Sun, Oct-13-02, 15:23
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New Member
Posts: 21
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Plan: Modified diabetic diet
Stats: 245/223/155
BF:31%
Progress: 24%
Location: Midwest USA
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Quote:
Originally posted by Lisa N
Deb...
My experience has pretty much been the same as yours. I've probably had PCOS since puberty and until I got married and started trying to start a family, was always told that I should just eat less and lose weight which, of course, didn't work. None of the doctors did any testing (other than thyroid) to find out if there was some underlying medical problem for my irregular periods and weight gain. One doctor even told me that my only problem was what he termed "overactive hand to mouth syndrome" and that all I needed to do was eat less and I'd be fine, then stuck me on the totally wrong (I found that out later) type of birth control to regulate my periods which resulted in my ovaries shutting down completely. It's only by some miracle that they started functioning again and I was able to conceive.
Just goes to show you how deeply ingrained prejudice against the obese is, even among doctors who should know better. Instead of trying to figure out WHY you're fat, they apply the sterotype of the obese person sitting on the couch watching TV all day and eating 2 lbs. of chocolate and an entire bag of potato chips at a time and say, "Of course you're fat...you eat too much!"
Even when I was eating 1,200 calories a day and not losing weight, the doctor wouldn't believe me and insisted that I had to be cheating. Needless to say, I never went back to him.
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I had a very similar experience, except sevearl doctors over several years all said pretty much the same thing. Eventually i got to the point where I actually believed them - I must be cheating SOMEHOW - eating more than I remember and just psychologically blocking it out. Maybe it WAS just stress, or maybe it WAS my fault for not having enough energy to exercise more. After about 8 years of that I stopped asking anymore. Until I moved to the US and got some decent doctors (and decent health insurance too of course). Now I'm finally asking questions again about all of the things that I should have insisted on answers for YEARS ago.
I have moments when I wonder if this was a 'male' disease would it be so underdiagnosed? Wouldn't more be known about it? I know that's a horrible thing to think - but there are days when I really wonder. :/
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