I love how Doctor Mike perfectly balanced talking about the issue of doctors over-focusing on obesity while also still emphasizing that obesity is still a dangerous condition that can cause many health problems. That level of balance shows true impartiality and professionalism!
Thank you *so much* for making this video. I relate to such a tragic degree. While my primary issue by far is not being overweight, if anything I'm (BMI-wise at least) leaning more to the side of underweight.. I usually fluxuate between being normal weight range to underweight, again BMI-wise..). My primary and most obivious issue is mainly being a drug addict/heroin/opiod and benzodiazepine addict, and secondarily yet still as well primarily mentally ill, as in struggling with severe PTSD, anxiety, depression as well as perhaps bipolar disorder or something similar.. I was in the process of working with a psychiatrist to diagnose - not just for the sake of having the diagnosis, but so that I could get treatment. Same goes for severe undiagnosed sleep issues. Anyway.. (nearly, as in 9/10 times of) anytime I go to ANY doctor, they always attribute any and every problem on either my addiction or my mental health struggles, smfh. I struggle with a whole heck of a lot of chronic pain, something I've dealt with since BEFORE I even became addicted to opiods, heroin for the most part.. so one can only imagine the sheer anger and frustration I feel whenever my other, more *legitimate* physical issues just gets written off. It's alwsys immidiatly assumed I just want more drugs.. NO. I want to beat my addiction, but that becomes IMPOSSIBLE if the root issues won't be addressed. Same goes for my sleep issues and mental health issues. I KNOW there is something physically wrong with my body, but NOBODY even bothers giving me a referral elsewhere, whether it's physiotherapy or something like that or a pain specialist. Same goes for my sleep issues.. I always hammer home the point that I'm not seeking more drugs, but rather that I'm desperatly seeking long term TREATMENT so that I could eventually actually either wean off the few medications I get, or get completely off them.. not being forced to take all kinds of medications, supplemented with illegal drugs to self medicate, because the far too mild medications I barely even get prescribed barely give me any relief, and they most certainly only work as a bandaid on a gushing wound. I'd LOVE to be able to not have to spend so much money on both legal and illegal drugs in order to just barely function, but seemingly my doctor would rather have me continue self medicate in order to simply treat the synptoms, rather than treat the root of the actual problem. I've had to deal with this for countless years now, and my body is deteriorating. Since all I can do is treat the symptoms, the root issues, whatever they actually are, simply get worse - forcing me to take even more illegal medications including fricking heroin, while being forced to increase the amount and strength of the medications/drugs, since the root issues are not at all treated. It just makes me so mad. The medical community gives me NO CHOICE but to stay addicted, because they refuse to even to a standard, routine checkup. They never take any of my serious issued seriously. I've been to rehab multiple times, so I've been sober for some months to about a little over an actual full year, and guess what.. I've never felt more sluggishly unhealthy and more in pain than those times. I've been told several times that "if only you sobered up, you'd feel so much better even in just weeks to some short months. That was complete BS. Any time I tried rehabilitation, both my physical and mental health deteriorated. They had to put me BACK ON DRUGS *IN REHAB* as all my issues only got 100x worse.. I became practically completely insomnic, developed signs of shizophrenia and dissosiation, I could barely even walk due to all the physical pain - rehab only made me worse. Yet, they refused to acknowledge that I have severe and highly legitimate underlying issues. The amount of stigma people like me, with either drug addictions and/or mental health issues *(especially both)* face from not just the general population, but the medical field -- even so called addiction "soecialists" and mental health "specialists" is disgustingly staggering, and should never be tolerated. It's truly shameful. It's awfully sad that the people who are supposed to have enough understanding, knowledge and empathy, as well as supposed professionalism can often times be the ones who treat you worst out of everyone. It's pathetic, negliegent and tragic. Purely disgusting. No wonder the OD-statistic is so incredibly high.
@@idalarsen2540 I feel the same about some of the issues which you discussed. I was sexually abused by my father. I have extreme PTSD and completely blocked it out for about 25 years. But now that I remember, I have trouble sleeping. I have night terrors. I've been lucky in some respect because I have some medicine that helps with the night terrors (Prazosin a blood pressure medicine). I have a lot of medical issues regarding my PTSD. I have TMJ from cleching my jaw and have digestive issues as well. I have difficulty relaxing which causes muscle problems. I need help trying to process what happened to me. Because of my PTSD, I have coping issues regarding food. I'm morbidly obese. Until I find a provider willing to help me process and move past the abuse, I can't start to truly heal mentally or physically. I take a lot of medicine for my medical issues but I want to take less. I have bi-polar depression and anxiety as well. I'm on 6 medicines for mental health. I feel like if I could find a good provider, I'd be able to take a lot less medicine.
Exactly! And people still somehow managed to write him off as fat-phobic, plain ridiculous! If anything he's as objective and informative about the possible consequences of obesity as it gets!
This- I went years being undiagnosed because of my weight- if all doctors or more doctors would be like this people w (chronic) illnesses would have such a better life
@@Unknown-kn4vx here is the hidden secret, there is no real difference between Osteopathic and Allopathic these days. Shhhhh, those differences are from 40+ years ago. The only difference is if is says DO or MD at the end of your name and the accreditation agency for your medical school. DO's take the medical boards with the MDs
It took them FIFTEEN YEARS to diagnose my autoimmune disease. I wish I'd had a Dr. Mike! Good on him for being a thorough and caring doctor. We need more like him.
I’m going through this process right now and I have been repeatedly complaining about some scary symptoms for two years and they’re just now (barely) taking me seriously. So I’m guessing another 5-8 years before I have a legit diagnosis 😭 these doctors are legit responsible for so many deaths!!
I spent 4+ years being treated for asthma, it was cancer… fortunately the doctor I was normally seeing was away and the new doctor picked it up straight away. The original doctor was one eyed about my diagnosis and was not willing to look further. Now i have responded to treatment and am well
My sister had doctors for several years saying that the fluttering in her chest and light-headedness was from anxiety and/or her weight. Turns out she had a major heart condition that went over a decade without diagnosis or treatment. She's better now, but it could have killed her.
That’s wild. I had the same symptoms and they sent me to a cardiologist immediately. I was Cleared after ecg, echo, stress test, and Halter monitor. It ended up being anxiety disorder.
Bro I had a similar problem with my hip . All previous doctors just said "oh put some cream on it and will be grand". Then my uncle who's a anaesthesiss. Recommened me this dude who figured out I had hip dysplasia. This year alone I had to have 3 surgeries because of it. If the previous doctors did an MRI on the right hip I wouldn't be as much pain as I was in and it would have been better to do it sooner.
@@mathishontsch3298 You'd be surprised. About a year ago, when Trump announced he had COVID, plenty of doctors came out hoping he died from the virus. Regardless of your political beliefs, that's betraying every oath a doctor takes.
I nearly lost my mom as a pre-teen because of fat-bias. for months my mom was struggling to walk, she was getting pain in her leg that got progressively worse and was swollen. she went to her doctor and he literally just told her it was because she was too fat and threw pain killers at her. then my mom started complaining about feeling sweaty, clammy and dizzy, went to the doctor and again he told he it was just because she was too fat. Then my mom started experiencing chest pains and went to back to the doctor and he again, told her she was too fat. this time though her instincts were telling her something was really wrong so she went to another doctor who immediately rushed her to hospital and turns out what started with an easily preventable blot clot in her leg developed into a pulmonary embolism and she nearly died in the hospital because it went unchecked for so long. the doctors actually repeatedly told her they were astounded that she manged to survive
I honestly hope she either sued or complained about her initial doctor because that was laziness and negligence on his side that would have cost her her LIFE 😱
Even if she knew they were wrong she would still have believed her doctors, if her brain thought it was ok then it would a much easier time suppressing the pain.
I diagnosed lyme about 1 minute in. -Veterinarian I got so excited when you said it that I screamed that caused my partner to check on me. 😅 I never have weight bias towards animals. We shouldnt do that with people.
Vets are the best dr I met in my life. I wish I was a dog , my dog was treated 100 times better than I was in my dr office . Sometimes I was jealous on my dog😂
Honestly I'm glad you don't because some vets do! I was astonished when I first heard about it from my vet tech friends, I was like, how do you hate fat people so much that you even hate fat animals... bruh...
This is the reason why I respect doctors. They are detectives. Also, the patient did a great job advocating for himself. Especially seeking medical help early. I wish more people were like that. Great video.
99% of doctors don’t think like this, or are too scared/embarassed to ask the right questions. Or sometimes the patients are too scared/embarassed. Its up to the doctor to make them feel comfortable and open up. Too many doctors are too rushed to take the time for this though, usually getting in and out in like 10-15 min. Western medicine is a joke
@@33awesomeman33 I don’t think that is the doctor’s fault necessarily. The business/admin people are the ones who decide how many patients doctors have to see and in what amount of time
Yes... true.. but also the patient had to advocate for himself because the doctors weren't helping. 4:00 imagine how many different people he had to see, over how much time, spending who knows how much money, to eventually arrive at an answer. Not everyone is that lucky.
Thank you. I’m morbidly obese, but I also have fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and a slew of foot disorders. My first podiatrist did this. I went to my second years later and because of my anxiety my first words to her were, “Let’s pretend we went over the whole I’ll feel better if I lose weight. I know I’m morbidly obese. I can’t lose weight if I can’t walk.” She was a sweetheart, she said, “Somebody really hurt you, didn’t they?” I might have cried. Just that little bit of understanding and caring just helped so much.
Someone who has fibromyalgia and an undetermined inflammation in my blood, I feel you. “you need to exercise and eat healthy” I told the doctor I felt like taking my own life with all the pain and fatigue. She ignored me, refused to do blood work and sent me off. The thing is I was healthy, and working out everyday prior to the onslaught of symptoms taking over my life. It took 8 years for someone to finally listen to me.
@@starfilledsky2810. a lot of people phrase judgement the way you asked your question because then they’ll follow up with some lovely fatphobic phrases or they’ll try to tell me to follow whichever diet they’re trying to sell me on and say they’re family member lost ten pounds in a week doing that diet. That’s why I said please don’t try to sell me on anything.
A few years ago, my dad was experiencing similar symptoms. He wasn't overweight, but doctor after doctor just wrote his symptoms off as "old age." Finally, after lots of office visits and complaining, they treated him for Lyme disease, and he got better. I can't understand why this happens as frequently as it does. Biases are real, and we should all be aware we have them when making life and death decisions that involve others. Thanks, Dr. Mike, for another great case study!
Short of an extensive blood test there's no real way to detect Borellia though. My mother was recently told she's developing reumatoid arthritis and told "Oh by the way, there's also signs of an old bite of a tick in your blood". We never knew and all the time there has simply never been a reason to test her blood. Many other things got done, blood pressure, x-ray, simple blood test for infection etc, but simply no reason to do a detailed one to detect Borellia. No symptoms though, so that's good. The reason is ussually because doctors are not at liberty to overdiagnose. If you prescribe unnecessary tests, you'll get arguments from both the insurance (or the patient if they're paying themselves) and your hospital because there's already waiting lists, so simply no time for 'what ifs'. When I was 22 I had to shell out for a private clinic to get tested for throat cancer. The waiting lists in between 4 tests of which only the last one would be utterly conclusive, was so hugely long because of all the boomers living it up for free, that it was either pay up, or accept a small chance that you're waiting so long that they'll definately tell you it's terminal by the time you're finally tested and you better start arranging your funeral. How do you think it would go down with me and all the people waiting for a test if they were told "Yeah, we kinda weren't sure about these other patients, so we're making you wait another eight weeks and possibly killing you, to run some tests on them that have a 1% chance of finding anything"? There's no perfect solution given the difference between supply and demand for healthcare (and the impossibility of affording good healthcare while the boomers are still alive)
"Old age" problems have to be caused by something. Just saying patient is old isn't a diagnosis. Finding what disease/problem is exploiting the weak body of an old man is the diagnosis.
My cousin was very young and got sick. They kept saying it was a flu or something. My uncle found a tick on her scalp and they finally tested for Lyme disease
Testing for Lymes disease has been and continues to be under utilized and not followed through on. Unless you happen to be a dog. Mine get tested annually for tick borne illnesses as a part of their physical. And have been for years. Go figure.
Well, if it was due to "old age" then what? He should have died suffering until last day? What kind of doctor is that? Every kind of health problem ALMOST has some kind of treatment, it may not just work. But those guys did not seem to try at all. I am happy that your dad got saved.
It took 11 years for someone to diagnose me with PCOS. That was literally last year! I had been asking and asking since I was 17 as why my periods were so bad, and why I couldn't lose weight at all. One doctor told me, to my face, it was because I was overweight. I felt so unheard... I'm glad I finally have a doctor that listens to me, and currently I am on track to get bariatric in a few months! :)
Yup. Same. I even had a pelvic ultrasound that found the follicles on both ovaries and the VA is still refusing to diagnose me with PCOS because they're like it's your weight. It's so frustrating.
i was 330 lbs, lost weight NOT taking doctors advice, they didnt even push me towards weightloss, made me hate them, the attitude of some doctors, are absolutely disgusting, if it wasnt for doctors like dr mike, i would never go, idc even if i had terminal cancer
Ive come back to update that i had my surgery back in October, and Ive not only been losing weight (40 pounds so far), but my menstrual cycle is also much more manageable. Advocate for yourselves folks! I hope you all find doctors who will listen, and give you what you need. ❤️
@@willowwish64 happy for u!, that’s awesome!! 👏, one piece of advice if u ever feel like giving up on weightloss, just remember the faster u bounce back to it. The better. I’ve personally have had many set backs and pauses, maybe it’s just me idk. I hope u don’t find as much difficulty as me
In the medical profession, we called this “diagnostic overshadowing” - when one diagnosis is incorrectly assumed as the cause of all the symptoms, a very dangerous assumption. Fat shaming is still such a big problem - the newer generations of medical professionals are trying hard to get rid of it, but it’s down to the entire medical community to make a change.
Fat shaming made my sister stop eating because she wanted to be like all those other girls, I agree with this lots. She was in the hospital for a month due to refusal to eat. I mean it was not because of doctors but people in this world can be pretty horrible.
@@Nixsta_v People also need to learn that one of the easiest ways to lose weight is just by eating healthier food. People think "oh just workout a bunch", or "oh just stop eating for a while", when the majority of weight loss simply comes from eating better. The idea of people starving themselves to lose weight really needs to disappear. If people had just been kind and understanding and actually understand how weight loss works that wouldn't have happened. I feel like it wouldn't be considered fat shaming if somebody took the time to explain calorie deficits and things of that nature.
It's most ironic when fat-shaming comes from members of the medical community that are not fit themselves. The amount of overweight, chain-smoking doctors and nurses that exist is utterly amazing. They seem like hypocrites.
My mom has this too. She had no idea what was going on for a while and later confessed she thought that she was dying. She had all of the symptoms as this patient, but she had two different kinds of rashes and Bell's Palsy as well, which paralyzed the right side of her face including her tongue. She was tested for Lyme's, but the results were negative. She went to the E.R. but the doctor said that she couldn't have Lyme's because deer ticks didn't exist in Illinois which is where we lived at the time. The second time she went to the E.R. a few days later, the doctor was from Wisconson and had seen enough cases that he diagnosed her with it right away. As it turns out, the deer ticks don't pay attention to border lines and do, in fact, exist in Illinois....🙄
When I had an ovarian cyst rupture, the first nurse I saw in triage dismissively said when she saw me "you must eat a lot of fatty foods right?" and was super snarky when I said I was in the worst pain of my life, even saying "you haven't had a child yet". I really doubt if I was thin I would've been treated the same way. It really felt like she took one look at me and had decided what she thought was wrong with me just based on how I looked. Thanks so much for talking about this important issue!
I don’t doubt she was a b- to you, but she may have been asking about fatty foods if she suspected a gallbladder attack. They are extremely painful and are triggered by eating a fatty meal.
@@SaraMGreads Theres ways to ask that question though. What have you eaten recently? Have you had any particularly fatty foods? Not "You MUST eat A LOT of fatty foods, right?". There's still such a thing as bedside manner and that proved to be non existent within that
Ovarian cysts are very complicated. My daughter had one at 13(?) maybe even 12... we were traveling at the time, had to stop at an ER not in our community. Took forever to see a Dr, took a complete history w/o addressing her pain at all. Made her drink a vast amount of liquid so they could ultrasound... by the time they actually did sonogram, the cyst had ruptured, and she was recovering. To this day don't know why they didn't treat her pain, or do a transvaginal ultrasound? Very frustrating. We spent 6 hrs in ER for nothing
My GF who is overweight had been complaining about pain and had been going into the ER for pain and other issues for a year and a half. They had dismissed all of these issues from her weight or that she was a druggy looking for more meds. Fast forward it wasnt until she demanded an MRI, CAT scan, you name it and they found that her spine discs had been crushed so she needed emergency spinal surgery. All because she wasnt listended too. So thank you for fighting for someone who was overweight and not dismissing that as their issue.
It's an unfortunate truth when it comes to people who are overweight receiving medical care. I'm so glad to know Dr Mike is able to be professional and actually care for people beyond this!
@@blazingapparition2687 So true! I have a form of orthostatic intolerance (POTS), and ADHD, and somehow both of those were blamed on me being underweight, and a student dealing with lots of coursework. Yeah, stress makes those worse, but I'm now at a healthy weight, and still struggling with the same stuff. Thankfully ADHD meds help me feel less dizzy as well, but I've been having a rash as a side effect when I changed doses, so I'll be bringing that up for sure.
This doc probably saved so many lives being this way. Even if 80% was just being overweight or some other outward issue, the 20% saved is living and appreciative they got this care. Being good at any job is hard, maybe some jobs are harder than others.. but it seems like he sees the importance of a human beings life. Some docs do focus just on the metrics of it I think. Like, if they feel consistent on doing good for a larger percentage it’s ok or good enough. But he’s one of the few that seems to go a beyond and we need that.
Took me 3times for my doctor to understand that my being overweight didn’t cause my PCOS, but that my PCOS is causing/making it harder for me to keep a healthy weight. I was a teen when I was originally diagnosed and I weighed about 115lbs! Finally I’ll be seeing an endocrinologist!
I…. I totally feel that. I’ve never had normal periods. Not once since puberty. I’m pretty sure I’ve always had PCOS, basically since my first cycle. No, I definitely wasn’t fat then. I was a perfectly normal weight for my height, even a bit on the thin side. I started gaining weight in my later teen years, right after I also started growing facial hair. Maybe the PCOS really did come first for me?
This exact scenario happened to my mom. Her physician kept blaming her weight. She finally sought out a second opinion and it turned out to be Lymes Disease. Unfortunately, it's affected her vision and her joints because she went so long misdiagnosed.
And the worst thing is that this happens to women even more than men. Like I seriously had GPs who attributed my frequent colds (no fever but foggy mind, runny nose ans sore throat) to my excess weight. And one who attributed that to a cat fur allergy (I've grown up around cats, later I went to live without cats for prolonged periods of time, there was no difference until I started contrast showers and learned to destress).
I got diagnosed as obese when I was about 17 and it's been in my chart ever since. What frustrated me the most was that while yes, I was slightly fat, I also had the most muscle I'd ever had in my life and was the most fit I'd ever been. Didn't matter, I weighed 175 lb so I needed to lose weight. Didn't matter that I was already healthy and live an active life style. That diagnosis and the way I was treated after literally pushed me into a depression that caused me to lose that muscle and my active lifestyle. I couldn't see the point if no matter what I did I was still too fat and almost developed an eating disorder in hopes of being seen as "healthy" again. Almost 10 years later and I'm a proud 195 and have enough muscle to punch the next person who tells me to lose weight into a coma.
I am so glad i had great doctors who actually were upset i was only 170lb. Because of my structure and genetics they wanted me to be heavier but with muscle mass. I worked very hard and got to 198lbs and my doctors are very happy and i feel really good.
You can be muscle bound hulk at 250lbs have Zero bodyfat and still be overweight. Muscle or Fat both in Excess are not healthy. You never see a 110 year old body builder or even any sort of athlete really.
This hit close to home. 5 months after I was born my Mother developed Ovarian Cancer. She had a doctor who said "just keep waiting, it's probably your weight causing the pains" I was about 3 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer. She pushed through as much as she could to watch me grow up, but unfortunately passed away when I was 10 years old. Quite literally her doctor was the death of her, he refused to do anything about it except say "your weight is the pain factor."
The same thing happened to my aunt. They kept telling her nothing was wrong even though she kept complaining about pain. I'm so sorry for your loss. There is a DNA test they can do that will tell you if you have the gene. I do not have the gene so I have a 2% chance of getting ovarian cancer.
A thousand times “thank you!” for this post! Many overweight and obese people avoid seeing their doctors because every symptom gets attributed to their weight. You treated this young man with dignity and respect and did a thorough investigation of his previous treatment and the progress of his symptoms. You came up with the proper diagnosis and treatment. Most importantly, you really listened to him. I wish more primary care physicians acted this way.
They do it to smokers and domestic violence surviors also. I stand up for myself. But ive learned to after 40 years of illness. Def stand up for yourself whenever its your body. That goes for family trying to guilt or force you into anything too. (Like trying to come to an appt with you or anything like that. )
Would Dr. Mike had gotten this diagnosis if it had not been for the other doctors? He has stated in previous videos that doctors start simple and then if that treatment doesn't work then move onto more complex treatments. There wasn't a rash when he went to see the first doctor. All he had then was joint pain. Obese patient with joint pain, probably every doctor would have thought joint pain due to obesity. Probably OTC meds not the best prescription, but again try the least invasive procedures or meds and then move up from there. The urgent care clinic really missed the diagnosis because they are presented with everything Dr. Mike is given, but they are "urgent care" and just want to move patients through the door quickly. His main symptom is a rash and common treatment is simply a steroid cream. You get what you pay for. So he followed Dr. Mike's advice and got the second opinion because clearly this wasn't getting better and went to a real doctor who is presented with all of the symptoms. Good Dr. House. This would make a good episode.
