelling) he said nice weight gain (in a good way, too bad it was swelling). After I had S, I asked if my weight caused this. If I lost just a x amount of weight would it prevent pe/pih/hellp? Both emphatically said no. My weight had absolutely nothing to do with me getting the above. No losing weight would not prevent it as that was just how my body reacted to pregnancy. Even with all of that weight lost, I still have to take a bp med each day.

But it is amazing how with just a few words, someone's life can be changed forever. You see I used to believe in that crap, that I did it to me. But not anymore. More educated I suppose. I am sure that there are some in my dh's and my family that think my weight or how I ate caused me to be sick. But it doesn't. They know better to state that. Pe patients already take enough blame. They don't need their weight on top of that. Besides, plenty of skinny pe patients get it too. It has no rhyme or reason in which victim it chooses.

So docs, think about what you say to a patient before you speak. You may have a woman that was listed in the above link. If she had had kind and compassionate drs, maybe she would have lived.