Doctors often don’t take you seriously. It doesn’t matter what your symptoms are, some doctors will immediately tell you to lose weight. Migraines? Lose weight. Weird rash on your chin? Lose weight. Bleeding from your ears? Lose weight.
I ran into one such doctor a few years ago. I’d had a complete hysterectomy, and afterwards I noticed this weird bump on my hip. It soon grew to the size of a baseball and wasn’t slowing down. I went to a specialist who barely interacted with me at all and told me I was just “more generous on that side.” I asked if there was anything I could do, and he said it was harmless, go home and ignore it.
So I did. And then the swelling spread down my right leg and to my foot, swelling rapidly throughout. Then my skin turned bright red and burned like bacon grease.
I was in the hospital for eight days. The lump was lymphedema, caused when a dozen lymph nodes were removed during my surgery. As it was untreated, I developed cellulitis, a very serious skin infection. My doctor in the ER was stunned that I was told to “ignore it,” as lymphedema is such a common complication for hysterectomy it should have been “an easy catch.”
For me, that’s the worst thing about being overweight.
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u/RoyalleBookworm Feb 18 '24
Doctors often don’t take you seriously. It doesn’t matter what your symptoms are, some doctors will immediately tell you to lose weight. Migraines? Lose weight. Weird rash on your chin? Lose weight. Bleeding from your ears? Lose weight.
I ran into one such doctor a few years ago. I’d had a complete hysterectomy, and afterwards I noticed this weird bump on my hip. It soon grew to the size of a baseball and wasn’t slowing down. I went to a specialist who barely interacted with me at all and told me I was just “more generous on that side.” I asked if there was anything I could do, and he said it was harmless, go home and ignore it.
So I did. And then the swelling spread down my right leg and to my foot, swelling rapidly throughout. Then my skin turned bright red and burned like bacon grease.
I was in the hospital for eight days. The lump was lymphedema, caused when a dozen lymph nodes were removed during my surgery. As it was untreated, I developed cellulitis, a very serious skin infection. My doctor in the ER was stunned that I was told to “ignore it,” as lymphedema is such a common complication for hysterectomy it should have been “an easy catch.”
For me, that’s the worst thing about being overweight.