There is the other side of that coin-while fat-bias definitely exists in the medical profession as it's the easiest scapegoat for common ailments, many times overweight patients don't want to admit that it's their excess weight at the root of their problems. The worst part of that denial is patients commonly continue seeking for that one person that will tell them that their weight is not the problem and that they just have 'chronic ' which requires expensive woo-woo treatments and then they cling to it until their symptoms become life-threatening (and beyond). Both are a form of laziness (to properly investigate on doctors' side and/or do something about their weight on patients' side) that have costed countless of lives so far...
While this is true, do NOT take this as reassurance that "it's not my weight". 99.99% of the times, it is the weight causing it. Once in a great while, it's wrong though. Bias always exists for a reason.
@@rabbit251 Obese people know their bodies. If we go to the doctor for joint pain that suddenly came on you can probably be pretty sure its not because of our being overweight. The first doctor was either just dismissive (which always happens) or overworked and was trying to burn through patients and didn't take the proper time they should have.
To chime in: I work in neurosurgery and one of the BIGGEST things is to never write off the patient’s symptoms. I’ll never forget it - we were referred a patient; lovely lady, lower socioeconomic means but just wonderful. Her imaging didn’t necessarily match with the severity of her symptoms, but there was enough reason to believe it could be contributing to them. FINALLY get her approved for surgery, she goes in for pre-op - chest XR showed her riddled with pancreatic cancer. So many doctors, including her PCP, wrote her off. I remember her everyday to make sure I NEVER undermine a patients self-reporting. Becoming jaded is as much of a choice as remaining open.
Yeah, the patient is an expert on living in their own body, while the doctor is an expert in medicine. The patient might misattribute what their issue is, but that doesn't mean it isn't a symptom. It just isn't necessarily a symptom of what the patient thought.
Thank you so much for sharing this. People are shamed into silence for symptoms everyday. We struggled to get me a diagnosis for years, and by the time we found a doc that fought with us, my functional lung volume is below 47% due to autoimmune diseases. Thank you for educating people.
@@Ishlacorrin that's your priviledge talking dear. Poor people aren't just surviving. You are pre-judging emotions due to money. But multi-rich people are tearing this world down. That's not nice.
We learned the term "horses vs zebras," meaning MDs often go for the easiest diagnosis when my sister was having so many problems. I even suggested Lyme to her husband, but he refused to have her tested. She had incredible hip/joint pain, which they said was arthritis due to her professional ballet career. It spread to her neck. Her voice became raspy, and was told it was from being intubated from some tests, and her hand was curled into a frozen claw, but she had feeling in it. She could barely walk. Finally, she went to the ER in intense pain after 5 years of no MD being able to help. She was diagnosed with ALS 10 days before she died. Of course, had she known earlier, the result would have been the same, but perhaps she wouldn't have spent those five years fruitlessly going from doctor to doctor and could have focused on making her life as good as possible. A hospice nurse in her final days said the claw hand was a "tell" for ALS, but even the neurologist she had to check it out dismissed her, saying he had no idea what the issue was but should come back to normal in 6 months. I wish she had seen Dr. Mike! It's almost impossible to help someone in 15 minutes in our broken system, with doctors responsible for so many patients. I miss her.
Can wrongful diagnosis leading to Death be Grounds for Malpractice? This is a WHOLE LIFE that has been lost. It's disturbing that such uncaring Doctors exist in the field! Again, reasons why people should be Doctors if they are passionate for it. Not because of Money or Parental Push and Prestige thereafter.
I showed up to the doctor after gaining 70 pounds in six months and being unable to function without 16 hours of sleep a day, and still had to fight to get a thyroid tested, even though every woman in my family has had some kind of thyroid problem (up, down, or cancerous) before the age of 30. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that your first instinct IS NOT to tell us to “just exercise because you know you’ll have more energy if you exercise!” Trust me, as a fat person, I can tell you that if I come to a doctor for help it’s because I really need help. I’ve tried everything that is less humiliating already.
I feel you. It took me five years to finally get my thyroid issues treated. I’m now left with very little hair from not having it treated for such a long time and it’s not growing back to the way it used to be.
I feel you. My SIL gained 60 lbs in 2 months. But her energy also increased A LOT and she lost all appetite. Other symptoms too like losing period. Breaking bones barely touching them. She used to run a MIN of 10 miles a day and increased when this started. Her PCP sent her to and endocrinologist. The guy didn't look at a single thing, took one look at her and said she's too fat and that's why she lost her period. Said she was lying about exercise and eating. It took 12 years of seeing rude and dismissing Drs before one finally said let me run this $100 test to see something before we run an MRI. Sure enough she had brain cancer. Plus they very much wanted children and she lost all her prime child bearing years. Because Drs CANNOT see beyond weight.
A video like this is truly refreshing. As an overweight person myself, I'll never forget this one time I went to my family doctor as a teenager. I went to see her regarding fatigue and light headedness, she recommended I exercise more and eat less junk food. Well, I was lucky to have a mom who cooked healthy food most nights and I also did sports and walked to and from school, so I really didn't know what to cut from my diet or how much more exercise I could handle considering my new fatigue and light headedness. I went to a walk-in clinic for the same issue and they did a blood test. Turns out I had severely low iron levels and a low blood count, most likely from my very heavy periods. Some iron-rich foods and iron supplements helped a lot, I rarely ever get light headed anymore!
I had a similar thing happen to me. Long story short, I went to my PC doctor with uncontrollable itching and a lump in my neck. She gave me a pamphlet about losing weight and completely dismissed my symptoms. I then went to a dermatologist about the itching and she tried to treat it for a few months but started to tell me it may be in my head. Thankfully she eventually sent me to an endocrinologist about the lump and he found out that lump was cancer. I had Hodgkins lymphoma and by the time I made it to the oncologist I was between stage 2-3 and they told me it was a miracle that with how wide spread the cancer was, I wasn't stage 4. I've now been cancer free for over 3 years, but one doctor dismissing my symptoms could've cost me my life.
My doctor always blamed my weight for any impact injuries. I was a dancer for 11 years. I was 11 years old when my doctor started using the words “fat” and “overweight” with me. Now I have struggled long term with anorexia. Some doctors don’t see their patients as people with feelings and it’s sad. Thank you, doctor Mike for showing what should be said and done. More doctors should be like you ❤
@@remains10I was going to say I was chubby but very active when I was little and when I sprained my ankle because I slid the wrong way into home base they tried to blame my weight and didn’t even try to talk bout a diet with my mom they just said oh she’s 5 pounds over she’s obese 😂
Thank you for discussing this. My aunt went to several doctors due to increasing back pain and her concerns were dismissed as being due to her weight. They gave her steroid shots and told her to lose weight. She finally found a doctor who would listen & was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma that had progressed significantly before it was caught. We lost her not long after. As someone who has struggled with my weight, as well as depression & anxiety for most of my life, watching her battle for a diagnosis and to survive MM was especially hard. I have since had doctors write me off as an overweight patient who needs to do better before I deserve adequate care. I know I need to do better in taking care of myself, but I also know that I deserve the same medical care & proper treatment and support to reach my health goals in the meantime. Thank you for bringing awareness to this important issue.
You put that so well - the expectation that overweight patients “need to do better before they deserve adequate care.” It shows medical bias for the counterproductive force that it is, not only because everyone deserved adequate care for their health issues, even if they have made choices in life that have contributed to them (e.g. smoking and lung cancer, tanning and skin cancer, extreme sports and severe injuries), but also because someone who feels that they are seen and heard as a whole person, and who is being treated properly for whatever acute issue took them to see a doctor in the first place, is much more likely to take on board additional advice about achievable lifestyle changes that can help with their overall health in the long term.
The minute you started ticking off his symptoms, I said Lyme. I'm overweight and it took nearly 19 years to diagnose my Lyme disease. I'm so glad doctors like you exist. I wish someone took me seriously instead of calling me fat and saying I'm the only one who can fix this. 5 doctors dismissed me. One was hyperfocused on getting gastric bypass to solve my issues. Thank you for helping this man.
I went undiagnosed with Lyme disease for six years, and nearly died, because "there's no Lyme disease in the UK", despite the fact I lived right by a deer park
@@maymcgrath13 isnt Lyme pretty much everywhere? Its more prevalent in some places, but to say it doesnt exist somewhere is so incredibly ignorant of that doctor.
I went on for my whole life completely unaware of my chronic migraines. I thought all headaches were that bad. I even had surgery on my sinuses because I thought I had a blocked sinuses. Nope. It was migraine the whole time. Apparently it's not normal to need exedrin migraine with you at all times. I remember the first time I ever saw anyone for my head. I was rolling on the floor screaming (I was 12 years old at the time) and so to the hospital we went. I had an MRI, which was clear. I was then ASKED IF I WAS BULLIED. Hmm yes. I was tiny for my age, rarely ate anything because of a growth hormone disorder. Yes, I was bullied as a child. But, the migraine was the issue at the time. So, I went on for decades unaware that headaches shouldn't be this frequent or painful. It's so aggravating. Finally being diagnosed is just as awful though because insurance doesn't seem to want to cover anything or really even communicate. Then the medications I can take (yep, there's a whole class of them i can't because of a congenital heart defect) gives nausea which is one of the symptoms I want to go away!
@@xladyfayre Ridiculous that insurance can deny you the treatment for migraines because its "unstudied" and therefore "Not an issue that needs to be treated" Edit: Im a sufferer of Chronic Migraine With Aura, trust me, I relate.
I thought it was lyme as soon as he listed symptoms too. I got lyme disease at 18. Luckily I caught the rash in time so my doctor was able to tell what it was and get me on treatment right of way. But not everyone has a bullseye rash or notices it in time. I was only stage one and I had pain in my joints like he described.
When I was 16, I met a doctor like you. I was getting dizzy, shaking, having lots of clots while on my period and the pain from it had me almost sobbing. My doctor brushed it off as just a bad period and told me to take some ibuprofen and get some rest. My mom asked for a second opinion because she didn't feel comfortable with that answer. The doctor who had the second opinion really helped me out. He found out that I had cysts on my ovaries that were causing those symptoms. I'm 22 now but I always think about him because he was kind, gentle, understanding, and just as concerned as my mom. He was the best.
I'm 15 and I have a doctor like him too. I have had him for a few years now and he always does his best. While my illness are chronic and he often refers me to other doctors, he always does a good job. He even got me unban from the GI doctor's from pushing so much. I'm glad that others also have similar experiences with good doctors and people that will listen to them
I'm so so so glad that your mom fought for a real diagnosis while you were still young. I'm 35 and was just recently finally diagnosed with endometriosis and pcos after 20+ years of suffering and missing school and work due to what my doctors said were "just pms" or "just bad periods". I will never shut up about how poorly women are treated and under diagnosed-especially if weight is also a factor. I was told for years and years it would get better if I lost weight but that's not at all how endometriosis or even pcos work. They don't just go away when you've reached some magical bmi number..I lost over 100 pounds and still felt as miserable as ever 😞
It's refreshing to know that doctors your age actually are caring about those that are diagnosed as overweight yet there really is something wrong with them other than that fact. I went from the age of 15 to 30 without a good diagnosis because they literally wouldn't look into what I was telling them but would say I was overweight even at a size 16. Go figure. You give people hope that there are doctors who care. Thank you for caring so much.
I'll be honest I would say a isze 16 is definitely concerning but I had that prolem even at size a size 8 US with a high proportion of muscle. they tried to suggest weight loss clinics to me as an ex anorexic. The issue is doctors not realising two things can be true at the same time. You can be overweight and your eight can possibly exacerbate some health issues, we as patients can do things that don't do us any favours, but you can also have plenty of conditions that have nothing to do with the weight whatsoever and you shouldn't be neglected or left untreated, not validated,believed or heard JUST because you're overweight. That is negligence, discrimination and nasty bias from the doctor he should be educated enough to look past
I've found older doctors to me far more dismissive of any other symptom than my weight and gender (cis-female). It's actually the younger specialists who have looked beyond the 'elephant in the room' and actually listened to symptoms and made a diagnosis based on that and not my weight/gender.
@R You aren't from my time where they judged you on your pant size hon. That's all I meant. You know nothing of my history just what I wrote here lol. Guess you feel better telling me that my doctor was right lol.
I love this video. I'm in the opposite side of the spectrum. Because I am young and fit, and have a normal weight, my doctors ignored my concerns about my kidneys. Despite having a low eGFR, filtering protein, and high creatine serum, they all told me it was normal and that I was young. Took almost a year of going to doctors to find one that listened to me and diagnosed me with IGA Nephropathy. Now it all makes sense. All this fatigue, brain fog, and joint pain comes from somewhere other than my "excuse to be lazy". It sucks that these things can happen.
I'm 44. I found out at about 16 that I most likely had PCOS, but have never had a doctor willing to formally diagnose me with it (I still haven't been formally diagnosed). I found out at about 35 that I have hypothyroidism. I found out at about 40 that I have insulin resistance, and I found out this year that I have leptin resistance. As a result of all this, my metabolism has always been abnormally low. And yet my doctors always have just told me to eat less and get some exercise, and that losing "just 5% of my weight" would cure my PCOS, fix my thyroid, lower my A1C, lower my blood pressure, and make me feel much better.. It took me losing 100 pounds (which was nearly 40% of my starting weight and REALLY hard with all my metabolic issues) and getting to a healthy weight and STILL having all the same symptoms to get a doctor to even accept that "your weight is causing all the other issues" was wrong. No - my weight is a side effect of all the other issues. Fat bias is a serious problem.
That's just terrible. Too many dr's. get something stuck in their head and they don't want to bother. I call it lazy. They want the money but do not want to earn it.
A very serious problem! You are amazing!! 🤩 Getting through all of that, and continuing to fight for yourself... dang! 👏 WOW!! GOOD FOR YOU!!! I sincerely hope you are getting PROPER care, and some REAL relief now🤞🤞🤞
Yep, it sure is. I had some really good doctors, but when moving always dreaded having to find a new one. One that I had (temporarily) basically just said everything was related to my weight--everything! SO ridiculous. Now that I am much thinner (no longer considered obese), I am taken much more seriously medically.
As someone with PCOS, I find it really hard to lose weight. Almost impossible. You lost 100 pounds??? Congratulations! Can I ask what you did to lose weight?
as a patient who almost died of medical neglect- seeing doctors raise awareness of hcw bias and how stigmas against certain groups can impact your level of care- absolutely means the world to me
Me too! As a patient with a unique anatomy I was constantly sexualized and inappropriately molested by Dr's wanting to do uneccessary and sometimes invasive sexual like exams on me in my late teens/early 20s.
Fellow zebra here! The number of times I was told to lose weight and it was just anxiety when it was EDS and POTS...I'd be rich if I'd thought to have doctors write down refusal to pursue other tests. It took THIRTY YEARS to be diagnosed with POTS!
My sister actually had to check herself in for a psych ward just because the doctor would not change her medicine for post-partum depression. Its insane that she had to do this just so she could get a different diagnosis.
I can’t even describe how much I wish I had a doctor who would help me like this! I’ve been having issues since I was 3 and yet my doctors blame my weight…. Even though I only started gaining weight once the pain, stiffness and fatigue got worse at 18ish. Having someone look at my case holistically and treat me with respect and not just write me off! Instead I’m left in a wheelchair from age 29 without any help, rehab or real explanations! Doctor Mikes patients are incredibly lucky!
This happened to me too! I’m 6’2 and weigh 245 lbs (I weight train on a daily basis) and one time my knee swelled up badly! (To the size of a softball on the side of my knee) and for a few months all the doctors I saw just told me to simply diet and exercise and it’ll go away. My ex main physician even told me that. One day, fed up with nothing happening, I got an appointment to a knee specialist and he took one look at it and said “oh yea, you’re going to need an MRI and probably surgery”. And they found that I had Uric acid build up inside my knee and it kept growing and growing. Then I got my surgery and about two weeks later I got a call from my ex physician trying to shame me on how I went behind her back and got another opinion. Needless to say, I never went back to her again.
I really hope you made a formal complaint! I had a Dr misdiagnose me with bad periods, even though it was so bad sometimes I had to crawl to the toilet, I went and got a second and 3rd opinion and it turned out to be endometriosis and could of left me infertile, first Dr wasnt impressed and complained that he isnt entirely right, I never went to him again
@@RCMN-2024 well her and also the company. I turned them into the state medical board where I lived for misdiagnosing me for months. It turned out that particular company had a huge string of complaints and they were kinda known to hire doctors on a last resort basis.
@@anthonyd4771 not really. Gout usually forms in one part of your body. Usually it’s your big toe. With me, my uric acid will build up anywhere. And unlike gout where you can mostly control it by a specific diet, this I have no control over. I have pills that keep my uric acid level down but that’s it. And when someone has a gout attack they mostly just have the size of a dime of uric acid on that joint. In my case, I had the size of a softball full of uric acid on the side of my knee.
I just love that he reads the chart BEFORE he goes into the patient room. So many doctors don’t do that. My cardiologist of 13 years prescribed a drug for me that is a derivative of quinolone and I’m allergic to quinolones, like I had an anaphylactic reaction. If he’d read my chart he would have known that. I looked up the drug before I started it and found out it probably would have made me very sick. My endocrinologist did not read my chart and looked at only one blood test result AFTER she came into the room, the calcium level, said it wasn’t “that high” and I didn’t need surgery for parathyroid disease. It had been high for 7 years. I got a second opinion from a parathyroid surgeon who looked at all of my test results and symptoms and I’m having parathyroid surgery in February. Most doctors ask you to spend 20 minutes listing your meds, allergies and symptoms and then they don’t look at it, much less blood work. Patients can’t get proper treatment if the doctor isn’t reading the chart. Good catch on the Lyme disease!
Dr. Mike is so great at stating real issues associated with obesity in a neutral, non-biased way while also seeing an overweight patient as a whole human and treating them the way he would treat any other patient.
What I love is that he readily agrees that every Dr has biases that they have to overcome, himself included. And then he actively works to overcome bias.
I love hearing this. I've been very fortunate to have the doctor I have now. He has never blamed any of my illnesses or issues on my weight. I recently had high cholesterol, and he asked me if I wanted to start off with medication or try dietary changes. I said dietary, and it's been a year; and my cholesterol is down.
i knew this one girl in my high school. she was medium built, quite sporty and active. she started having some pains and put on weight suddenly. passed away within a year. i don't know the full story but her mother claimed that she could've been saved if the doctors had agreed to screen her for cancer sooner instead of just calling her fat.
Yeah, this happened to someone in my family. She had unexplained, pretty substantial weight loss. The doctor said, “Well, you’re at a much healthier weight now; there’s nothing to worry about.” She had cancer (metastatic melanoma) in her digestive tract. By the time it was diagnosed, nothing could be done.
If a doctor can't figure something as basic as rapid weight loss as a red flag, then they literally do not have the necessary intellectual capacity to BE a doctor and should be banned from the profession.
I had something similar happen to me, but found a decent doctor to go through it. After having a low fever and extreme fatigue for weeks and no clue as to what was causing these, the 3rd doctor I saw asked me when was the last time I weighted myself (it'd been before I got ill). He tells me to go check my weight, and my first reaction was "I don't think this is this calibrated?" Turns out I'd unintentionally lost almost 10 Kg / over 20 lbs in 3 weeks. I was suddenly an urgent patient because it seemed like a textbook case of lymphoma.
Lets all take the lesson to get screened for cancer at 15 year intervals, and absolutely get checked after sudden changes to the body. That sounds like a very difficult cancer to identify without some serious technology to aid. Placing the guilt on your routine family doctor seems over the top
Thanks for bringing this up. I was forced into anorexia because being “fat” was normal for my body. Doctors were constantly looking for “obesity issues” which I did not have. I had to lose weight to live, they only started testing for anything else once I lost weight by literally starving myself and “got healthy”. I was healthy before. Now I’m sick all the time. They finally did the tests and diagnosed the cervical tumour that was causing my issues in the first place. But now I also have serious permanent damage to my intestine. I became medically anorexic and bottomed out at 119 lbs (at 5’10”) I would have died of cancer just because nobody wanted to do a Pap test on a fat girl. Meanwhile when I was a young kid my doctor suggested a “pap test” every time I caught a cold. 🙄
This is HEARTBREAKING. I'm so sorry you went through that as a child!!! You are brave and resilient for continuing to seek help in spite of such a negative early experience, and the continued issues with providers as an adult. I wish you peace, good health, and much joy!
I feel ya - I had a 16 cm ovarian teratoma and no one believed me…until I got a spinal cord injury and they found it on my MRIs… Also turns out I have a lot of autoimmune issues - all blamed on my weight, until due to gastroparesis I was put in liquids only for a year…lost 100 lbs and got taken seriously now that I had “atypical anorexia” and wound up relearning to eat solid foods in treatment. 🙄 same with all the joint dislocations, which turns out I have Ehlers-Danlos. I agree I’m better off with the weight gone because it’s easier on my joints, but…yeah I have so many other actual health conditions that were dismissed due to my weight. Never mind my parents’ fat phobia, telling me to “run off” my broken foot 🙄
@@lindsaysheffield Yikes! 16cm = over 6 inches! I'm so sorry for all you've been through! I too was "lucky" to ultimately have many of my health issues verified with lab tests and official diagnoses, but I don't know if the psychological damage from being disbelieved for so long will ever go away. I'm especially sorry your own parents told you to "run off" a broken foot!!!! : - ( I try to remind myself that when you are an outlier physically (I also have EDS), sometimes people genuinely can't conceptualize that things you're reporting are possible. But it still hurts to not be believed, especially when you're hurting! I wish you well (literally : - )!
THANK YOU for talking about fat bias. So many underlying conditions are missed or ignored because of this. Especially when it comes to autoimmune diseases. It is something that really needs to be addressed.
@Demon Slayer and that's the problem, creates the mentality of "I'm not being paid enough for this", which for a job where the professional can save or not a life, is surely horrible
Primary care physicians actually dont make that much money in comparison to other drs. In the dealth field. Actually one of the worst paid in fact, them and pediatricians make terrible money. (Again for being drs. But those degrees cost them alot of money)
Honestly, I'm sure most doctors don't just care about money. I think they are just overworked and burnt out. Especially when patients come in and try to argue with you because they self diagnosed on google
@@achaides There are several chronic illnesses where google and online support groups help more than doctors. Many people with chronic illnesses take years and many doctors to finally be properly diagnosed. People have been living with it for decades while doctors might have never heard of it or just in one lecture. It's okay if a doctor doesn't know something but it's not okay to dismiss symptoms as psychosomatic or due to being overweight instead of doing their research! A huge example is ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis). There are very few ME doctors out there and some doctors even prescribe harmful treatments from which patients may never recover. So google and online communities can help a lot of people!! Doctors should be open to discussing treatment options and talk on eye level. Studies have even proven that this increases the outcome.
Dude I respect you a lot, you actually know your stuff instead of those people that sit there and say random things thinking it’s facts , my sister was a nurse then a surgeon and she watched a lot of your stuff while she was in training and you helped her a lot, unfortunately she did pass away 2 years ago and a lot of people loved her at the hospital but thank you for making these videos man, continue to inspire!
Thank you Dr. Mike for actually taking the time to 1) listen to your patient’s history & 2) think about other causes for the rash & joint pain. I worked in the medical profession for years & have a friend who had a similar experience. I sat with my friend’s wife as he was having a procedure done as she was very nervous about what was happening. My friend’s wife explained to me her husband’s symptoms. Everything symptom she described pointed to sleep apnea (I also had studied to be a respiratory therapist); I told her to make an appointment with his primary doctor & describe all of his symptoms. I then explained to her if the doctor believes it could be sleep apnea they would order a sleep study & all that entails. A few weeks later I ran into my friend who told me that they did as I had suggested & he was diagnosed with sleep apnea & got a CPAP machine. My friend told me he fussed at his ENT specialist who said I could have told you that; to which my friend responded but you didn’t & I’m paying you! I’m just thankful that there are still doctors out there who care enough take the time to ask the right questions of their patients.
I’m a Vet Tech and when Dr Mike was going through the symptoms I was like “wait is it Lyme disease?” And then he said it made me feel like a good technician lol 😂
Hilariously enough, vets are among some of the best with catching lyme! Doctors are too often busy trying to mitigate something a human is doing (rather than looking at the situation), but vets don't often think an animal is doing something for a specific outcome.
That was my reaction as well. I’m not in the medical field, but body aches, fatigue and rash immediately screamed Lyme Disease. My brother has had Lyme before.
I guessed lyme disease as soon as he showed that rash picture. I had it last summer and my rash looked exactly like that, with all the other symptoms he mentioned too. Luckily, since I live in CT and doctors around here are so used to seeing it, my doctor diagnosed it immediately and started me on the meds to treat it right away.
My dad had lyme disease a few years back. It was really difficult for him to get diagnosed. Once he did he was cured pretty fast luckily. I think it’s really important to spread awareness about this disease because it’s often overlooked, even by doctors. Thank you mike!!
Amen to that! And I completely relate. When I got lymes, they thought it was juvenile arthritis at first. Once I was diagnosed, treatment went super smoothly, and I'm so glad that his did too! Lymes sucks. A lot.
My grandmother had whole body bright red rashes, sudden confusion every once in a while where she didn't know who anyone was or what was going on and she'd forget to eat and drink and get sick with dehydration. We brought her to the ER probably 5 times or more within 2 years. They knew it wasn't dementia cause the symptoms didn't match. They knew something was wrong. But every time they'd admit her, get her hydrated, and send her home. She died in the spring because of lung cancer that spread everywhere. She wasn't diagnosed until she was almost gone.
Thank you for advocating for your patient's overall health. So many doctors focus solely on weight that it drives overweight patients to neglect health issues as we're told "lose the weight and it'll go away"
Fat-Bias is absolutely a thing. I had excruciating knee pain with my knee buckling and giving out multiple times a day. Primary care sent me to an ortho who took an MRI and then said nothing wrong with knee that it was arthritis due to my weight (406 pounds at the time). Told me to take OTC pain meds which I had already told him I had been doing for months and it had no effect. I also told him I had already had multiple knee injections which also only worked for about a week. He basically stuck to his OTC pain meds suggestion and sent me on my way. Went to another ortho and showed him the same MRI files and he immediately shows me a medial meniscus tear in the problem knee. Two weeks later I had surgery and over the last 4 months have dropped 60 pounds with many more to go. I'm walking 6+ miles a day with no knee pain at all. When I asked second ortho about the first ortho's diagnosis he said many orthos shy away from operating on overweight people. If it wasnt for the second ortho I'd probably still be in excruciating pain and would not have been able to start the exercise routine that I am now on.
See on the flip side i had a pt who was 300lb woman who had hip replacement done at a younger age and had severe compilations that were great compounded by her weight. It is a risk
It's good to know there are doctors like your second ortho. Even people with no pain have trouble losing weight and it seems like you are very motivated. Glad you are feeling better
This is so refreshing. The amount of times I've been written off by doctors for a knee injury I had (caused by an accident and not weight) is insane. Flash forward to now and I had to get knee surgery because the issue was never addressed or taken care of. It was just blamed on my weight. Good on him for LISTENING. It shouldn't be so hard
same with me! i have a patellar tracking disorder where my kneecap shifts and as a result of it i ended up tearing my meniscus. went to multiple doctors and all but one said i had to lose weight. that didn’t make any sense to me because it was one knee and had never given me trouble before until my kneecap starting literally popping out of its socket. eventually we found a doctor that recommended physical therapy and the physical therapist actually ended up finding out what was wrong and after a few months of pt i was fine! the muscles on the outside of my thigh were way stronger than the ones on the inside which causes my patella to slip and all we needed to do was build muscle on the inside. medical system is wack
Started having knee pain 7-8 yrs ago. Saw 11 Drs and a Physical Therapist who ALL told me "if I lose weight, my knees will stop hurting." Moved to another state and saw another Dr. I was SO SURE he was going to say the same thing...but instead he told me I have ITBand syndrome in both knees and BOTH my ACLs are weak. I'd never been told this before. Obviously, my weight isn't HELPING my knees at all...but he was certain it wasn't the cause. Unfortunately because it took over 5 yrs to diagnose, not a lot I can do about it. If the first few Drs hadn't focused on my weight, I could've started PT WAY before the issue worsened. 🙃
Fat bias nearly paralyzed me. I now have a diagnosis of Anklyosing Spondylitis, but for two years I kept having pain and weakness in my legs. I had my first symptoms in Jan 2020. The bottom of my right foot went numb. I could barely walk to my car at the end of the day sometimes. Fast forward to September 2022, I started a new medicine. I gained 20 pounds in 2 weeks and I could barely walk to the bathroom alone. I go to the doctor, he tells me it's salt intake and mobility isn't the issue, diet is the issue. I got MAD, I told him I was fat not stupid. My late sister was ignored when she said she couldn't lift her arms, she was partially paralyzed from the neck down. She died within 2 years. Grudgingly he ordered an MRI, the neurosurgeon called me within a couple of days. I am now recovering from a laminectomy. My spinal cord was severely narrowed and the cord was compressed.
As someone who has been put through the wringer to get a proper autoimmune disease diagnosis, thank you for listening to your patient and taking his fatigue and joint pain seriously. Just because those symptoms can be vague or related to diseases that can be easily ruled out, doesn't mean so many doctors should assume it means nothing is wrong. I wish people knew how debilitating those symptoms truly can be.
Once again, Dr. Mike nails it. I was once 380lbs, I outweighed champion sumo wrestlers, and my doctor only said I needed to lose weight so much that I stopped going. I developed diabetes II, angina, and almost had a stroke at age 34. I got a better doctor and beat diabetes and angina and dropped my resting heart from 115 to 80. I still struggle with my weight, but everything is working better. The right medical professional can make a world of difference. I'm also tired of strangers telling me to get a stomach staple.
Took me 3times for my doctor to understand that my being overweight didn’t cause my PCOS, but that my PCOS is causing/making it harder for me to keep a healthy weight. I was a teen when I was originally diagnosed and I weighed about 115lbs! Finally, I’ll be seeing an endocrinologist!
Oh yeah, that is the GO-TO for most doctors (ESPECIALLY male doctors, in my experience) - "Well y'know, you wouldn't have PCOS at all if you weren't overweight... NO DEAR, PCOS is CAUSED by being overweight, NOT the other way around..." Oh is that so? Well how come I've had PCOS while I've been overweight, a healthy weight AND underweight then?
My friend had a doctor ignore her concerns when she said she was eating healthy and exercising and still putting on weight. She had a bunch of other symptoms as well. It was a pituitary tumour. She’s fine now thankfully, the surgery went well.
I’m so glad you made this video! It is so important! I used to be 260 and a doctor judged me for my sprained ankle not getting better because I was “fat and not a normal girl”. But I had been on bed rest with my foot elevated for a month. I wasn’t putting any weight on it. Again thank you for showing how people can not be taken seriously because of appearances.
This happened to me. I lived with not just weight bias but medicaid bias. In fact one doctor told me he resented having to pay for "those like me" who abuse the system to get an ambulance for a headache. I was grey and shaking it was worst headache i ever had. I asked him what do you mean those like me and he no joke said "you medicaids are all the same, all you want is drugs. Well im not giving you narcotics." I said I never asked for them but Im sick and he said that my bp was high cause i was fat (many docs said that) and he wasnt gonna even give me Tylenol. No tests nothing. Other doctors blamed weight on coughing for months and coughing blood off and on for a year. My legs got so swollen theyd over hang where the ankles should be, scraping the ground. They blamed weight. Chronic Pain. Weight. Headaches. Weight. Muscle pain. Weight. Meanwhile I got more and more fat due to sickness. I gave up and stopped going to get answers. I looked at my late partner and said "I am not gonna be here in a few months if this doesnt stop". I cried on the floor begging to die from the suffering. I failed college from illness. I lost jobs. I lost the ability to even dress myself or walk. My life was in a tiny chair or bed. I had shall we say a strange paranormal occurrence where i kept dreaming of my late great grandma hooked up to my iv line in a hospital and we died together. After a week of this i was scared af. And i went to a new hospital and refused to send my records. I wanted them to hear ME not have preconceived bias. They did. One thing led to another, and I ended up, combined with records i had sent after the fact, diagnosed with Behçets Disease. Was told I was lucky I got diagnosed, I was dying. The only thing keeping me going was wrong diagnosis getting me prednisone constantly enough to curb worsening but not enough for remission. Now I am disabled from permanent stuff that could have been avoided. Turns out I could have been having strokes or brain bleeds during the aforementioned headache. Kidney problems, lung bleeding. All cause doctor's biases. I have a great team now. Honestly they are my heroes and I would take a bullet for them. No joke. They saved me. They also helped give me a quality of life back. Were still working on stuff to improve. Side note: after telling my family my diagnosis of Vasculitis. My uncle said thats what grandma grace died from. (my great grandma, who i kept dreaming about). After i was diagnosed i had one more dream. We were not hooked up. She showed up waved to me and i woke up. Sorry so long but its hard to tell a story like that in one paragraph. fun part is this is the condensed not very detailed version of events. Medical biases kill. Medical biases disable. Thank you for tackling this VITAL issue. Thanks you for even acknowledging that it exists. A lot of people don't... many minimize it or poo poo it.
You are so right with the Medicaid bias. One of the saddest things is many people who are on Medicaid don’t know how poorly they are being treated. Providers don’t make money on Medicaid patients, so they often want to get rid of them and hope they go elsewhere.
Fat bias killed my mother. She had a big, round belly and every.single.time we'd take her to a doctor for something, the first words out of their mouths was a comment on her weight. She'd get offended and refuse to be examined because she also had mental health issues from a TBI. One day, she was walking across her living room and literally dropped to the floor dead. Her autopsy revealed a massive tumor in her abdomen. The pressure it was putting on her organs killed her. I too am overweight, and every time I'd see a doctor, they'd go for the blood pressure cuff with this look in their eyes gearing up for "the talk" only to have them shocked that it's healthy. So is my cholesterol. Even so, every one of my issues would be written off with a "if you'd lose weight you'd feel better" Even when I went because I was dealing with depression, I was prescribed one that suppresses appetite. Even when I went because I have psoriasis. I was never told about PCOS (even though I have symptoms of it) until I asked the doctor if that could be an issue.
Appetite suppressing antidepressant is the right choice in that case though. Our value as humans defines over so many variables, and you could be overweight and still overall be the best human being on this planet. That does NOT mean that you couldnt be even better with a healthy weight. Every human has flaws, nobody is perfect. Its our lifelong mission to work on these flaws, may they be a lack of knowledge, biases and fallacies, personality weaknesses like short temper or lack of empathy, or physical weaknesses like an unhealthy bodyweight. Don't make it such a big deal. A physicians job is to help you get healthier. If they spot any risk factor, they have to advice you. So if they notice that you are overweight and dont inform you about risks and treatment strategies, they fail as doctors. Bad doctors JUST give you pharmaceuticals, good doctors also put emphasis on lifestyle changes etc. Of course, missing an abdominal tumor due to bias is a malpractice. Its not fat bias though, its called ‚Premature closure bias’ -> A doctor sees an obvious possible cause of a symptom and doesn’t investigate further. Far too common. Another example is a patient with history of migraine getting a brain bleed, and the doctor just assumes its the migraine again that is causing the headache. Thats why careful investigation is necessary. Doesnt mean its specifically connected to fat in any way. But if that doctor didnt do a premature closure mistake, the abdominal tumor should have been identified easily. The problem is not specific fat bias but physicians trying to safe time and not investigating properly.
Adipose tissue does a really nasty number on your hormones and brain chemistry. It also increases inflammation, which affects psoriasis. Of course they gave you appetite suppressants! You don't treat someone for burns without getting them out of the burning building first. 🤦♀️
(Sweden) This reminds me of when my fiancé became seriously ill. 4 years ago, he had a annoying cough. He met a doctor. The doctor sad he was overweight. He got an asthma inhaler and was told to stop eat and drink so much. 2 days later he got high fever. Calls again. No it’s only a cold. He started to hallucinate, no sleep, no food. Calld again. No it’s only a cold. One night he woke me up because he couldn’t breath. Called 112 (911), they sad no it’s only a cold. We rushed to the emergency room. He started to puke. He had a sore neck. They put him in a isolated room fast. Like 5 doctors came in fast. They took many tests under 30 minutes. My fiancé was in and out of consciousness. They took a spinal cord test. It was cloudy. Everyone in the room had to take antibiotics. No more people was allowed in the room. My fiancé had meningitis and pneumokocker 80% of his lungs was inflamed. He nearly died. Now 4 years later we are expecting our first child together ❤️
I'm so glad there was a happy ending. Extremely frustrated you both had to go through that for so long though. I wish you all a very happy life and your little one(s) grow up to be innocent angels.
I can't imagine the amount of joy you'd get after solving a case like this. I was diagnosed with WPW while awake on the table during a discovery procedure, and the tone of voice the doctor had when he said, "I KNOW WHAT THIS IS!!!!" was such a wonderful thing to experience as a patient. You saved that man's life, like my doc saved mine ❤
Need more doctors who think like DR Mike! This man has changed a mans life just by asking questions and taking his time to understand and help this man.
My doctor is exactly like him. Almost down to the personality. When I first started watching him, I immediately fell in love because e reminds me of my amazing doctor. (With chronic illnesses, I visit him a lot)
Thank you *so much* for making this video. I relate to such a tragic degree. While my primary issue by far is not being overweight, if anything I'm (BMI-wise at least) leaning more to the side of underweight.. I usually fluxuate between being normal weight range to underweight, again BMI-wise..). My primary and most obivious issue is mainly being a drug addict/heroin/opiod and benzodiazepine addict, and secondarily yet still as well primarily mentally ill, as in struggling with severe PTSD, anxiety, depression as well as perhaps bipolar disorder or something similar.. I was in the process of working with a psychiatrist to diagnose - not just for the sake of having the diagnosis, but so that I could get treatment. Same goes for severe undiagnosed sleep issues. Anyway.. (nearly, as in 9/10 times of) anytime I go to ANY doctor, they always attribute any and every problem on either my addiction or my mental health struggles, smfh. I struggle with a whole heck of a lot of chronic pain, something I've dealt with since BEFORE I even became addicted to opiods, heroin for the most part.. so one can only imagine the sheer anger and frustration I feel whenever my other, more *legitimate* physical issues just gets written off. It's alwsys immidiatly assumed I just want more drugs.. NO. I want to beat my addiction, but that becomes IMPOSSIBLE if the root issues won't be addressed. Same goes for my sleep issues and mental health issues. I KNOW there is something physically wrong with my body, but NOBODY even bothers giving me a referral elsewhere, whether it's physiotherapy or something like that or a pain specialist. Same goes for my sleep issues.. I always hammer home the point that I'm not seeking more drugs, but rather that I'm desperatly seeking long term TREATMENT so that I could eventually actually either wean off the few medications I get, or get completely off them.. not being forced to take all kinds of medications, supplemented with illegal drugs to self medicate, because the far too mild medications I barely even get prescribed barely give me any relief, and they most certainly only work as a bandaid on a gushing wound. I'd LOVE to be able to not have to spend so much money on both legal and illegal drugs in order to just barely function, but seemingly my doctor would rather have me continue self medicate in order to simply treat the synptoms, rather than treat the root of the actual problem. I've had to deal with this for countless years now, and my body is deteriorating. Since all I can do is treat the symptoms, the root issues, whatever they actually are, simply get worse - forcing me to take even more illegal medications including fricking heroin, while being forced to increase the amount and strength of the medications/drugs, since the root issues are not at all treated. It just makes me so mad. The medical community gives me NO CHOICE but to stay addicted, because they refuse to even to a standard, routine checkup. They never take any of my serious issued seriously. I've been to rehab multiple times, so I've been sober for some months to about a little over an actual full year, and guess what.. I've never felt more sluggishly unhealthy and more in pain than those times. I've been told several times that "if only you sobered up, you'd feel so much better even in just weeks to some short months. That was complete BS. Any time I tried rehabilitation, both my physical and mental health deteriorated. They had to put me BACK ON DRUGS *IN REHAB* as all my issues only got 100x worse.. I became practically completely insomnic, developed signs of shizophrenia and dissosiation, I could barely even walk due to all the physical pain - rehab only made me worse. Yet, they refused to acknowledge that I have severe and highly legitimate underlying issues. The amount of stigma people like me, with either drug addictions and/or mental health issues *(especially both)* face from not just the general population, but the medical field -- even so called addiction "soecialists" and mental health "specialists" is disgustingly staggering, and should never be tolerated. It's truly shameful. It's awfully sad that the people who are supposed to have enough understanding, knowledge and empathy, as well as supposed professionalism can often times be the ones who treat you worst out of everyone. It's pathetic, negliegent and tragic. Purely disgusting. No wonder the OD-statistic is so incredibly high.
My mom almost died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and it took the doctors for ever to figure out what was wrong and kept blaming most of her symptoms on her weight and medical history. Finally, she fell, got a concussion, they did a MRI or cat scan (the one where they could see her soft tissue) and saw her blood vessels were way too dilated, and then realized it might be carbon monoxide and tested her blood. Turns out when her new water heater was installed, the floor was wet, so it sank, and the exhaust pipe disconnected. Since her room was next to the room with the water heater, it wasn't a strong carbon monoxide levels by then, so it never set off the alarms, but it built up in her body over time and she got sicker and sicker. Once they knew what it was the fire department and gas company came and tested at the house. They found it when testing in the room with the water heater. Since her water heater was working, she didn't see the need for a yearly inspection... now she does. And we also have a dector in the water heater room near the floor. (Carbon monoxide is heavier than other air, so it should be lower on the wall)... My chemistry teacher explained how oxygen forms a single bond to a blood cell, so it gets delivered to organs where carbon monoxide forms a double bond to a blood cell, so it doesn't get released, and also blocks the blood cell from carrying more oxygen, so that's why it builds up over time... I'm sure dr. Mike can explain all this better than me.
CO poisoning is no joke! As someone who’s had it twice, the first thing I check in an apartment or house is the carbon monoxide detector (and yet I tried to climb into the wall of one place to look at the asbestos. Because I wanted to see it. The inspector had to hold me back saying “We got another cat-scientist, guys. Should we let him look?”)
A relative moved into a new house years ago. The very first night the husband woke up when he heard the baby crying but he couldn't get up to check on her. He woke his wife up and she was able to get everyone out of the house. It turned out that the heater was hooked up wrong and was venting it's exhaust into the ductwork. If the baby hadn't cried in the middle of the night they probably wouldn't have survived until morning.
This is SO IMPORTANT to talk about. My dad had Lyme disease a few years ago. Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him and started doing painful and unnecessary procedures until one PA stayed up all night researching (it is not common in our area, he had gotten it traveling) and figured it out. He's 100% fine now and my whole family is so thankful to that PA.
"What happened next might surprise you." As a fat person, I am not at all surprised. I'm glad that you took the time and got to the root of the issue to help him.
@@dennraeh you can always work towards not being fat. But you don’t have a choice to work to stand up out of a wheel chair most of the time. Big difference.
I've had this problem with my medical complaints being dismissed due to my obesity. I go to every appointment ready to "battle" with the physician, even if they're a good doctor who doesn't behave this way. Imagine how it must be for someone who isn't as assertive 😥
@@karlbischof2807 I became a bit fat at around the age of 8 and at around 10 I developed a sleeping disorder. Every single doctor I've met told me it was due to my lifestyle/not doing enough physical activity even when I was doing split shift in a warehouse and upward of 50-60h of work. It always took me 30min-1h and sometime even more time laying in bed before I fall asleep. At 12 during a down mood period due to my grandmother passing away I started smoking weed on a daily basis and it somewhat helped with my sleeping disorder but it was still present and over the years my consumption of weed increased. At the age of 24 I tried to quit weed on my own but that led me to being unable to sleep at all & very high anxiety level when I didn't smoke. Yet again I went to see many doctors but they wouldn't prescribe me any medication. On one of the occasion I tried to quit I spend about a week and a half trying not to smoke or drink alcohol but every 2days or so I drank myself to sleep. After about that week and a half I went to my union rep and HR and they told me both had a program when they would pay rehab for employee with drug issue. Only thing is every rehab center I called told me that with my withdrawal symptoms they wouldn't take me if I didn't have medication, they just can't have someone who half asleep all the time and can't follow a strict schedule. I went to see a doctor and kinda had to harass them to have some medication that would help me deal with my sleeping disorder & very high anxiety. Right after rehab I entered into a depressive & anxious mood, while I didn't have multiple panic attack every day my anxiety level was still too high and I was quite depressive. I've met with a psychiatrist, followed a psychologist & found a family doctor who all help me stay clean & deal with my health issues. They told me my depressive & anxious phase was mostly due to my lifestyle completely changing/withdrawal symptoms and blamed my addiction to weed & alcohol on the previous doctor who didn't bother doing a proper diagnose which led me to auto-medicate on weed & alcohol.
I'm 25, this year I finally got diagnosed with PCOS after suffering my whole life. I am fat and since when I was a kid everyone was blaming my pain, my symptoms on my weight. God knows how much I suffered. It took me so long to finally find a doctor that wanted to help me for real. I'm slowly trusting doctors again, but it's a long long road.
At 63 I’ve been to many doctors doctors in my life. I’ve always been overweight and particularly starting 15 years ago, I started experiencing incredible pain in my joints, fatigue, and at times it felt like my joints were on fire. I have never met a doctor like you who looks any further to try to figure out what’s wrong. Each doctor just kept giving me more and more Vicodin. I knew this was no way to live, and after going to doctor after doctor that did nothing, I started doing research on my own. Particularly in the area of nutrition. I had gotten to the point where I could barely walk. I cut out gluten and diet products, and that greatly reduced the inflammation and pain. I was able to stop taking pain medication. Soon I was able to see which foods I ate that caused pain and cut them out. Still trying to work on the fatigue. I have no idea how to find a doctor that actually cares and takes the time to do more than offer a pill. My last doctors yearly exam consisted of a nurse doing the bloodwork, which I would not find out the results of unless I asked. Last time I said, are you going to examine me or ask me if my health has changed over the year? And he said no!
I was told my Osteoarthritis was due to my obesity. I was 28, it started at 26. It was getting significantly worse, and progressed over the course of 1-2 years, and then rapidly sped up the year before we got a proper diagnosis. I literally couldn't even pick up 20lb child when I previously could lift 100lb no issues before the pain. I struggled to open a window, to carry literally anything, I couldnt stand more than 5-10min without being exhausted and in pain, I couldn't walk more than maybe 20ft without excruciating pain in my back. I had lost 100lb before all of this, and yet my doctor still said it was due to my weight. My new OBGYN did a full physical and intake of my health and history, and decided to test my vitamin D. Even the nurse who did the lab rolled her eyes and said "this doctor over tests for everything. You're young I'm sure all these will come back fine". It didn't. My vitamin D level was nonexistent and more than likely had been for quite some time. After my pregnancy I became lactose intolerant and developed a sun allergy. I had no sources of vitamin D in my life other than a very small multivitamin. No one thought to test any of my vitamins or minerals before this. And I'm so glad she did. There's been permanent damage done to my bones, and entire disc was eroded away in my back, but I stopped the damage with a high dose vitamin D therapy. All because of fat bias. And my pcp is a very large woman herself. It hurt to be dismissed. I was furious.
I had a similar situation happen where all of my symptoms were looked over and blamed on being an overweight female for 4 years. It took going to the hospital due to seizures and other neurological conditions for doctors to finally do proper testing and realize my vitamin D and B-12 levels were nearly nonexistent. I finally recieved treatment but I have been left with permanent damage from being overlooked for so long.
@@Riandora99 Same here. I had undiagnosed Celiac my whole life, but was told I was lazy. At 55 when I passed out in ER, I still didn't get helped, because all they saw me as was someone with severe depression, as if someone with depression cannot have an illness. My depression went away after removing gluten from my diet.
Vitamin D deficiency rarely presents with any symptoms. What often is called a deficiency isn't an actual deficiency either but rather just low levels.
Leanne... This is actually far more common then you think, unfortunately when it does happen we often feel alone. However it's one of many reasons why patients don't like doctors. They rush now or they diagnose you within 3 minutes of meeting you to save on time. I keep watching Dr. Mike and medical shows and often feel jealous that these doctors are actually taking the time with the patient... How messed up is that? And it's not even like Dr. Mike is doing anything out of the ordinary he's doing what doctors are taught in med school. You simply don't find these practices today. Unless your amung the elderly it seems like they just don't care anymore. They either do a incomplete task, they don't dig deep into the process and history of your illness or symptoms, they don't spend with you and they almost always just throw pills at you like a Benzodiazepines which causes more harm.
I love how Mike just explains this like he is explaining almost to kids. That's how you know you're passionate and knowledgeable about your career. As an EMT, I feel like if I cant explain what is happening to a patient like they are a kid (not saying they are dumb but, not everyone knows medical lingo), I dont really know what is going on. Mike, thanks for helping a patient and actually looking into this, not just blaming it on weight. thats super cool.
Same thing for many legal concepts! We tend not to say 'to kids' but in terms of not using complex legal language. But if you can't explain it in a way a non-lawyer would understand it, then you can't understand it either
Its really difficult to deal with doctors who have a weight bias. I'm glad Dr. Mike is talking about this. I had a friend who did a study on weight bias with doctors and only one of all of the doctors in her small study was actually aware of her biases and mitigating them. The rest seemed unaware, but thought they were unbiased while saying clearly wrong things.
As a woman who has been shrugged off by so many doctors, I can't help but dream about a day when all doctors are like Dr. Mike. So much empathy, so much patience, such a desire to truly help and not peddle drugs or push you through to achieve quantity over quality in patient care.
I’m in nursing school and as he was going through the symptoms my very first thought was Lyme disease. Made me feel like I am actually doing well in my classes. I’m also from a very small town where we deal with ticks all through the warm months. So sad that doctors just brush things off because of someone’s weight.
As a retired nurse, good for you!! And yes, obesity gets blamed for a lot of things. Take that knowledge with you as you progress in your studies and career. Use it to be a patient advocate. Your patients will thank you.
I had a similar situation happen to me when I was in the hospital. I had an issue with my heart (that it turns out I had been born with) but doctors were convinced I was doing drugs and that was what caused the episode. I was 16 at the time and staying in Pediatric ICU due to the health complications and I had counselors sent in multiple times throughout the stay to ask about drug use and energy drink consumption. No matter how many times I told them I didn't do drugs they just didn't believe me. They thought I was just a sneaky 16 year old. They went as far as sending my mom out of the room at times. It turned out I had gone into anaphylactic shock due to a bee sting and I was in tachycardia when the Epi was given which shot my heart rate through the roof. Their constant questioning and mistrust in me (when I was so young) made an already traumatizing experience worse.
It makes me wonder if there's also an age-bias in the medical community too. With teens an young adults, they may feel more inclined to lean into suspecting drug use due to the public perception of that age range being irresponsible and experimental. And even with children and toddlers, they could chalk up the kids making a big deal over a cold or seasonal allergies or think the parents (particularly first time parents) are too worried over the smallest symptoms, leading to the doctors to do the minimal check-over with that preconception in mind. It was actually that last portion that nearly cost me my own life when I was a child. I had seen three different doctors diagnose me with the common cold and the last one even going as far as telling my parents that I was just being a baby about it. It was only after my lung collapsed on me that I was diagnosed with pneumonia and I had to stay in one hospital for a week before being transferred to a new one for another week because it was advanced enough that the former couldn't treat me anymore.
My friend's then 14 year old had a stroke due to an undiagnosed artery issue in her brain that she was born with. The EMTs and staff at the hospital were convinced that she'd been doing drugs and refused to take her seriously until hours into her stroke, when her mom (my friend) threatened to sue them if they didn't give her brain a scan Low and behold she had severe bleeding on her brain. She suffers from migraines, memory and mood problems and seizures two years later because they didn't help her soon enough. She had to relearn how to walk and talk to
I know someone who went in to urgent care and was told that they had lime disease without any tests. Later, they found out they had colon cancer. Some doctors shouldn't even be practicing.
I was morbidly obese throughout my early adult years. Between 32 and 35, I lost 360 lbs. I had fatigue, muscle spasms, and frequent dislocations of my joints since my early teens. I had had three knee surgeries by the age of 25. The doctors always dismissed my symptoms as resulting from my obesity. After I lost the weight, it was assumed I would get better. I didn't. I ended up in a wheelchair for three years due to my joint and muscle issues. At 42, I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos, a rare genetic disorder. No one in my family had this, but my daughter does have it. Fat bias is definitely a big problem.
EDS is so painful. My doctor still refuses to diagnose me with it because "it's a rare disorder and we just don't see a lot of it" even though I'm not overweight and I had a first cousin that died of complications from vEDS (vascular ehlers danlos syndrome) and I have an uncle with classic hypermobile EDS they've told me well you probably just have arthritis I'm not even (wasn't even 25 at the time) 30 yet oh you might have osteoarthritis I'm not even 30 yet oh it's just hypermobility I can put my feet on the ground and bend down to where my knees almost flat to the ground without my heels leaving the ground that's how hypermobile my ankles are the bones in my feet pop in and out of place I've had the bones in my elbows pop in and out of place it hurts I have absolutely no stability in any of my joints and trying to lift things that are even the slightest bit heavy not happening. My joints give out and I drop it. Unfortunately even with all the symptoms I show of EDS- the typical bruising like a peach if I clap my hands together because I'm at an event that requires clapping I break the veins in my hands no matter how softly I clap and it hurts. If I dribble a basketball I break the veins in my hands if I play volleyball I break the veins in my hands and arms they cannot get a pediatric long gauge needle in my veins without blowing several IV sites they can't push contrast dye through an IV without blowing my veins to shreds with it half the time they can't do the convenient thing and draw blood through an IV line because it'll blow the IV every time my veins shred like tissue paper I get awful bruises from the littlest of things that take forever to go away it's not my thyroid because every time I bring it up they test my thyroid my thyroid levels are normal it has been a fight for years my chronic constipation issues, my issues with my spinal column, my spine is super hypermobile in all directions and it causes so much pain, I can almost touch my forearms flat to the ground without bending my knees. I can touch my palms flat together behind my upper back. It's a little ridiculous how flexible I am. If I kick a soccer ball (yes with shoes on) I tear the veins in my feet to shredds if I kick it with the top of my foot. My hips make awful snapping noises when I stand up sometimes and so do my knees and it hurts sometimes to the point where I tear up and can't stand or fall down or have to sit back down so I don't fall down. When I'm not pregnant I weigh 135 to 145 lb and for being almost 5 foot 4 and the type of body structure I have is perfectly healthy for me. I only have weight in one spot and it's not my gut or my butt for that matter. It gets exhausting after a while considering some days I have such severe muscle weakness and pain that I cannot get out of bed without it being a Herculean effort. But oh you're probably dehydrated drink more water even though you drink 5-7 20 oz tumbler cups of water with no ice in it a day. If anything I drink too much water.
Thank you for talking about this. I’m overweight and I’ll admit it. Ever since I was a teen, I always had fatigue problems. Miss a meal, and I would be threatening to go sleep on the spot sort of tired. Even my friends was concerned but said I was acting. No one acts like that when they miss a meal or two. I was just acting out for attention. Doctors thought I was just fat, needed exercise and that would be the thing. My blood test always had a weird thing, my red blood cell width was always slightly high. Not enough for it to cause anything noticeable, but high enough just to be out of normal range. I gave up on talking to any doctors about it. I needed a better diet, exercise, fresh air, you know the drill. In my thirties I finally got a b12 test. It was low, had five injections and told that I once again needed a better diet, and that same thing with the red blood cell hadn’t fixed itself. It was just outside of normal range, nothing to be overly concerned about. Three years later after a massive skin condition that affected 90% of my body, again it was coming up. Dermatologists now concerned, I told them that I did have B12 injections, three years ago but I was told it was bad diet, and never followed up. No repeat blood test a year later, no referral, nothing. My dermatologist turned out and told me that either I had the shittiest diet in the world, or there was something very wrong. Yeah I have pernicious anaemia. But because I was fat, and the red blood cell width wasn’t THAT far out of range it was never spotted. Sorry for the long post. Again, thanks for talking about this.
Something a doctor has said to me. "Your too young to be in this much pain." "Your too young to be on this many meds" "You should lose some weight and see if the pain gets better" I found a doc that listened to me, and I now have my life back!
The third one the doctor said is a good idea but like doctor Mike said, weight isn't always the key thing that is causing the problems. I would still at least try the third thing they said.
@@HowToDrinkWater101 Take it form someone whose been Morbidly Obese all my Life; the BIGGEST Issue--no pun intended--is when Doctors Repeatedly address Weight as the SOLE factor in any set of Symptoms. Yes, Weight--Personal Experience speaking here--interacts in conditions in such a way that it is often hard to tell where the Weight STARTS contributing, and to what degree, to ANY given set of Symptoms. A GOOD Doctor will address this and try to help YOU sort out what OTHER Factors may be at play and how to address them IN ADDITION to addressing the Weight issue. ALSO from Personal Experience; very few Doctors are willing to do this. :/
I've heard all these things too, and I just left the doctor telling them to me. I found a doctor who listened and didn't even suggest a diet change other than an off handed comment about one med's side effects. I just need to send the paperwork. Glad I'm not the only one dealing with this bullshit! Also glad you found someone who listened.
Thank you so much for caring about your patients. I can't tell you how many times my health concerns have been ignored and attributed to my being a woman and being overweight. It's very rare I find a doctor who investigates or helps me in any way. It's been a crushing existence.
As a future doctor, thank you for this awareness, it's a great lesson for me to treat my patients with compassion, empathy and kindness. Thank you so much
bartonella is the biggest emerging infection that is going undiagnosed causing symptoms like MS, Fibro, RA, any idiopathic rheumatologic disease, many mental disorders etc, please educate yourself on it future doctor.
I had a doctor tell me my pain was from weight issues.... This was after I explained to him that I was shot point blank in the chest at 19 and the bullet bounced around in my body tearing everything up. That didn't matter to the doctor, it just had to be my weight. Definitely isn't the afteraffects of the equivalent of being beaten in the chest by a massive sledge hammer
@@I.KUchiha Incredible luck most likely. There's spots where it's possible to survive a direct point blank GSW to the chest. Lungs are the main one, you can survive with only one lung. Intestines in some locations too, there's surgeries to repair that. Liver you can survive if you can get a donor fast enough. Stomach you can also survive, there's surgeries to remove the stomach, and you can still eat after that, although it is limited in how much and what you can eat.
That's so satisfying to hear from a doctor, this level of attention and respect and validation. Maybe you could also address medical sexism next? Specifically how many doctors jump directly to the conclusion that women's pain or discomfort is a psychological issue or overly exaggerated.
Thats not medical sexism, its the truth a lot of the time. Just like he didnt go after medical fat descrimination here because he simply had the benefit of other doctors already going through other issues, he could see that and mark them out right away and then go beyond that.
@@chrikke that doesn't make it sexism or fatphobia. It's simply doctors going for the first thing they can think of which will be the most likely thing. I was always raised that you get a second opinion not because doctors hate you but because like he said medicine is an art not an exact science. There's so much that can go wrong and so much that people don't understand yet that they will go for the first diagnosis and you may want a second one. The good thing is that we have plenty of choice. If you would stop trying to be a professional victim you would do even better in life including in health. And you should always try to lose weight. The real problem is that doctors don't do more to encourage people to lose weight to solve their problems after diagnosing them with the problem based on weight.
@@chrikke you try not being human and not going by your studies. That's why there are really good doctors and really bad doctors the same as there is in any industry. You were taught by others to hate the world and that's why you can only think in negative terms. You will never have you or Utopia ever. Humans are just not robots. Instead of trying to be a victim instead of educate yourself and find a doctor that will work with you on your needs. All doctors go to similar training and yet they come out different not because hate you but because each person is simply different. It's like I've been in management and some managers don't have the ability to see each person as individuals. So they treat everybody the same which is a problem because not everybody is the same. They end up putting everybody like the lowest common denominator and it makes it really hard for people to excel. I'm able to quickly assess people as individuals cuz I have a high IQ and a knack for you might say a sixth sense. But because I'm able to do that also know that most managers can't and they just need to be found a position where they can do really good at what they do. But sadly you need more managers than there are good managers so you'll have them in positions where they aren't going to be good managers cuz nobody else wants the job. Oh with them you never going to get the best outcome. It doesn't mean they are bad people just means they are human.
My little brother actually got this when he was quite young. He got sick all the time so we had put it off as another flu or something. He unfortunately developed Bell's Palsy on the left side of his face as a result of it, it's no joke. I'm so glad you actually figured it out and helped him before it got too bad
As soon as you listed the symptoms I knew it was Lyme. Essentially, I the same exact thing happened to me, except when I contracted Lyme I was 13 and it was written off as growing pains and due to my weight. I ended up having Lyme disease for 8 years which has now developed into Late Lyme disease. I finished the treatment 6 months ago and I’m still suffering from all the damage it’s done :( I just wish they took me seriously earlier and maybe I wouldn’t be living like this
I feel you. I had Lyme Disease for 10 years before it was diagnosed. I was called stupid, lazy, crazy, dramatic, bitchy, you name it. Took probably 50 or 60 different doctors to actually find one who would listen. Went through treatment a couple years ago, but things haven't gotten much better. Everyone is asking why I'm not getting better, and I don't know what to tell them other than what I've already told them. I think they believe I'm lazy or making excuses. I'm not getting worse, but I'm not getting better. The people in my life keep forgetting that I'm still in pain all the time, that I'm still just as tired, if not more. No, I can't babysit for you. No, I can't host the family reunion this year. I'm barely a legal adult now, and now people are pushing me to get a job, go to college, find a boyfriend, get married... I technically haven't reached highschool yet due to being held back so much. (Gotta love Lyme Brain, eh?) That's a lot of pressure for someone who is healthy, let alone someone who's basically been sick and disabled for most of their childhood years. It's not as if I don't want to do those things, it's not just realistic right now. I can barely get out of bed most mornings, I'm so tired all the time. "But you're so young!" Yes, it turns out ticks don't care how old you are. I wish people were more informed on Lyme disease, it's common and can happen to anyone, and if undiagnosed for too long can be absolutely devastating. I'm sorry you've been through so much.
Lyme disease is unfortunately common and I can’t believe how many doctors, yours and the guy’s in this video, wrote it off as a weight issue. Serious malpractice. Makes me angry for you. You deserve better ❤
I automatically went to lupus, as joint pain, fatigue and rashes (particularly when Dr Mike said erythematous) are key symptoms of lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). My phd was on lupus in children so know the symptoms that can occur. Though lupus is a nightmare to diagnose as it presents as other diseases, or vice versa (forms of arthritis and lupus can present very similarly). Maybe Lyme disease needs to be on the chart of ‘is it lupus or something else?’
I have two friends who have Lyme disease. One has had it for years and she suffers from fatigue and bad headaches. I’m sure she has a lot of pain from it too. The other friend had Lyme disease for over a year before a doctor diagnosed her. I’m sure the second friend, Ina, may not be able to be cured from it.
I was 14, and even had the rash. We just didn't recognize it because Lyme was thought to still be so rare and not in our area of the country. I was 30 when I was able to finally get treatment. I have permanent brain damage, one side of my face kind of does what it wants, and my heart is just having a good ol' time scaring the heck out of me. I am so sorry you had to experience this. I hope your after-effects improve. It took a few years for me, but I'm always terrified it'll come back.
Having lived with chronic illness as an overweight woman, I’m not remotely shocked he got that diagnosis as weight related and written off. If they don’t blame weight, it’s either downplayed as “female” related, or even just drug seeking pain meds in trying to get help with pain. I’m glad Dr. Mike caught this, but this guy was “lucky” he had a rash and was male and youngish.
Still it's awesome he talks about this. It's much better for me to share this link rather than expect people to just believe me when I talk about wright biases.
As someone who has suffered issues from Lyme most of my life, it’s ridiculous how many doctors would just write me off as obese. Even once I had my diagnosis, doctors didn’t believe that I was still sick after the initial treatment. They always said that either I needed to lose weight (at 14 I really wasn’t heavy) or that it was all in my head.
I’m glad my doctor took me seriously when I went to see her presenting all the same symptoms and I said very clearly “I think it might be Lyme Disease- please test me”. She listened to me. Tested me. Had me start anti-biotics immediately just in case. Tests came back positive.
Also, if a doctor refuses to listen and just dismisses everything as a weight problem, ask them to write it in your medical chart that you had certain symptoms but they refused to treat them.
My 5month old son was just diagnosed with RSV, yeast infection in the diaper, thrush, and a possible lactose intolerance. I’ve taken him to the doctor and hospital at least 5 times each in the past two months and every doctor kept telling me that it was just the weather or acid reflux and I was worrying too much as a first time mom. I finally went to an entirely different clinic and set of doctors when they FINALLY listened to me and checked my baby. I was sad to hear everything that was wrong but so relieved to finally have someone listen and set up a treatment plan to get him better. We are finally over the yeast infection and thrush. We have switched his formula so no more diarrhea, throwing up, and belly aches. And we are hopefully nearing the end of this RSV. 🤞🏼
Always fight for your kid. I agree with the duty doctor over the phone when my daughter was 13 months old. She had norovirus and was clearly dehydrated and very weak, but her said she didn't need to be seen and to keep giving her fluids. I pushed, he agreed, and his colleague called an ambulance as soon as she saw her. Turns out the issue was an underlying metabolic condition, and, had she not received treatment she would have died within hours. I hope your baby feels better soon ❤️
I went for pain in one shoulder that I've had for a decade that's getting worse. "Lose weight and it'll get better" is what they all said. Until this recent doctor who actually bothered to do something so simple as an X-ray and discovered my arm constantly falls halfway out the socket because of damage to tendons and stuff. I had a hernia for a year and the docs here wouldn't touch it because I'm overweight but it hurt too much to exercise. When I asked one how I should exercise with the pain he said "I don't know but you need to drop that weight so work through the pain I guess. If you want it bad enough, you'll do it." These types of incidents are exactly why a lot of big people don't even bother going to a doctor- we already know what the doc will say so why waste the time and $?
That's kinda fucked up ngl, but most doctors don't act like that, yeah they'll blame fat on a lot of stuff, but when it's proven it's not the cause or the pacient says that the docs must check alternatives. Maybe u just met a bad doctor that time.
@@leomoose7786 not yet... in part because I use any excuse to disengage but also I lacked a good friend I could call on to help me out while I'm recovering. I have at least figured that part out. It usually doesn't cause too many problems... its not painful in most situations. But I'm one bad fall away from a much bigger problem.
Weight loss starts in the kitchen. You don't need to exercise to lose weight. It just helps. Which is something your doctor should know. I really hope you get your issues fixed, though, that's so terrible.
@@corpsepaws How sweet you are. They're point isn't that they are not obese/overweight. It's that dumb doctors ignore every other possibility and attribute all their issues to their weight. Sure, weight can cause issues sometimes. But that doesn't mean you should be denied proper testing and diagnosis cus weight is the first thing they see. 🤷♀️
@@Spidsle my point remains nonetheless, it's not impossible that their weight is affecting them, but homing in on that one possibility of many does not help people as Dr Mike explained
Thank you for not focusing on his weight! He's working on losing weight, but my boyfriend's had this issue before too. It floors me how many people, who are trained medical professionals, take a look at someone and just automatically assume their weight is the sole cause of their issues!!!
This shows that history taking is very important not only for veterinarians, where patients do not even talk (just the owners) but for human doctors which oftenly missed to take history. Once again, Dr Mike motivates me to become a good doctor, thank you.
You're so right about weight bias preventing proper medical care. Only when I found a doctor that looked beyond my weight did I find out I have hypothyroidism and a food allergy that once they were resolved, symptoms went away and I started LOSING weight. I lived with those conditions for 20 years bc doctors couldn't see beyond my weight.
And this here proves to me that Dr Mike is not just an Internet personality, but a true doctor who does his job very very well.
He's like Dr House but without the substance and verbal abuse.
No, he's also DHAR MANN
Yea I was about to comment something like this
Right!!
Having the skills and finding the time to do both of these makes it all the more incredible. Mad props.
I love how Doctor Mike perfectly balanced talking about the issue of doctors over-focusing on obesity while also still emphasizing that obesity is still a dangerous condition that can cause many health problems. That level of balance shows true impartiality and professionalism!
@_ agreed
Thank you *so much* for making this video. I relate to such a tragic degree.
While my primary issue by far is not being overweight, if anything I'm (BMI-wise at least) leaning more to the side of underweight.. I usually fluxuate between being normal weight range to underweight, again BMI-wise..). My primary and most obivious issue is mainly being a drug addict/heroin/opiod and benzodiazepine addict, and secondarily yet still as well primarily mentally ill, as in struggling with severe PTSD, anxiety, depression as well as perhaps bipolar disorder or something similar.. I was in the process of working with a psychiatrist to diagnose - not just for the sake of having the diagnosis, but so that I could get treatment. Same goes for severe undiagnosed sleep issues.
Anyway.. (nearly, as in 9/10 times of) anytime I go to ANY doctor, they always attribute any and every problem on either my addiction or my mental health struggles, smfh. I struggle with a whole heck of a lot of chronic pain, something I've dealt with since BEFORE I even became addicted to opiods, heroin for the most part.. so one can only imagine the sheer anger and frustration I feel whenever my other, more *legitimate* physical issues just gets written off. It's alwsys immidiatly assumed I just want more drugs.. NO. I want to beat my addiction, but that becomes IMPOSSIBLE if the root issues won't be addressed. Same goes for my sleep issues and mental health issues. I KNOW there is something physically wrong with my body, but NOBODY even bothers giving me a referral elsewhere, whether it's physiotherapy or something like that or a pain specialist. Same goes for my sleep issues.. I always hammer home the point that I'm not seeking more drugs, but rather that I'm desperatly seeking long term TREATMENT so that I could eventually actually either wean off the few medications I get, or get completely off them.. not being forced to take all kinds of medications, supplemented with illegal drugs to self medicate, because the far too mild medications I barely even get prescribed barely give me any relief, and they most certainly only work as a bandaid on a gushing wound. I'd LOVE to be able to not have to spend so much money on both legal and illegal drugs in order to just barely function, but seemingly my doctor would rather have me continue self medicate in order to simply treat the synptoms, rather than treat the root of the actual problem. I've had to deal with this for countless years now, and my body is deteriorating. Since all I can do is treat the symptoms, the root issues, whatever they actually are, simply get worse - forcing me to take even more illegal medications including fricking heroin, while being forced to increase the amount and strength of the medications/drugs, since the root issues are not at all treated. It just makes me so mad. The medical community gives me NO CHOICE but to stay addicted, because they refuse to even to a standard, routine checkup. They never take any of my serious issued seriously. I've been to rehab multiple times, so I've been sober for some months to about a little over an actual full year, and guess what.. I've never felt more sluggishly unhealthy and more in pain than those times. I've been told several times that "if only you sobered up, you'd feel so much better even in just weeks to some short months. That was complete BS. Any time I tried rehabilitation, both my physical and mental health deteriorated. They had to put me BACK ON DRUGS *IN REHAB* as all my issues only got 100x worse.. I became practically completely insomnic, developed signs of shizophrenia and dissosiation, I could barely even walk due to all the physical pain - rehab only made me worse. Yet, they refused to acknowledge that I have severe and highly legitimate underlying issues.
The amount of stigma people like me, with either drug addictions and/or mental health issues *(especially both)* face from not just the general population, but the medical field -- even so called addiction "soecialists" and mental health "specialists" is disgustingly staggering, and should never be tolerated. It's truly shameful. It's awfully sad that the people who are supposed to have enough understanding, knowledge and empathy, as well as supposed professionalism can often times be the ones who treat you worst out of everyone. It's pathetic, negliegent and tragic. Purely disgusting. No wonder the OD-statistic is so incredibly high.
@@idalarsen2540 I feel the same about some of the issues which you discussed. I was sexually abused by my father. I have extreme PTSD and completely blocked it out for about 25 years. But now that I remember, I have trouble sleeping. I have night terrors. I've been lucky in some respect because I have some medicine that helps with the night terrors (Prazosin a blood pressure medicine). I have a lot of medical issues regarding my PTSD. I have TMJ from cleching my jaw and have digestive issues as well. I have difficulty relaxing which causes muscle problems. I need help trying to process what happened to me. Because of my PTSD, I have coping issues regarding food. I'm morbidly obese. Until I find a provider willing to help me process and move past the abuse, I can't start to truly heal mentally or physically. I take a lot of medicine for my medical issues but I want to take less. I have bi-polar depression and anxiety as well. I'm on 6 medicines for mental health. I feel like if I could find a good provider, I'd be able to take a lot less medicine.
tbf its kinda hard not to notice obesity but yeah the doctors shouldve known better
Exactly! And people still somehow managed to write him off as fat-phobic, plain ridiculous! If anything he's as objective and informative about the possible consequences of obesity as it gets!
Man, if all doctors could have this mindset, the medical field would be such a better place.
I can't love this comment enough!
most do, but you also have peoples personal biases and a lot of arrogant people in the field. But most doctors do have this mindset
Osteopathic medicine ❤️
This- I went years being undiagnosed because of my weight- if all doctors or more doctors would be like this people w (chronic) illnesses would have such a better life
@@Unknown-kn4vx here is the hidden secret, there is no real difference between Osteopathic and Allopathic these days. Shhhhh, those differences are from 40+ years ago. The only difference is if is says DO or MD at the end of your name and the accreditation agency for your medical school. DO's take the medical boards with the MDs
It took them FIFTEEN YEARS to diagnose my autoimmune disease. I wish I'd had a Dr. Mike! Good on him for being a thorough and caring doctor. We need more like him.
I’m going through this process right now and I have been repeatedly complaining about some scary symptoms for two years and they’re just now (barely) taking me seriously. So I’m guessing another 5-8 years before I have a legit diagnosis 😭 these doctors are legit responsible for so many deaths!!
I spent 4+ years being treated for asthma, it was cancer… fortunately the doctor I was normally seeing was away and the new doctor picked it up straight away. The original doctor was one eyed about my diagnosis and was not willing to look further.
Now i have responded to treatment and am well
unfortunatly this is common
Sameeeee 😢
My sister had doctors for several years saying that the fluttering in her chest and light-headedness was from anxiety and/or her weight. Turns out she had a major heart condition that went over a decade without diagnosis or treatment. She's better now, but it could have killed her.
I'm glad they caught it finally!
Along with weight, anxiety seems to be a kind of lazy explanation doctors use when they can't be bothered to find the real issue.
That’s wild. I had the same symptoms and they sent me to a cardiologist immediately. I was Cleared after ecg, echo, stress test, and Halter monitor. It ended up being anxiety disorder.
May I ask what she was diagnosed with? Because I’m dealing with that and being told it’s just my anxiety.
Bro I had a similar problem with my hip . All previous doctors just said "oh put some cream on it and will be grand". Then my uncle who's a anaesthesiss. Recommened me this dude who figured out I had hip dysplasia. This year alone I had to have 3 surgeries because of it. If the previous doctors did an MRI on the right hip I wouldn't be as much pain as I was in and it would have been better to do it sooner.
I like how he talks so respectfully, and is not quick to judge.
I also agree but isn't that a part of his job?
@@mathishontsch3298 You'd be surprised. About a year ago, when Trump announced he had COVID, plenty of doctors came out hoping he died from the virus. Regardless of your political beliefs, that's betraying every oath a doctor takes.
He’s… a doctor
Thats he job...
@@leakypeach6250 j suppose youre right, all doctors are supposed to be commited to their patients' best interests at all times no matter what
I nearly lost my mom as a pre-teen because of fat-bias. for months my mom was struggling to walk, she was getting pain in her leg that got progressively worse and was swollen. she went to her doctor and he literally just told her it was because she was too fat and threw pain killers at her. then my mom started complaining about feeling sweaty, clammy and dizzy, went to the doctor and again he told he it was just because she was too fat. Then my mom started experiencing chest pains and went to back to the doctor and he again, told her she was too fat. this time though her instincts were telling her something was really wrong so she went to another doctor who immediately rushed her to hospital and turns out what started with an easily preventable blot clot in her leg developed into a pulmonary embolism and she nearly died in the hospital because it went unchecked for so long. the doctors actually repeatedly told her they were astounded that she manged to survive
That’s terrible! God bless you and your family especially your Mom!
I am so sorry that happened to your family. I hope she well now and recovered.
your mother should have sued the doctors (i think that how it works 🤔)
I honestly hope she either sued or complained about her initial doctor because that was laziness and negligence on his side that would have cost her her LIFE 😱
Even if she knew they were wrong she would still have believed her doctors, if her brain thought it was ok then it would a much easier time suppressing the pain.
I diagnosed lyme about 1 minute in. -Veterinarian
I got so excited when you said it that I screamed that caused my partner to check on me. 😅
I never have weight bias towards animals. We shouldnt do that with people.
Vets are the best dr I met in my life. I wish I was a dog , my dog was treated 100 times better than I was in my dr office . Sometimes I was jealous on my dog😂
Honestly I'm glad you don't because some vets do! I was astonished when I first heard about it from my vet tech friends, I was like, how do you hate fat people so much that you even hate fat animals... bruh...
@@Surteronartoim pretty sure they meant ROMANTIC partner lol
@@Surteronartoyou sound like a weirdo.
I was a lab tech for several years that’s what I thought too.😂
This is the reason why I respect doctors. They are detectives. Also, the patient did a great job advocating for himself. Especially seeking medical help early. I wish more people were like that. Great video.
99% of doctors don’t think like this, or are too scared/embarassed to ask the right questions. Or sometimes the patients are too scared/embarassed. Its up to the doctor to make them feel comfortable and open up. Too many doctors are too rushed to take the time for this though, usually getting in and out in like 10-15 min. Western medicine is a joke
Detectives? The first doctor almost killed him...
@@seasong7655 do they truly qualify as a doctor though..
@@33awesomeman33 I don’t think that is the doctor’s fault necessarily. The business/admin people are the ones who decide how many patients doctors have to see and in what amount of time
Yes... true.. but also the patient had to advocate for himself because the doctors weren't helping. 4:00 imagine how many different people he had to see, over how much time, spending who knows how much money, to eventually arrive at an answer. Not everyone is that lucky.
Thank you. I’m morbidly obese, but I also have fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and a slew of foot disorders. My first podiatrist did this. I went to my second years later and because of my anxiety my first words to her were, “Let’s pretend we went over the whole I’ll feel better if I lose weight. I know I’m morbidly obese. I can’t lose weight if I can’t walk.” She was a sweetheart, she said, “Somebody really hurt you, didn’t they?” I might have cried. Just that little bit of understanding and caring just helped so much.
Someone who has fibromyalgia and an undetermined inflammation in my blood, I feel you. “you need to exercise and eat healthy” I told the doctor I felt like taking my own life with all the pain and fatigue. She ignored me, refused to do blood work and sent me off. The thing is I was healthy, and working out everyday prior to the onslaught of symptoms taking over my life. It took 8 years for someone to finally listen to me.
Hey, am I allowed to ask you something? If I can't, don't respond so I know.
Do you think your weight is a problem or you need to weigh less?
@@starfilledsky2810. it is something I’m currently working on. Please don’t try to sell me anything.
@@alliyahanderson3243 I'm 13, I legally can't sell anything- I just wanted to ask a question that I hope wasn't too invasive..
@@starfilledsky2810. a lot of people phrase judgement the way you asked your question because then they’ll follow up with some lovely fatphobic phrases or they’ll try to tell me to follow whichever diet they’re trying to sell me on and say they’re family member lost ten pounds in a week doing that diet. That’s why I said please don’t try to sell me on anything.
A few years ago, my dad was experiencing similar symptoms. He wasn't overweight, but doctor after doctor just wrote his symptoms off as "old age." Finally, after lots of office visits and complaining, they treated him for Lyme disease, and he got better. I can't understand why this happens as frequently as it does. Biases are real, and we should all be aware we have them when making life and death decisions that involve others. Thanks, Dr. Mike, for another great case study!
Short of an extensive blood test there's no real way to detect Borellia though. My mother was recently told she's developing reumatoid arthritis and told "Oh by the way, there's also signs of an old bite of a tick in your blood".
We never knew and all the time there has simply never been a reason to test her blood. Many other things got done, blood pressure, x-ray, simple blood test for infection etc, but simply no reason to do a detailed one to detect Borellia. No symptoms though, so that's good.
The reason is ussually because doctors are not at liberty to overdiagnose. If you prescribe unnecessary tests, you'll get arguments from both the insurance (or the patient if they're paying themselves) and your hospital because there's already waiting lists, so simply no time for 'what ifs'.
When I was 22 I had to shell out for a private clinic to get tested for throat cancer. The waiting lists in between 4 tests of which only the last one would be utterly conclusive, was so hugely long because of all the boomers living it up for free, that it was either pay up, or accept a small chance that you're waiting so long that they'll definately tell you it's terminal by the time you're finally tested and you better start arranging your funeral.
How do you think it would go down with me and all the people waiting for a test if they were told "Yeah, we kinda weren't sure about these other patients, so we're making you wait another eight weeks and possibly killing you, to run some tests on them that have a 1% chance of finding anything"?
There's no perfect solution given the difference between supply and demand for healthcare (and the impossibility of affording good healthcare while the boomers are still alive)
"Old age" problems have to be caused by something. Just saying patient is old isn't a diagnosis. Finding what disease/problem is exploiting the weak body of an old man is the diagnosis.
My cousin was very young and got sick. They kept saying it was a flu or something. My uncle found a tick on her scalp and they finally tested for Lyme disease
Testing for Lymes disease has been and continues to be under utilized and not followed through on.
Unless you happen to be a dog. Mine get tested annually for tick borne illnesses as a part of their physical. And have been for years.
Go figure.
Well, if it was due to "old age" then what? He should have died suffering until last day? What kind of doctor is that? Every kind of health problem ALMOST has some kind of treatment, it may not just work. But those guys did not seem to try at all. I am happy that your dad got saved.
It took 11 years for someone to diagnose me with PCOS. That was literally last year! I had been asking and asking since I was 17 as why my periods were so bad, and why I couldn't lose weight at all.
One doctor told me, to my face, it was because I was overweight. I felt so unheard...
I'm glad I finally have a doctor that listens to me, and currently I am on track to get bariatric in a few months! :)
Yup. Same. I even had a pelvic ultrasound that found the follicles on both ovaries and the VA is still refusing to diagnose me with PCOS because they're like it's your weight. It's so frustrating.
i was 330 lbs, lost weight NOT taking doctors advice, they didnt even push me towards weightloss, made me hate them, the attitude of some doctors, are absolutely disgusting, if it wasnt for doctors like dr mike, i would never go, idc even if i had terminal cancer
Ive come back to update that i had my surgery back in October, and Ive not only been losing weight (40 pounds so far), but my menstrual cycle is also much more manageable.
Advocate for yourselves folks! I hope you all find doctors who will listen, and give you what you need. ❤️
@@willowwish64 happy for u!, that’s awesome!! 👏, one piece of advice if u ever feel like giving up on weightloss, just remember the faster u bounce back to it. The better. I’ve personally have had many set backs and pauses, maybe it’s just me idk. I hope u don’t find as much difficulty as me
u lucky this aint insta
In the medical profession, we called this “diagnostic overshadowing” - when one diagnosis is incorrectly assumed as the cause of all the symptoms, a very dangerous assumption. Fat shaming is still such a big problem - the newer generations of medical professionals are trying hard to get rid of it, but it’s down to the entire medical community to make a change.
Fat shaming made my sister stop eating because she wanted to be like all those other girls, I agree with this lots. She was in the hospital for a month due to refusal to eat. I mean it was not because of doctors but people in this world can be pretty horrible.
@@Nixsta_v People also need to learn that one of the easiest ways to lose weight is just by eating healthier food. People think "oh just workout a bunch", or "oh just stop eating for a while", when the majority of weight loss simply comes from eating better. The idea of people starving themselves to lose weight really needs to disappear. If people had just been kind and understanding and actually understand how weight loss works that wouldn't have happened. I feel like it wouldn't be considered fat shaming if somebody took the time to explain calorie deficits and things of that nature.
It's most ironic when fat-shaming comes from members of the medical community that are not fit themselves. The amount of overweight, chain-smoking doctors and nurses that exist is utterly amazing. They seem like hypocrites.
Yes, all doctors should be required to do an intense course on: "You Are Not God - Treat Your Patients With Utmost Respect."
@@gagetaylor192 yeah true
My mom has this too. She had no idea what was going on for a while and later confessed she thought that she was dying. She had all of the symptoms as this patient, but she had two different kinds of rashes and Bell's Palsy as well, which paralyzed the right side of her face including her tongue. She was tested for Lyme's, but the results were negative. She went to the E.R. but the doctor said that she couldn't have Lyme's because deer ticks didn't exist in Illinois which is where we lived at the time. The second time she went to the E.R. a few days later, the doctor was from Wisconson and had seen enough cases that he diagnosed her with it right away. As it turns out, the deer ticks don't pay attention to border lines and do, in fact, exist in Illinois....🙄
I lived in Illinois for 19 years of my life. Glad I left
Who would have thought ticks that live all throughout the United States actually lived all throughout the United States, right? 😅
@@The_lukas_official Good for you dude, I'll get out of this shithole someday
Wait ticks don’t pay attention to border lines
@@Nawmps hell yeah. Taxes too high, politics too screwed, freedoms too restricted. Find a nice place man
When I had an ovarian cyst rupture, the first nurse I saw in triage dismissively said when she saw me "you must eat a lot of fatty foods right?" and was super snarky when I said I was in the worst pain of my life, even saying "you haven't had a child yet". I really doubt if I was thin I would've been treated the same way. It really felt like she took one look at me and had decided what she thought was wrong with me just based on how I looked. Thanks so much for talking about this important issue!
I don’t doubt she was a b- to you, but she may have been asking about fatty foods if she suspected a gallbladder attack. They are extremely painful and are triggered by eating a fatty meal.
@@SaraMGreads but the way she assumed the op ate fatty foods just because their overweight
@@SaraMGreads Theres ways to ask that question though. What have you eaten recently? Have you had any particularly fatty foods? Not "You MUST eat A LOT of fatty foods, right?". There's still such a thing as bedside manner and that proved to be non existent within that
@@blazingapparition2687 like I said, sounds like she was a B-.
Ovarian cysts are very complicated. My daughter had one at 13(?) maybe even 12... we were traveling at the time, had to stop at an ER not in our community.
Took forever to see a Dr, took a complete history w/o addressing her pain at all. Made her drink a vast amount of liquid so they could ultrasound... by the time they actually did sonogram, the cyst had ruptured, and she was recovering.
To this day don't know why they didn't treat her pain, or do a transvaginal ultrasound? Very frustrating. We spent 6 hrs in ER for nothing
My GF who is overweight had been complaining about pain and had been going into the ER for pain and other issues for a year and a half. They had dismissed all of these issues from her weight or that she was a druggy looking for more meds. Fast forward it wasnt until she demanded an MRI, CAT scan, you name it and they found that her spine discs had been crushed so she needed emergency spinal surgery. All because she wasnt listended too. So thank you for fighting for someone who was overweight and not dismissing that as their issue.
He is so unjudgemental and so pure-hearted. The fact that he was the only doctor to not focus on hid weight makes me sad. You rock, doctor mike!
Unrelated, but 392 likes and 2 replies.
It's an unfortunate truth when it comes to people who are overweight receiving medical care. I'm so glad to know Dr Mike is able to be professional and actually care for people beyond this!
@@blazingapparition2687 So true! I have a form of orthostatic intolerance (POTS), and ADHD, and somehow both of those were blamed on me being underweight, and a student dealing with lots of coursework. Yeah, stress makes those worse, but I'm now at a healthy weight, and still struggling with the same stuff. Thankfully ADHD meds help me feel less dizzy as well, but I've been having a rash as a side effect when I changed doses, so I'll be bringing that up for sure.
This doc probably saved so many lives being this way. Even if 80% was just being overweight or some other outward issue, the 20% saved is living and appreciative they got this care. Being good at any job is hard, maybe some jobs are harder than others.. but it seems like he sees the importance of a human beings life. Some docs do focus just on the metrics of it I think. Like, if they feel consistent on doing good for a larger percentage it’s ok or good enough. But he’s one of the few that seems to go a beyond and we need that.
Took me 3times for my doctor to understand that my being overweight didn’t cause my PCOS, but that my PCOS is causing/making it harder for me to keep a healthy weight. I was a teen when I was originally diagnosed and I weighed about 115lbs! Finally I’ll be seeing an endocrinologist!
This is happening to my boyfriend’s sister. She is extremely overweight but has PCOS, so losing weight for her seems like it feels impossible.
PCOS is genetic in my family, started manifesting after i turned 16 and yet people still think its because im overweight
@@user-pi3hd2bt3f same for me 2 of my aunts were diagnosed in the 70s. I was diagnosed at 15.
I….
I totally feel that.
I’ve never had normal periods. Not once since puberty. I’m pretty sure I’ve always had PCOS, basically since my first cycle. No, I definitely wasn’t fat then. I was a perfectly normal weight for my height, even a bit on the thin side. I started gaining weight in my later teen years, right after I also started growing facial hair. Maybe the PCOS really did come first for me?
@@marthahawkinson-michau9611 I wouldn’t be surprised if PCOS came first for you. But I am not a doctor of course.
This exact scenario happened to my mom. Her physician kept blaming her weight. She finally sought out a second opinion and it turned out to be Lymes Disease. Unfortunately, it's affected her vision and her joints because she went so long misdiagnosed.
And the worst thing is that this happens to women even more than men. Like I seriously had GPs who attributed my frequent colds (no fever but foggy mind, runny nose ans sore throat) to my excess weight. And one who attributed that to a cat fur allergy (I've grown up around cats, later I went to live without cats for prolonged periods of time, there was no difference until I started contrast showers and learned to destress).
@@atriyakoller136 did you get Lyme?
@@serinab I don't know, I haven't been tested :(
I got diagnosed as obese when I was about 17 and it's been in my chart ever since. What frustrated me the most was that while yes, I was slightly fat, I also had the most muscle I'd ever had in my life and was the most fit I'd ever been. Didn't matter, I weighed 175 lb so I needed to lose weight. Didn't matter that I was already healthy and live an active life style. That diagnosis and the way I was treated after literally pushed me into a depression that caused me to lose that muscle and my active lifestyle. I couldn't see the point if no matter what I did I was still too fat and almost developed an eating disorder in hopes of being seen as "healthy" again. Almost 10 years later and I'm a proud 195 and have enough muscle to punch the next person who tells me to lose weight into a coma.
Yesss! It’s not the numbers but the motion and the vigor
Lose weight. You can have muscle but still be fat.
I am so glad i had great doctors who actually were upset i was only 170lb. Because of my structure and genetics they wanted me to be heavier but with muscle mass. I worked very hard and got to 198lbs and my doctors are very happy and i feel really good.
Hahaha your clearly awesome! Keep on rocking sis 🥰
You can be muscle bound hulk at 250lbs have Zero bodyfat and still be overweight.
Muscle or Fat both in Excess are not healthy.
You never see a 110 year old body builder or even any sort of athlete really.
This hit close to home. 5 months after I was born my Mother developed Ovarian Cancer. She had a doctor who said "just keep waiting, it's probably your weight causing the pains"
I was about 3 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer. She pushed through as much as she could to watch me grow up, but unfortunately passed away when I was 10 years old. Quite literally her doctor was the death of her, he refused to do anything about it except say "your weight is the pain factor."
This is very tragic, but I'm happy she was able to push through 10 years just to see you grow despite the fact that everything was stacked against her
I'm so sorry you went through that.
I am so sorry, women continue to be treated like garbage in the health system. We need to continue to fight!
This is so unfair, and I am so, so sorry this happened. Thank you also for sharing it with us.
The same thing happened to my aunt. They kept telling her nothing was wrong even though she kept complaining about pain. I'm so sorry for your loss. There is a DNA test they can do that will tell you if you have the gene. I do not have the gene so I have a 2% chance of getting ovarian cancer.
A thousand times “thank you!” for this post! Many overweight and obese people avoid seeing their doctors because every symptom gets attributed to their weight. You treated this young man with dignity and respect and did a thorough investigation of his previous treatment and the progress of his symptoms. You came up with the proper diagnosis and treatment. Most importantly, you really listened to him. I wish more primary care physicians acted this way.
They do it to smokers and domestic violence surviors also. I stand up for myself. But ive learned to after 40 years of illness. Def stand up for yourself whenever its your body. That goes for family trying to guilt or force you into anything too. (Like trying to come to an appt with you or anything like that. )
Would Dr. Mike had gotten this diagnosis if it had not been for the other doctors?
He has stated in previous videos that doctors start simple and then if that treatment doesn't work then move onto more complex treatments.
There wasn't a rash when he went to see the first doctor. All he had then was joint pain. Obese patient with joint pain, probably every doctor would have thought joint pain due to obesity. Probably OTC meds not the best prescription, but again try the least invasive procedures or meds and then move up from there. The urgent care clinic really missed the diagnosis because they are presented with everything Dr. Mike is given, but they are "urgent care" and just want to move patients through the door quickly. His main symptom is a rash and common treatment is simply a steroid cream. You get what you pay for. So he followed Dr. Mike's advice and got the second opinion because clearly this wasn't getting better and went to a real doctor who is presented with all of the symptoms. Good Dr. House. This would make a good episode.
There is the other side of that coin-while fat-bias definitely exists in the medical profession as it's the easiest scapegoat for common ailments, many times overweight patients don't want to admit that it's their excess weight at the root of their problems. The worst part of that denial is patients commonly continue seeking for that one person that will tell them that their weight is not the problem and that they just have 'chronic ' which requires expensive woo-woo treatments and then they cling to it until their symptoms become life-threatening (and beyond). Both are a form of laziness (to properly investigate on doctors' side and/or do something about their weight on patients' side) that have costed countless of lives so far...
While this is true, do NOT take this as reassurance that "it's not my weight". 99.99% of the times, it is the weight causing it. Once in a great while, it's wrong though. Bias always exists for a reason.
@@rabbit251 Obese people know their bodies. If we go to the doctor for joint pain that suddenly came on you can probably be pretty sure its not because of our being overweight. The first doctor was either just dismissive (which always happens) or overworked and was trying to burn through patients and didn't take the proper time they should have.
To chime in: I work in neurosurgery and one of the BIGGEST things is to never write off the patient’s symptoms. I’ll never forget it - we were referred a patient; lovely lady, lower socioeconomic means but just wonderful. Her imaging didn’t necessarily match with the severity of her symptoms, but there was enough reason to believe it could be contributing to them. FINALLY get her approved for surgery, she goes in for pre-op - chest XR showed her riddled with pancreatic cancer. So many doctors, including her PCP, wrote her off. I remember her everyday to make sure I NEVER undermine a patients self-reporting. Becoming jaded is as much of a choice as remaining open.
Yeah, the patient is an expert on living in their own body, while the doctor is an expert in medicine. The patient might misattribute what their issue is, but that doesn't mean it isn't a symptom. It just isn't necessarily a symptom of what the patient thought.
Why “BUT wonderful”? Why does her lower socioeconomic status make her wonderful nature surprising?
@@nathanleblancq4217 Yeah I would have expected the opposite, the higher up you go the less likely you are to be a nice person.
Thank you so much for sharing this. People are shamed into silence for symptoms everyday. We struggled to get me a diagnosis for years, and by the time we found a doc that fought with us, my functional lung volume is below 47% due to autoimmune diseases. Thank you for educating people.
@@Ishlacorrin that's your priviledge talking dear. Poor people aren't just surviving. You are pre-judging emotions due to money. But multi-rich people are tearing this world down. That's not nice.
We learned the term "horses vs zebras," meaning MDs often go for the easiest diagnosis when my sister was having so many problems. I even suggested Lyme to her husband, but he refused to have her tested. She had incredible hip/joint pain, which they said was arthritis due to her professional ballet career. It spread to her neck. Her voice became raspy, and was told it was from being intubated from some tests, and her hand was curled into a frozen claw, but she had feeling in it. She could barely walk. Finally, she went to the ER in intense pain after 5 years of no MD being able to help. She was diagnosed with ALS 10 days before she died. Of course, had she known earlier, the result would have been the same, but perhaps she wouldn't have spent those five years fruitlessly going from doctor to doctor and could have focused on making her life as good as possible. A hospice nurse in her final days said the claw hand was a "tell" for ALS, but even the neurologist she had to check it out dismissed her, saying he had no idea what the issue was but should come back to normal in 6 months. I wish she had seen Dr. Mike! It's almost impossible to help someone in 15 minutes in our broken system, with doctors responsible for so many patients. I miss her.
Sorry for your loss. That sounds awful.
Can wrongful diagnosis leading to Death be Grounds for Malpractice? This is a WHOLE LIFE that has been lost. It's disturbing that such uncaring Doctors exist in the field!
Again, reasons why people should be Doctors if they are passionate for it. Not because of Money or Parental Push and Prestige thereafter.
I showed up to the doctor after gaining 70 pounds in six months and being unable to function without 16 hours of sleep a day, and still had to fight to get a thyroid tested, even though every woman in my family has had some kind of thyroid problem (up, down, or cancerous) before the age of 30. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that your first instinct IS NOT to tell us to “just exercise because you know you’ll have more energy if you exercise!”
Trust me, as a fat person, I can tell you that if I come to a doctor for help it’s because I really need help. I’ve tried everything that is less humiliating already.
I feel you. It took me five years to finally get my thyroid issues treated. I’m now left with very little hair from not having it treated for such a long time and it’s not growing back to the way it used to be.
That's nuts. Even just reading your symptoms my first thought was thyroid. That's just a shitty doctor.
I feel you. My SIL gained 60 lbs in 2 months. But her energy also increased A LOT and she lost all appetite. Other symptoms too like losing period. Breaking bones barely touching them. She used to run a MIN of 10 miles a day and increased when this started. Her PCP sent her to and endocrinologist. The guy didn't look at a single thing, took one look at her and said she's too fat and that's why she lost her period. Said she was lying about exercise and eating. It took 12 years of seeing rude and dismissing Drs before one finally said let me run this $100 test to see something before we run an MRI. Sure enough she had brain cancer. Plus they very much wanted children and she lost all her prime child bearing years. Because Drs CANNOT see beyond weight.
A video like this is truly refreshing. As an overweight person myself, I'll never forget this one time I went to my family doctor as a teenager. I went to see her regarding fatigue and light headedness, she recommended I exercise more and eat less junk food. Well, I was lucky to have a mom who cooked healthy food most nights and I also did sports and walked to and from school, so I really didn't know what to cut from my diet or how much more exercise I could handle considering my new fatigue and light headedness.
I went to a walk-in clinic for the same issue and they did a blood test. Turns out I had severely low iron levels and a low blood count, most likely from my very heavy periods. Some iron-rich foods and iron supplements helped a lot, I rarely ever get light headed anymore!
It seems so surreal to me that thyroid problems get dismissed so easily. I live in Greece and was diagnosed and started treatment at the age of nine
I had a similar thing happen to me. Long story short, I went to my PC doctor with uncontrollable itching and a lump in my neck. She gave me a pamphlet about losing weight and completely dismissed my symptoms. I then went to a dermatologist about the itching and she tried to treat it for a few months but started to tell me it may be in my head. Thankfully she eventually sent me to an endocrinologist about the lump and he found out that lump was cancer. I had Hodgkins lymphoma and by the time I made it to the oncologist I was between stage 2-3 and they told me it was a miracle that with how wide spread the cancer was, I wasn't stage 4. I've now been cancer free for over 3 years, but one doctor dismissing my symptoms could've cost me my life.
You should probably lose weight too
Computers have doctors?
@@xxinsain2509 He or she probably knows that.
@@xxinsain2509 What makes you think they're not doing that
@@xxinsain2509 And you should mind your own business
My doctor always blamed my weight for any impact injuries. I was a dancer for 11 years. I was 11 years old when my doctor started using the words “fat” and “overweight” with me. Now I have struggled long term with anorexia. Some doctors don’t see their patients as people with feelings and it’s sad. Thank you, doctor Mike for showing what should be said and done. More doctors should be like you ❤
How else do you tell someone that they need to lose weight in order to improve your health?
@@sheldondinkleberg6525dawg its an 11 year old, you don’t call a child fat as a doctor. You talk to the parents about their diet
@@remains10I was going to say I was chubby but very active when I was little and when I sprained my ankle because I slid the wrong way into home base they tried to blame my weight and didn’t even try to talk bout a diet with my mom they just said oh she’s 5 pounds over she’s obese 😂
@@remains10 Jesus, i can see youre weight through your dumb comment.
@@sheldondinkleberg6525 By being an actually good doctor that knows what they're talking about first.
Thank you for discussing this. My aunt went to several doctors due to increasing back pain and her concerns were dismissed as being due to her weight. They gave her steroid shots and told her to lose weight. She finally found a doctor who would listen & was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma that had progressed significantly before it was caught. We lost her not long after. As someone who has struggled with my weight, as well as depression & anxiety for most of my life, watching her battle for a diagnosis and to survive MM was especially hard. I have since had doctors write me off as an overweight patient who needs to do better before I deserve adequate care. I know I need to do better in taking care of myself, but I also know that I deserve the same medical care & proper treatment and support to reach my health goals in the meantime. Thank you for bringing awareness to this important issue.
You put that so well - the expectation that overweight patients “need to do better before they deserve adequate care.” It shows medical bias for the counterproductive force that it is, not only because everyone deserved adequate care for their health issues, even if they have made choices in life that have contributed to them (e.g. smoking and lung cancer, tanning and skin cancer, extreme sports and severe injuries), but also because someone who feels that they are seen and heard as a whole person, and who is being treated properly for whatever acute issue took them to see a doctor in the first place, is much more likely to take on board additional advice about achievable lifestyle changes that can help with their overall health in the long term.
The minute you started ticking off his symptoms, I said Lyme. I'm overweight and it took nearly 19 years to diagnose my Lyme disease. I'm so glad doctors like you exist. I wish someone took me seriously instead of calling me fat and saying I'm the only one who can fix this. 5 doctors dismissed me. One was hyperfocused on getting gastric bypass to solve my issues. Thank you for helping this man.
I went undiagnosed with Lyme disease for six years, and nearly died, because "there's no Lyme disease in the UK", despite the fact I lived right by a deer park
@@maymcgrath13 isnt Lyme pretty much everywhere? Its more prevalent in some places, but to say it doesnt exist somewhere is so incredibly ignorant of that doctor.
I went on for my whole life completely unaware of my chronic migraines. I thought all headaches were that bad. I even had surgery on my sinuses because I thought I had a blocked sinuses. Nope. It was migraine the whole time. Apparently it's not normal to need exedrin migraine with you at all times. I remember the first time I ever saw anyone for my head. I was rolling on the floor screaming (I was 12 years old at the time) and so to the hospital we went. I had an MRI, which was clear. I was then ASKED IF I WAS BULLIED. Hmm yes. I was tiny for my age, rarely ate anything because of a growth hormone disorder. Yes, I was bullied as a child. But, the migraine was the issue at the time. So, I went on for decades unaware that headaches shouldn't be this frequent or painful. It's so aggravating. Finally being diagnosed is just as awful though because insurance doesn't seem to want to cover anything or really even communicate. Then the medications I can take (yep, there's a whole class of them i can't because of a congenital heart defect) gives nausea which is one of the symptoms I want to go away!
@@xladyfayre Ridiculous that insurance can deny you the treatment for migraines because its "unstudied" and therefore "Not an issue that needs to be treated"
Edit: Im a sufferer of Chronic Migraine With Aura, trust me, I relate.
I thought it was lyme as soon as he listed symptoms too. I got lyme disease at 18. Luckily I caught the rash in time so my doctor was able to tell what it was and get me on treatment right of way. But not everyone has a bullseye rash or notices it in time. I was only stage one and I had pain in my joints like he described.
When I was 16, I met a doctor like you. I was getting dizzy, shaking, having lots of clots while on my period and the pain from it had me almost sobbing. My doctor brushed it off as just a bad period and told me to take some ibuprofen and get some rest. My mom asked for a second opinion because she didn't feel comfortable with that answer. The doctor who had the second opinion really helped me out. He found out that I had cysts on my ovaries that were causing those symptoms. I'm 22 now but I always think about him because he was kind, gentle, understanding, and just as concerned as my mom. He was the best.
I'm 15 and I have a doctor like him too. I have had him for a few years now and he always does his best. While my illness are chronic and he often refers me to other doctors, he always does a good job. He even got me unban from the GI doctor's from pushing so much.
I'm glad that others also have similar experiences with good doctors and people that will listen to them
Women get ignored a LOT for menstrual problems. It's really sad. You have to FIGHT to get diagnosed :(
PCOS sucks :(
@@breklein3338 I've experienced average periods, I can't imagine having PCOS.
I'm so so so glad that your mom fought for a real diagnosis while you were still young. I'm 35 and was just recently finally diagnosed with endometriosis and pcos after 20+ years of suffering and missing school and work due to what my doctors said were "just pms" or "just bad periods". I will never shut up about how poorly women are treated and under diagnosed-especially if weight is also a factor. I was told for years and years it would get better if I lost weight but that's not at all how endometriosis or even pcos work. They don't just go away when you've reached some magical bmi number..I lost over 100 pounds and still felt as miserable as ever 😞
It's refreshing to know that doctors your age actually are caring about those that are diagnosed as overweight yet there really is something wrong with them other than that fact. I went from the age of 15 to 30 without a good diagnosis because they literally wouldn't look into what I was telling them but would say I was overweight even at a size 16. Go figure. You give people hope that there are doctors who care. Thank you for caring so much.
I'll be honest I would say a isze 16 is definitely concerning but I had that prolem even at size a size 8 US with a high proportion of muscle. they tried to suggest weight loss clinics to me as an ex anorexic. The issue is doctors not realising two things can be true at the same time. You can be overweight and your eight can possibly exacerbate some health issues, we as patients can do things that don't do us any favours, but you can also have plenty of conditions that have nothing to do with the weight whatsoever and you shouldn't be neglected or left untreated, not validated,believed or heard JUST because you're overweight. That is negligence, discrimination and nasty bias from the doctor he should be educated enough to look past
I've found older doctors to me far more dismissive of any other symptom than my weight and gender (cis-female). It's actually the younger specialists who have looked beyond the 'elephant in the room' and actually listened to symptoms and made a diagnosis based on that and not my weight/gender.
@R You aren't from my time where they judged you on your pant size hon. That's all I meant. You know nothing of my history just what I wrote here lol. Guess you feel better telling me that my doctor was right lol.
I love this video. I'm in the opposite side of the spectrum. Because I am young and fit, and have a normal weight, my doctors ignored my concerns about my kidneys. Despite having a low eGFR, filtering protein, and high creatine serum, they all told me it was normal and that I was young. Took almost a year of going to doctors to find one that listened to me and diagnosed me with IGA Nephropathy. Now it all makes sense. All this fatigue, brain fog, and joint pain comes from somewhere other than my "excuse to be lazy". It sucks that these things can happen.
I'm 44. I found out at about 16 that I most likely had PCOS, but have never had a doctor willing to formally diagnose me with it (I still haven't been formally diagnosed). I found out at about 35 that I have hypothyroidism. I found out at about 40 that I have insulin resistance, and I found out this year that I have leptin resistance. As a result of all this, my metabolism has always been abnormally low. And yet my doctors always have just told me to eat less and get some exercise, and that losing "just 5% of my weight" would cure my PCOS, fix my thyroid, lower my A1C, lower my blood pressure, and make me feel much better.. It took me losing 100 pounds (which was nearly 40% of my starting weight and REALLY hard with all my metabolic issues) and getting to a healthy weight and STILL having all the same symptoms to get a doctor to even accept that "your weight is causing all the other issues" was wrong. No - my weight is a side effect of all the other issues. Fat bias is a serious problem.
That's just terrible. Too many dr's. get something stuck in their head and they don't want to bother. I call it lazy. They want the money but do not want to earn it.
A very serious problem! You are amazing!! 🤩 Getting through all of that, and continuing to fight for yourself... dang! 👏 WOW!! GOOD FOR YOU!!!
I sincerely hope you are getting PROPER care, and some REAL relief now🤞🤞🤞
Yep, it sure is. I had some really good doctors, but when moving always dreaded having to find a new one. One that I had (temporarily) basically just said everything was related to my weight--everything! SO ridiculous. Now that I am much thinner (no longer considered obese), I am taken much more seriously medically.
SD
As someone with PCOS, I find it really hard to lose weight. Almost impossible. You lost 100 pounds??? Congratulations! Can I ask what you did to lose weight?
as a patient who almost died of medical neglect- seeing doctors raise awareness of hcw bias and how stigmas against certain groups can impact your level of care- absolutely means the world to me
Me too! As a patient with a unique anatomy I was constantly sexualized and inappropriately molested by Dr's wanting to do uneccessary and sometimes invasive sexual like exams on me in my late teens/early 20s.
Fellow zebra here! The number of times I was told to lose weight and it was just anxiety when it was EDS and POTS...I'd be rich if I'd thought to have doctors write down refusal to pursue other tests. It took THIRTY YEARS to be diagnosed with POTS!
I have EDS too. I feel the same way!
My sister actually had to check herself in for a psych ward just because the doctor would not change her medicine for post-partum depression. Its insane that she had to do this just so she could get a different diagnosis.
Hope she gets better 🙏🏻
Hopefully she gets better and is doing well 🙏🏻❤️
cringe shirt pin
@@donnyshields4450 flaunting sexuality is cringe
@@friedegg3732 thank you for your service
I can’t even describe how much I wish I had a doctor who would help me like this! I’ve been having issues since I was 3 and yet my doctors blame my weight…. Even though I only started gaining weight once the pain, stiffness and fatigue got worse at 18ish. Having someone look at my case holistically and treat me with respect and not just write me off! Instead I’m left in a wheelchair from age 29 without any help, rehab or real explanations! Doctor Mikes patients are incredibly lucky!
This happened to me too! I’m 6’2 and weigh 245 lbs (I weight train on a daily basis) and one time my knee swelled up badly! (To the size of a softball on the side of my knee) and for a few months all the doctors I saw just told me to simply diet and exercise and it’ll go away. My ex main physician even told me that. One day, fed up with nothing happening, I got an appointment to a knee specialist and he took one look at it and said “oh yea, you’re going to need an MRI and probably surgery”. And they found that I had Uric acid build up inside my knee and it kept growing and growing. Then I got my surgery and about two weeks later I got a call from my ex physician trying to shame me on how I went behind her back and got another opinion. Needless to say, I never went back to her again.
I really hope you made a formal complaint! I had a Dr misdiagnose me with bad periods, even though it was so bad sometimes I had to crawl to the toilet, I went and got a second and 3rd opinion and it turned out to be endometriosis and could of left me infertile, first Dr wasnt impressed and complained that he isnt entirely right, I never went to him again
@@RCMN-2024 well her and also the company. I turned them into the state medical board where I lived for misdiagnosing me for months. It turned out that particular company had a huge string of complaints and they were kinda known to hire doctors on a last resort basis.
So you just had gout?
@@anthonyd4771 not really. Gout usually forms in one part of your body. Usually it’s your big toe. With me, my uric acid will build up anywhere. And unlike gout where you can mostly control it by a specific diet, this I have no control over. I have pills that keep my uric acid level down but that’s it. And when someone has a gout attack they mostly just have the size of a dime of uric acid on that joint. In my case, I had the size of a softball full of uric acid on the side of my knee.
245lbs at 6’2” isn’t even that overweight? That’s like an average person.
I just love that he reads the chart BEFORE he goes into the patient room. So many doctors don’t do that. My cardiologist of 13 years prescribed a drug for me that is a derivative of quinolone and I’m allergic to quinolones, like I had an anaphylactic reaction. If he’d read my chart he would have known that. I looked up the drug before I started it and found out it probably would have made me very sick. My endocrinologist did not read my chart and looked at only one blood test result AFTER she came into the room, the calcium level, said it wasn’t “that high” and I didn’t need surgery for parathyroid disease. It had been high for 7 years. I got a second opinion from a parathyroid surgeon who looked at all of my test results and symptoms and I’m having parathyroid surgery in February. Most doctors ask you to spend 20 minutes listing your meds, allergies and symptoms and then they don’t look at it, much less blood work. Patients can’t get proper treatment if the doctor isn’t reading the chart. Good catch on the Lyme disease!
Dr. Mike is so great at stating real issues associated with obesity in a neutral, non-biased way while also seeing an overweight patient as a whole human and treating them the way he would treat any other patient.
@君は可愛いね yea that was crazy, man's was just stating health facts about obesity effecting quality of life and whatnot.
What I love is that he readily agrees that every Dr has biases that they have to overcome, himself included. And then he actively works to overcome bias.
I love hearing this. I've been very fortunate to have the doctor I have now. He has never blamed any of my illnesses or issues on my weight. I recently had high cholesterol, and he asked me if I wanted to start off with medication or try dietary changes. I said dietary, and it's been a year; and my cholesterol is down.
i knew this one girl in my high school. she was medium built, quite sporty and active. she started having some pains and put on weight suddenly. passed away within a year. i don't know the full story but her mother claimed that she could've been saved if the doctors had agreed to screen her for cancer sooner instead of just calling her fat.
That’s horrifying 😔
Yeah, this happened to someone in my family. She had unexplained, pretty substantial weight loss. The doctor said, “Well, you’re at a much healthier weight now; there’s nothing to worry about.” She had cancer (metastatic melanoma) in her digestive tract. By the time it was diagnosed, nothing could be done.
If a doctor can't figure something as basic as rapid weight loss as a red flag, then they literally do not have the necessary intellectual capacity to BE a doctor and should be banned from the profession.
I had something similar happen to me, but found a decent doctor to go through it. After having a low fever and extreme fatigue for weeks and no clue as to what was causing these, the 3rd doctor I saw asked me when was the last time I weighted myself (it'd been before I got ill). He tells me to go check my weight, and my first reaction was "I don't think this is this calibrated?"
Turns out I'd unintentionally lost almost 10 Kg / over 20 lbs in 3 weeks. I was suddenly an urgent patient because it seemed like a textbook case of lymphoma.
@@S_Carol Well, thank God you were able to get good care. I hope you’re well now.
@@StevXtreme This is what happens when you remove natural selection from humanity. Domesticated humans get dumber as time goes on.
Lets all take the lesson to get screened for cancer at 15 year intervals, and absolutely get checked after sudden changes to the body. That sounds like a very difficult cancer to identify without some serious technology to aid. Placing the guilt on your routine family doctor seems over the top
Thanks for bringing this up. I was forced into anorexia because being “fat” was normal for my body. Doctors were constantly looking for “obesity issues” which I did not have. I had to lose weight to live, they only started testing for anything else once I lost weight by literally starving myself and “got healthy”.
I was healthy before. Now I’m sick all the time. They finally did the tests and diagnosed the cervical tumour that was causing my issues in the first place. But now I also have serious permanent damage to my intestine. I became medically anorexic and bottomed out at 119 lbs (at 5’10”)
I would have died of cancer just because nobody wanted to do a Pap test on a fat girl. Meanwhile when I was a young kid my doctor suggested a “pap test” every time I caught a cold. 🙄
This is HEARTBREAKING. I'm so sorry you went through that as a child!!! You are brave and resilient for continuing to seek help in spite of such a negative early experience, and the continued issues with providers as an adult. I wish you peace, good health, and much joy!
I feel ya - I had a 16 cm ovarian teratoma and no one believed me…until I got a spinal cord injury and they found it on my MRIs…
Also turns out I have a lot of autoimmune issues - all blamed on my weight, until due to gastroparesis I was put in liquids only for a year…lost 100 lbs and got taken seriously now that I had “atypical anorexia” and wound up relearning to eat solid foods in treatment. 🙄 same with all the joint dislocations, which turns out I have Ehlers-Danlos.
I agree I’m better off with the weight gone because it’s easier on my joints, but…yeah I have so many other actual health conditions that were dismissed due to my weight. Never mind my parents’ fat phobia, telling me to “run off” my broken foot 🙄
@@lindsaysheffield Yikes! 16cm = over 6 inches! I'm so sorry for all you've been through! I too was "lucky" to ultimately have many of my health issues verified with lab tests and official diagnoses, but I don't know if the psychological damage from being disbelieved for so long will ever go away.
I'm especially sorry your own parents told you to "run off" a broken foot!!!! : - ( I try to remind myself that when you are an outlier physically (I also have EDS), sometimes people genuinely can't conceptualize that things you're reporting are possible. But it still hurts to not be believed, especially when you're hurting!
I wish you well (literally : - )!
this is HORRIBLE. i’m glad you got through it now, but nobody should ever be failed by the system like that!
@R No, R, you clearly did NOT get the message, and your comment is stunningly insensitive and inappropriate in this context.
THANK YOU for talking about fat bias. So many underlying conditions are missed or ignored because of this. Especially when it comes to autoimmune diseases. It is something that really needs to be addressed.
Can we just stop and appreciate that Dr. Mike is the type of doctor that actually cares about his patients instead of just the money
@Demon Slayer it really depends on where you’re at actually
@Demon Slayer and that's the problem, creates the mentality of "I'm not being paid enough for this", which for a job where the professional can save or not a life, is surely horrible
Primary care physicians actually dont make that much money in comparison to other drs. In the dealth field. Actually one of the worst paid in fact, them and pediatricians make terrible money. (Again for being drs. But those degrees cost them alot of money)
Honestly, I'm sure most doctors don't just care about money. I think they are just overworked and burnt out. Especially when patients come in and try to argue with you because they self diagnosed on google
@@achaides There are several chronic illnesses where google and online support groups help more than doctors. Many people with chronic illnesses take years and many doctors to finally be properly diagnosed. People have been living with it for decades while doctors might have never heard of it or just in one lecture.
It's okay if a doctor doesn't know something but it's not okay to dismiss symptoms as psychosomatic or due to being overweight instead of doing their research!
A huge example is ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis). There are very few ME doctors out there and some doctors even prescribe harmful treatments from which patients may never recover.
So google and online communities can help a lot of people!!
Doctors should be open to discussing treatment options and talk on eye level. Studies have even proven that this increases the outcome.
Dude I respect you a lot, you actually know your stuff instead of those people that sit there and say random things thinking it’s facts , my sister was a nurse then a surgeon and she watched a lot of your stuff while she was in training and you helped her a lot, unfortunately she did pass away 2 years ago and a lot of people loved her at the hospital but thank you for making these videos man, continue to inspire!
Aww :(
May she rest in complete peace, and Merry Christmas! 🙂
Why did she pass away she must not have been that old.
@@ronniewilliz153 Young people pass away as well, what a dumb comment…..
@@johnblah1040 it's ok that we have different thoughts lol
Thank you Dr. Mike for actually taking the time to 1) listen to your patient’s history & 2) think about other causes for the rash & joint pain. I worked in the medical profession for years & have a friend who had a similar experience. I sat with my friend’s wife as he was having a procedure done as she was very nervous about what was happening. My friend’s wife explained to me her husband’s symptoms. Everything symptom she described pointed to sleep apnea (I also had studied to be a respiratory therapist); I told her to make an appointment with his primary doctor & describe all of his symptoms. I then explained to her if the doctor believes it could be sleep apnea they would order a sleep study & all that entails. A few weeks later I ran into my friend who told me that they did as I had suggested & he was diagnosed with sleep apnea & got a CPAP machine. My friend told me he fussed at his ENT specialist who said I could have told you that; to which my friend responded but you didn’t & I’m paying you! I’m just thankful that there are still doctors out there who care enough take the time to ask the right questions of their patients.
I’m a Vet Tech and when Dr Mike was going through the symptoms I was like “wait is it Lyme disease?” And then he said it made me feel like a good technician lol 😂
Hilariously enough, vets are among some of the best with catching lyme! Doctors are too often busy trying to mitigate something a human is doing (rather than looking at the situation), but vets don't often think an animal is doing something for a specific outcome.
I guessed Lymes disease too! 😊 pat on the back
That was my reaction as well. I’m not in the medical field, but body aches, fatigue and rash immediately screamed Lyme Disease. My brother has had Lyme before.
I guessed lyme disease as soon as he showed that rash picture. I had it last summer and my rash looked exactly like that, with all the other symptoms he mentioned too. Luckily, since I live in CT and doctors around here are so used to seeing it, my doctor diagnosed it immediately and started me on the meds to treat it right away.
As soon as I heard rash and joint pain, I knew it was lymes disease, which I’ve had multiple times.
My dad had lyme disease a few years back. It was really difficult for him to get diagnosed. Once he did he was cured pretty fast luckily. I think it’s really important to spread awareness about this disease because it’s often overlooked, even by doctors. Thank you mike!!
Amen to that! And I completely relate. When I got lymes, they thought it was juvenile arthritis at first. Once I was diagnosed, treatment went super smoothly, and I'm so glad that his did too! Lymes sucks. A lot.
Lyme is so hard! Rarely does anyone notice getting bitten by the tick and the symptoms are very vague.
My grandmother had whole body bright red rashes, sudden confusion every once in a while where she didn't know who anyone was or what was going on and she'd forget to eat and drink and get sick with dehydration. We brought her to the ER probably 5 times or more within 2 years.
They knew it wasn't dementia cause the symptoms didn't match. They knew something was wrong. But every time they'd admit her, get her hydrated, and send her home.
She died in the spring because of lung cancer that spread everywhere. She wasn't diagnosed until she was almost gone.
Rest In Peace to your grandma.
That's really scary to hear..She's now in a better place with no pain
Thank you for advocating for your patient's overall health. So many doctors focus solely on weight that it drives overweight patients to neglect health issues as we're told "lose the weight and it'll go away"
Fat-Bias is absolutely a thing. I had excruciating knee pain with my knee buckling and giving out multiple times a day. Primary care sent me to an ortho who took an MRI and then said nothing wrong with knee that it was arthritis due to my weight (406 pounds at the time). Told me to take OTC pain meds which I had already told him I had been doing for months and it had no effect. I also told him I had already had multiple knee injections which also only worked for about a week. He basically stuck to his OTC pain meds suggestion and sent me on my way. Went to another ortho and showed him the same MRI files and he immediately shows me a medial meniscus tear in the problem knee. Two weeks later I had surgery and over the last 4 months have dropped 60 pounds with many more to go. I'm walking 6+ miles a day with no knee pain at all. When I asked second ortho about the first ortho's diagnosis he said many orthos shy away from operating on overweight people. If it wasnt for the second ortho I'd probably still be in excruciating pain and would not have been able to start the exercise routine that I am now on.
See on the flip side i had a pt who was 300lb woman who had hip replacement done at a younger age and had severe compilations that were great compounded by her weight. It is a risk
It's good to know there are doctors like your second ortho. Even people with no pain have trouble losing weight and it seems like you are very motivated. Glad you are feeling better
This is so refreshing. The amount of times I've been written off by doctors for a knee injury I had (caused by an accident and not weight) is insane. Flash forward to now and I had to get knee surgery because the issue was never addressed or taken care of. It was just blamed on my weight. Good on him for LISTENING. It shouldn't be so hard
same with me! i have a patellar tracking disorder where my kneecap shifts and as a result of it i ended up tearing my meniscus. went to multiple doctors and all but one said i had to lose weight. that didn’t make any sense to me because it was one knee and had never given me trouble before until my kneecap starting literally popping out of its socket. eventually we found a doctor that recommended physical therapy and the physical therapist actually ended up finding out what was wrong and after a few months of pt i was fine! the muscles on the outside of my thigh were way stronger than the ones on the inside which causes my patella to slip and all we needed to do was build muscle on the inside. medical system is wack
Just lose weight and you wouldnt have this problem.
@@fuerstmetternich1997 Are you a bridge troll?
Started having knee pain 7-8 yrs ago. Saw 11 Drs and a Physical Therapist who ALL told me "if I lose weight, my knees will stop hurting." Moved to another state and saw another Dr. I was SO SURE he was going to say the same thing...but instead he told me I have ITBand syndrome in both knees and BOTH my ACLs are weak. I'd never been told this before. Obviously, my weight isn't HELPING my knees at all...but he was certain it wasn't the cause. Unfortunately because it took over 5 yrs to diagnose, not a lot I can do about it. If the first few Drs hadn't focused on my weight, I could've started PT WAY before the issue worsened. 🙃
@@fuerstmetternich1997 So you can write but you can't read.
Fat bias nearly paralyzed me. I now have a diagnosis of Anklyosing Spondylitis, but for two years I kept having pain and weakness in my legs. I had my first symptoms in Jan 2020. The bottom of my right foot went numb. I could barely walk to my car at the end of the day sometimes. Fast forward to September 2022, I started a new medicine. I gained 20 pounds in 2 weeks and I could barely walk to the bathroom alone. I go to the doctor, he tells me it's salt intake and mobility isn't the issue, diet is the issue. I got MAD, I told him I was fat not stupid. My late sister was ignored when she said she couldn't lift her arms, she was partially paralyzed from the neck down. She died within 2 years. Grudgingly he ordered an MRI, the neurosurgeon called me within a couple of days. I am now recovering from a laminectomy. My spinal cord was severely narrowed and the cord was compressed.
i hope you fired the doctor and reported him to his medical board
As someone who has been put through the wringer to get a proper autoimmune disease diagnosis, thank you for listening to your patient and taking his fatigue and joint pain seriously. Just because those symptoms can be vague or related to diseases that can be easily ruled out, doesn't mean so many doctors should assume it means nothing is wrong. I wish people knew how debilitating those symptoms truly can be.
Once again, Dr. Mike nails it. I was once 380lbs, I outweighed champion sumo wrestlers, and my doctor only said I needed to lose weight so much that I stopped going. I developed diabetes II, angina, and almost had a stroke at age 34. I got a better doctor and beat diabetes and angina and dropped my resting heart from 115 to 80. I still struggle with my weight, but everything is working better. The right medical professional can make a world of difference. I'm also tired of strangers telling me to get a stomach staple.
honestly good for you dude. the fact that you dropped your resting heart rate from 115 to 80 is actually pretty amazing. also whats a stomach staple
@@tristantheoofer2 surgery to make your stomach smaller
Took me 3times for my doctor to understand that my being overweight didn’t cause my PCOS, but that my PCOS is causing/making it harder for me to keep a healthy weight. I was a teen when I was originally diagnosed and I weighed about 115lbs! Finally, I’ll be seeing an endocrinologist!
Oh yeah, that is the GO-TO for most doctors (ESPECIALLY male doctors, in my experience) - "Well y'know, you wouldn't have PCOS at all if you weren't overweight... NO DEAR, PCOS is CAUSED by being overweight, NOT the other way around..." Oh is that so? Well how come I've had PCOS while I've been overweight, a healthy weight AND underweight then?
115 lbs isn't very heavy for most heights unless you are under 5 foot tall.
@@amyeli33 That's the point that a person was 115 lbs when diagnosed so being overweight didn't cause PCOS
Harder, not impossible.
My friend had a doctor ignore her concerns when she said she was eating healthy and exercising and still putting on weight. She had a bunch of other symptoms as well. It was a pituitary tumour. She’s fine now thankfully, the surgery went well.
I’m so glad you made this video! It is so important! I used to be 260 and a doctor judged me for my sprained ankle not getting better because I was “fat and not a normal girl”. But I had been on bed rest with my foot elevated for a month. I wasn’t putting any weight on it. Again thank you for showing how people can not be taken seriously because of appearances.
This happened to me. I lived with not just weight bias but medicaid bias. In fact one doctor told me he resented having to pay for "those like me" who abuse the system to get an ambulance for a headache. I was grey and shaking it was worst headache i ever had.
I asked him what do you mean those like me and he no joke said "you medicaids are all the same, all you want is drugs. Well im not giving you narcotics." I said I never asked for them but Im sick and he said that my bp was high cause i was fat (many docs said that) and he wasnt gonna even give me Tylenol. No tests nothing.
Other doctors blamed weight on coughing for months and coughing blood off and on for a year. My legs got so swollen theyd over hang where the ankles should be, scraping the ground. They blamed weight.
Chronic Pain. Weight. Headaches. Weight. Muscle pain. Weight. Meanwhile I got more and more fat due to sickness.
I gave up and stopped going to get answers. I looked at my late partner and said "I am not gonna be here in a few months if this doesnt stop". I cried on the floor begging to die from the suffering. I failed college from illness. I lost jobs. I lost the ability to even dress myself or walk. My life was in a tiny chair or bed.
I had shall we say a strange paranormal occurrence where i kept dreaming of my late great grandma hooked up to my iv line in a hospital and we died together. After a week of this i was scared af. And i went to a new hospital and refused to send my records. I wanted them to hear ME not have preconceived bias. They did.
One thing led to another, and I ended up, combined with records i had sent after the fact, diagnosed with Behçets Disease. Was told I was lucky I got diagnosed, I was dying. The only thing keeping me going was wrong diagnosis getting me prednisone constantly enough to curb worsening but not enough for remission.
Now I am disabled from permanent stuff that could have been avoided. Turns out I could have been having strokes or brain bleeds during the aforementioned headache. Kidney problems, lung bleeding. All cause doctor's biases.
I have a great team now. Honestly they are my heroes and I would take a bullet for them. No joke. They saved me. They also helped give me a quality of life back. Were still working on stuff to improve.
Side note: after telling my family my diagnosis of Vasculitis. My uncle said thats what grandma grace died from. (my great grandma, who i kept dreaming about). After i was diagnosed i had one more dream. We were not hooked up. She showed up waved to me and i woke up.
Sorry so long but its hard to tell a story like that in one paragraph. fun part is this is the condensed not very detailed version of events.
Medical biases kill. Medical biases disable. Thank you for tackling this VITAL issue. Thanks you for even acknowledging that it exists. A lot of people don't... many minimize it or poo poo it.
I’m sorry you were treated so badly for so long. I’m glad you’re doing better now with a medical team that is working with you instead of against you.
I wish I could hug you.
You are so right with the Medicaid bias. One of the saddest things is many people who are on Medicaid don’t know how poorly they are being treated. Providers don’t make money on Medicaid patients, so they often want to get rid of them and hope they go elsewhere.
Fat bias killed my mother. She had a big, round belly and every.single.time we'd take her to a doctor for something, the first words out of their mouths was a comment on her weight. She'd get offended and refuse to be examined because she also had mental health issues from a TBI. One day, she was walking across her living room and literally dropped to the floor dead.
Her autopsy revealed a massive tumor in her abdomen. The pressure it was putting on her organs killed her.
I too am overweight, and every time I'd see a doctor, they'd go for the blood pressure cuff with this look in their eyes gearing up for "the talk" only to have them shocked that it's healthy. So is my cholesterol. Even so, every one of my issues would be written off with a "if you'd lose weight you'd feel better" Even when I went because I was dealing with depression, I was prescribed one that suppresses appetite. Even when I went because I have psoriasis. I was never told about PCOS (even though I have symptoms of it) until I asked the doctor if that could be an issue.
Appetite suppressing antidepressant is the right choice in that case though.
Our value as humans defines over so many variables, and you could be overweight and still overall be the best human being on this planet. That does NOT mean that you couldnt be even better with a healthy weight. Every human has flaws, nobody is perfect. Its our lifelong mission to work on these flaws, may they be a lack of knowledge, biases and fallacies, personality weaknesses like short temper or lack of empathy, or physical weaknesses like an unhealthy bodyweight.
Don't make it such a big deal. A physicians job is to help you get healthier. If they spot any risk factor, they have to advice you. So if they notice that you are overweight and dont inform you about risks and treatment strategies, they fail as doctors. Bad doctors JUST give you pharmaceuticals, good doctors also put emphasis on lifestyle changes etc.
Of course, missing an abdominal tumor due to bias is a malpractice. Its not fat bias though, its called ‚Premature closure bias’ -> A doctor sees an obvious possible cause of a symptom and doesn’t investigate further. Far too common. Another example is a patient with history of migraine getting a brain bleed, and the doctor just assumes its the migraine again that is causing the headache.
Thats why careful investigation is necessary. Doesnt mean its specifically connected to fat in any way. But if that doctor didnt do a premature closure mistake, the abdominal tumor should have been identified easily. The problem is not specific fat bias but physicians trying to safe time and not investigating properly.
@@thomass.4007 Imagine thinking "I have a take" and this was the take
@@tyriaxepheles7996 What do you mean?
Adipose tissue does a really nasty number on your hormones and brain chemistry. It also increases inflammation, which affects psoriasis. Of course they gave you appetite suppressants! You don't treat someone for burns without getting them out of the burning building first. 🤦♀️
@@thomass.4007 🤡
(Sweden) This reminds me of when my fiancé became seriously ill. 4 years ago, he had a annoying cough. He met a doctor. The doctor sad he was overweight. He got an asthma inhaler and was told to stop eat and drink so much. 2 days later he got high fever. Calls again. No it’s only a cold. He started to hallucinate, no sleep, no food. Calld again. No it’s only a cold. One night he woke me up because he couldn’t breath. Called 112 (911), they sad no it’s only a cold. We rushed to the emergency room. He started to puke. He had a sore neck. They put him in a isolated room fast. Like 5 doctors came in fast. They took many tests under 30 minutes. My fiancé was in and out of consciousness. They took a spinal cord test. It was cloudy. Everyone in the room had to take antibiotics. No more people was allowed in the room. My fiancé had meningitis and pneumokocker 80% of his lungs was inflamed. He nearly died. Now 4 years later we are expecting our first child together ❤️
Wishing you guys health and happiness ❤
I'm so glad he got better!
I'm so glad there was a happy ending. Extremely frustrated you both had to go through that for so long though. I wish you all a very happy life and your little one(s) grow up to be innocent angels.
Awee ♡ wishing you all well!
Beewop
I can't imagine the amount of joy you'd get after solving a case like this. I was diagnosed with WPW while awake on the table during a discovery procedure, and the tone of voice the doctor had when he said, "I KNOW WHAT THIS IS!!!!" was such a wonderful thing to experience as a patient. You saved that man's life, like my doc saved mine ❤
Need more doctors who think like DR Mike! This man has changed a mans life just by asking questions and taking his time to understand and help this man.
My doctor is exactly like him. Almost down to the personality. When I first started watching him, I immediately fell in love because e reminds me of my amazing doctor. (With chronic illnesses, I visit him a lot)
Ikr? And I can't believe people think and call Dr Mike as fatphobic. He is exactly the opposite of that but not the extreme opposite.
Thank you *so much* for making this video. I relate to such a tragic degree.
While my primary issue by far is not being overweight, if anything I'm (BMI-wise at least) leaning more to the side of underweight.. I usually fluxuate between being normal weight range to underweight, again BMI-wise..). My primary and most obivious issue is mainly being a drug addict/heroin/opiod and benzodiazepine addict, and secondarily yet still as well primarily mentally ill, as in struggling with severe PTSD, anxiety, depression as well as perhaps bipolar disorder or something similar.. I was in the process of working with a psychiatrist to diagnose - not just for the sake of having the diagnosis, but so that I could get treatment. Same goes for severe undiagnosed sleep issues.
Anyway.. (nearly, as in 9/10 times of) anytime I go to ANY doctor, they always attribute any and every problem on either my addiction or my mental health struggles, smfh. I struggle with a whole heck of a lot of chronic pain, something I've dealt with since BEFORE I even became addicted to opiods, heroin for the most part.. so one can only imagine the sheer anger and frustration I feel whenever my other, more *legitimate* physical issues just gets written off. It's alwsys immidiatly assumed I just want more drugs.. NO. I want to beat my addiction, but that becomes IMPOSSIBLE if the root issues won't be addressed. Same goes for my sleep issues and mental health issues. I KNOW there is something physically wrong with my body, but NOBODY even bothers giving me a referral elsewhere, whether it's physiotherapy or something like that or a pain specialist. Same goes for my sleep issues.. I always hammer home the point that I'm not seeking more drugs, but rather that I'm desperatly seeking long term TREATMENT so that I could eventually actually either wean off the few medications I get, or get completely off them.. not being forced to take all kinds of medications, supplemented with illegal drugs to self medicate, because the far too mild medications I barely even get prescribed barely give me any relief, and they most certainly only work as a bandaid on a gushing wound. I'd LOVE to be able to not have to spend so much money on both legal and illegal drugs in order to just barely function, but seemingly my doctor would rather have me continue self medicate in order to simply treat the synptoms, rather than treat the root of the actual problem. I've had to deal with this for countless years now, and my body is deteriorating. Since all I can do is treat the symptoms, the root issues, whatever they actually are, simply get worse - forcing me to take even more illegal medications including fricking heroin, while being forced to increase the amount and strength of the medications/drugs, since the root issues are not at all treated. It just makes me so mad. The medical community gives me NO CHOICE but to stay addicted, because they refuse to even to a standard, routine checkup. They never take any of my serious issued seriously. I've been to rehab multiple times, so I've been sober for some months to about a little over an actual full year, and guess what.. I've never felt more sluggishly unhealthy and more in pain than those times. I've been told several times that "if only you sobered up, you'd feel so much better even in just weeks to some short months. That was complete BS. Any time I tried rehabilitation, both my physical and mental health deteriorated. They had to put me BACK ON DRUGS *IN REHAB* as all my issues only got 100x worse.. I became practically completely insomnic, developed signs of shizophrenia and dissosiation, I could barely even walk due to all the physical pain - rehab only made me worse. Yet, they refused to acknowledge that I have severe and highly legitimate underlying issues.
The amount of stigma people like me, with either drug addictions and/or mental health issues *(especially both)* face from not just the general population, but the medical field -- even so called addiction "soecialists" and mental health "specialists" is disgustingly staggering, and should never be tolerated. It's truly shameful. It's awfully sad that the people who are supposed to have enough understanding, knowledge and empathy, as well as supposed professionalism can often times be the ones who treat you worst out of everyone. It's pathetic, negliegent and tragic. Purely disgusting. No wonder the OD-statistic is so incredibly high.
My mom almost died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and it took the doctors for ever to figure out what was wrong and kept blaming most of her symptoms on her weight and medical history. Finally, she fell, got a concussion, they did a MRI or cat scan (the one where they could see her soft tissue) and saw her blood vessels were way too dilated, and then realized it might be carbon monoxide and tested her blood. Turns out when her new water heater was installed, the floor was wet, so it sank, and the exhaust pipe disconnected. Since her room was next to the room with the water heater, it wasn't a strong carbon monoxide levels by then, so it never set off the alarms, but it built up in her body over time and she got sicker and sicker. Once they knew what it was the fire department and gas company came and tested at the house. They found it when testing in the room with the water heater.
Since her water heater was working, she didn't see the need for a yearly inspection... now she does. And we also have a dector in the water heater room near the floor. (Carbon monoxide is heavier than other air, so it should be lower on the wall)...
My chemistry teacher explained how oxygen forms a single bond to a blood cell, so it gets delivered to organs where carbon monoxide forms a double bond to a blood cell, so it doesn't get released, and also blocks the blood cell from carrying more oxygen, so that's why it builds up over time... I'm sure dr. Mike can explain all this better than me.
just get a top of the line electric water heater easy
@@ryanlai5290 pr just boil the water
Your blood cells are 200 times more susceptible to carbon monoxide than oxygen. It is harder to break too.
CO poisoning is no joke! As someone who’s had it twice, the first thing I check in an apartment or house is the carbon monoxide detector (and yet I tried to climb into the wall of one place to look at the asbestos. Because I wanted to see it. The inspector had to hold me back saying “We got another cat-scientist, guys. Should we let him look?”)
A relative moved into a new house years ago. The very first night the husband woke up when he heard the baby crying but he couldn't get up to check on her. He woke his wife up and she was able to get everyone out of the house. It turned out that the heater was hooked up wrong and was venting it's exhaust into the ductwork. If the baby hadn't cried in the middle of the night they probably wouldn't have survived until morning.
As a dietitian I've been advocating for this message all my carreer, thank you so much for using your platform to inform the public!
This is SO IMPORTANT to talk about. My dad had Lyme disease a few years ago. Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him and started doing painful and unnecessary procedures until one PA stayed up all night researching (it is not common in our area, he had gotten it traveling) and figured it out. He's 100% fine now and my whole family is so thankful to that PA.
"What happened next might surprise you."
As a fat person, I am not at all surprised. I'm glad that you took the time and got to the root of the issue to help him.
Have you tried not being fat
@@xxinsain2509 Have you tried not being an internet troll?
@君は可愛いね it’s sarcasm. it’s the same joke as “if you are on a wheelchair, just stand up and walk”
@@dennraeh you can always work towards not being fat. But you don’t have a choice to work to stand up out of a wheel chair most of the time. Big difference.
@@philipsavenkovsavenkov3855 I just said it’s sarcasm.
I've had this problem with my medical complaints being dismissed due to my obesity. I go to every appointment ready to "battle" with the physician, even if they're a good doctor who doesn't behave this way. Imagine how it must be for someone who isn't as assertive 😥
I hope you found a better physician.
bro, im not even overweight but once they ask me if i am very active and i say only a little, they start to blame it on that
@@karlbischof2807 I became a bit fat at around the age of 8 and at around 10 I developed a sleeping disorder. Every single doctor I've met told me it was due to my lifestyle/not doing enough physical activity even when I was doing split shift in a warehouse and upward of 50-60h of work. It always took me 30min-1h and sometime even more time laying in bed before I fall asleep. At 12 during a down mood period due to my grandmother passing away I started smoking weed on a daily basis and it somewhat helped with my sleeping disorder but it was still present and over the years my consumption of weed increased.
At the age of 24 I tried to quit weed on my own but that led me to being unable to sleep at all & very high anxiety level when I didn't smoke. Yet again I went to see many doctors but they wouldn't prescribe me any medication. On one of the occasion I tried to quit I spend about a week and a half trying not to smoke or drink alcohol but every 2days or so I drank myself to sleep. After about that week and a half I went to my union rep and HR and they told me both had a program when they would pay rehab for employee with drug issue. Only thing is every rehab center I called told me that with my withdrawal symptoms they wouldn't take me if I didn't have medication, they just can't have someone who half asleep all the time and can't follow a strict schedule. I went to see a doctor and kinda had to harass them to have some medication that would help me deal with my sleeping disorder & very high anxiety.
Right after rehab I entered into a depressive & anxious mood, while I didn't have multiple panic attack every day my anxiety level was still too high and I was quite depressive. I've met with a psychiatrist, followed a psychologist & found a family doctor who all help me stay clean & deal with my health issues. They told me my depressive & anxious phase was mostly due to my lifestyle completely changing/withdrawal symptoms and blamed my addiction to weed & alcohol on the previous doctor who didn't bother doing a proper diagnose which led me to auto-medicate on weed & alcohol.
I'm 25, this year I finally got diagnosed with PCOS after suffering my whole life. I am fat and since when I was a kid everyone was blaming my pain, my symptoms on my weight. God knows how much I suffered.
It took me so long to finally find a doctor that wanted to help me for real. I'm slowly trusting doctors again, but it's a long long road.
What’s interesting about this is that the weight is likely a symptom of the PCOS, not the other way around.
At 63 I’ve been to many doctors doctors in my life. I’ve always been overweight and particularly starting 15 years ago, I started experiencing incredible pain in my joints, fatigue, and at times it felt like my joints were on fire. I have never met a doctor like you who looks any further to try to figure out what’s wrong. Each doctor just kept giving me more and more Vicodin. I knew this was no way to live, and after going to doctor after doctor that did nothing, I started doing research on my own. Particularly in the area of nutrition. I had gotten to the point where I could barely walk. I cut out gluten and diet products, and that greatly reduced the inflammation and pain. I was able to stop taking pain medication. Soon I was able to see which foods I ate that caused pain and cut them out. Still trying to work on the fatigue. I have no idea how to find a doctor that actually cares and takes the time to do more than offer a pill. My last doctors yearly exam consisted of a nurse doing the bloodwork, which I would not find out the results of unless I asked. Last time I said, are you going to examine me or ask me if my health has changed over the year? And he said no!
I was told my Osteoarthritis was due to my obesity. I was 28, it started at 26. It was getting significantly worse, and progressed over the course of 1-2 years, and then rapidly sped up the year before we got a proper diagnosis. I literally couldn't even pick up 20lb child when I previously could lift 100lb no issues before the pain. I struggled to open a window, to carry literally anything, I couldnt stand more than 5-10min without being exhausted and in pain, I couldn't walk more than maybe 20ft without excruciating pain in my back.
I had lost 100lb before all of this, and yet my doctor still said it was due to my weight.
My new OBGYN did a full physical and intake of my health and history, and decided to test my vitamin D. Even the nurse who did the lab rolled her eyes and said "this doctor over tests for everything. You're young I'm sure all these will come back fine". It didn't. My vitamin D level was nonexistent and more than likely had been for quite some time. After my pregnancy I became lactose intolerant and developed a sun allergy. I had no sources of vitamin D in my life other than a very small multivitamin.
No one thought to test any of my vitamins or minerals before this. And I'm so glad she did. There's been permanent damage done to my bones, and entire disc was eroded away in my back, but I stopped the damage with a high dose vitamin D therapy. All because of fat bias. And my pcp is a very large woman herself. It hurt to be dismissed. I was furious.
I had a similar situation happen where all of my symptoms were looked over and blamed on being an overweight female for 4 years. It took going to the hospital due to seizures and other neurological conditions for doctors to finally do proper testing and realize my vitamin D and B-12 levels were nearly nonexistent. I finally recieved treatment but I have been left with permanent damage from being overlooked for so long.
@@Riandora99 Same here. I had undiagnosed Celiac my whole life, but was told I was lazy. At 55 when I passed out in ER, I still didn't get helped, because all they saw me as was someone with severe depression, as if someone with depression cannot have an illness. My depression went away after removing gluten from my diet.
Vitamin D deficiency rarely presents with any symptoms. What often is called a deficiency isn't an actual deficiency either but rather just low levels.
Wow, thank you for this info. I will up my vitamin D levels. I didn't know it could help osteoarthritis.
That's essentially what's happening to me currently. I think our PCP are ashamed of their weight and therefore put their bias on us.
You are a rare bird, Dr Mike. I struggled for years to find a doctor who would take me seriously. Thank you for being one of the good ones.
*The Good Doctor*
Leanne... This is actually far more common then you think, unfortunately when it does happen we often feel alone. However it's one of many reasons why patients don't like doctors. They rush now or they diagnose you within 3 minutes of meeting you to save on time. I keep watching Dr. Mike and medical shows and often feel jealous that these doctors are actually taking the time with the patient... How messed up is that? And it's not even like Dr. Mike is doing anything out of the ordinary he's doing what doctors are taught in med school. You simply don't find these practices today. Unless your amung the elderly it seems like they just don't care anymore. They either do a incomplete task, they don't dig deep into the process and history of your illness or symptoms, they don't spend with you and they almost always just throw pills at you like a Benzodiazepines which causes more harm.
@@GCT1990 And then they'll charge you hundreds of dollars just for having you in their office :/
I love how Mike just explains this like he is explaining almost to kids. That's how you know you're passionate and knowledgeable about your career. As an EMT, I feel like if I cant explain what is happening to a patient like they are a kid (not saying they are dumb but, not everyone knows medical lingo), I dont really know what is going on. Mike, thanks for helping a patient and actually looking into this, not just blaming it on weight. thats super cool.
Same thing for many legal concepts! We tend not to say 'to kids' but in terms of not using complex legal language. But if you can't explain it in a way a non-lawyer would understand it, then you can't understand it either
Its so much easier to understand, when the medical community use everyday language.
Its really difficult to deal with doctors who have a weight bias.
I'm glad Dr. Mike is talking about this.
I had a friend who did a study on weight bias with doctors and only one of all of the doctors in her small study was actually aware of her biases and mitigating them. The rest seemed unaware, but thought they were unbiased while saying clearly wrong things.
As a woman who has been shrugged off by so many doctors, I can't help but dream about a day when all doctors are like Dr. Mike. So much empathy, so much patience, such a desire to truly help and not peddle drugs or push you through to achieve quantity over quality in patient care.
I’m in nursing school and as he was going through the symptoms my very first thought was Lyme disease. Made me feel like I am actually doing well in my classes. I’m also from a very small town where we deal with ticks all through the warm months. So sad that doctors just brush things off because of someone’s weight.
As a retired nurse, good for you!! And yes, obesity gets blamed for a lot of things.
Take that knowledge with you as you progress in your studies and career. Use it to be a patient advocate. Your patients will thank you.
I had a similar situation happen to me when I was in the hospital. I had an issue with my heart (that it turns out I had been born with) but doctors were convinced I was doing drugs and that was what caused the episode. I was 16 at the time and staying in Pediatric ICU due to the health complications and I had counselors sent in multiple times throughout the stay to ask about drug use and energy drink consumption. No matter how many times I told them I didn't do drugs they just didn't believe me. They thought I was just a sneaky 16 year old. They went as far as sending my mom out of the room at times. It turned out I had gone into anaphylactic shock due to a bee sting and I was in tachycardia when the Epi was given which shot my heart rate through the roof. Their constant questioning and mistrust in me (when I was so young) made an already traumatizing experience worse.
It makes me wonder if there's also an age-bias in the medical community too. With teens an young adults, they may feel more inclined to lean into suspecting drug use due to the public perception of that age range being irresponsible and experimental. And even with children and toddlers, they could chalk up the kids making a big deal over a cold or seasonal allergies or think the parents (particularly first time parents) are too worried over the smallest symptoms, leading to the doctors to do the minimal check-over with that preconception in mind.
It was actually that last portion that nearly cost me my own life when I was a child. I had seen three different doctors diagnose me with the common cold and the last one even going as far as telling my parents that I was just being a baby about it. It was only after my lung collapsed on me that I was diagnosed with pneumonia and I had to stay in one hospital for a week before being transferred to a new one for another week because it was advanced enough that the former couldn't treat me anymore.
I hope you and your mom sued that hospital HARD, you have a clear case of malpractice
My friend's then 14 year old had a stroke due to an undiagnosed artery issue in her brain that she was born with.
The EMTs and staff at the hospital were convinced that she'd been doing drugs and refused to take her seriously until hours into her stroke, when her mom (my friend) threatened to sue them if they didn't give her brain a scan
Low and behold she had severe bleeding on her brain.
She suffers from migraines, memory and mood problems and seizures two years later because they didn't help her soon enough.
She had to relearn how to walk and talk to
@@Shadowfate93 your friend's mom should still sue
@@blazethecat363 I agree. They are responsible for the damage that happened to her. I hope that this helped them learn their lesson
I know someone who went in to urgent care and was told that they had lime disease without any tests.
Later, they found out they had colon cancer. Some doctors shouldn't even be practicing.
I was morbidly obese throughout my early adult years. Between 32 and 35, I lost 360 lbs. I had fatigue, muscle spasms, and frequent dislocations of my joints since my early teens. I had had three knee surgeries by the age of 25. The doctors always dismissed my symptoms as resulting from my obesity. After I lost the weight, it was assumed I would get better. I didn't. I ended up in a wheelchair for three years due to my joint and muscle issues. At 42, I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos, a rare genetic disorder. No one in my family had this, but my daughter does have it. Fat bias is definitely a big problem.
I'm so sorry. I have a good friend with that. It's rough.
EDS is so painful. My doctor still refuses to diagnose me with it because "it's a rare disorder and we just don't see a lot of it" even though I'm not overweight and I had a first cousin that died of complications from vEDS (vascular ehlers danlos syndrome) and I have an uncle with classic hypermobile EDS they've told me well you probably just have arthritis I'm not even (wasn't even 25 at the time) 30 yet oh you might have osteoarthritis I'm not even 30 yet oh it's just hypermobility I can put my feet on the ground and bend down to where my knees almost flat to the ground without my heels leaving the ground that's how hypermobile my ankles are the bones in my feet pop in and out of place I've had the bones in my elbows pop in and out of place it hurts I have absolutely no stability in any of my joints and trying to lift things that are even the slightest bit heavy not happening. My joints give out and I drop it. Unfortunately even with all the symptoms I show of EDS- the typical bruising like a peach if I clap my hands together because I'm at an event that requires clapping I break the veins in my hands no matter how softly I clap and it hurts. If I dribble a basketball I break the veins in my hands if I play volleyball I break the veins in my hands and arms they cannot get a pediatric long gauge needle in my veins without blowing several IV sites they can't push contrast dye through an IV without blowing my veins to shreds with it half the time they can't do the convenient thing and draw blood through an IV line because it'll blow the IV every time my veins shred like tissue paper I get awful bruises from the littlest of things that take forever to go away it's not my thyroid because every time I bring it up they test my thyroid my thyroid levels are normal it has been a fight for years my chronic constipation issues, my issues with my spinal column, my spine is super hypermobile in all directions and it causes so much pain, I can almost touch my forearms flat to the ground without bending my knees. I can touch my palms flat together behind my upper back. It's a little ridiculous how flexible I am. If I kick a soccer ball (yes with shoes on) I tear the veins in my feet to shredds if I kick it with the top of my foot. My hips make awful snapping noises when I stand up sometimes and so do my knees and it hurts sometimes to the point where I tear up and can't stand or fall down or have to sit back down so I don't fall down. When I'm not pregnant I weigh 135 to 145 lb and for being almost 5 foot 4 and the type of body structure I have is perfectly healthy for me. I only have weight in one spot and it's not my gut or my butt for that matter. It gets exhausting after a while considering some days I have such severe muscle weakness and pain that I cannot get out of bed without it being a Herculean effort. But oh you're probably dehydrated drink more water even though you drink 5-7 20 oz tumbler cups of water with no ice in it a day. If anything I drink too much water.
I also scar very easily if you look at my hands and arms you can see everywhere I've ever had an IV because it scars.
I also have EDS. Painful. I am glad you got diagnosed 💕
My daughter has EDS. As do I by symptoms-I’m morbidly obese so my pain, joint problems, gut problems, etc are all attributed to my obesity
Thank you for talking about this. I’m overweight and I’ll admit it. Ever since I was a teen, I always had fatigue problems. Miss a meal, and I would be threatening to go sleep on the spot sort of tired. Even my friends was concerned but said I was acting. No one acts like that when they miss a meal or two. I was just acting out for attention. Doctors thought I was just fat, needed exercise and that would be the thing. My blood test always had a weird thing, my red blood cell width was always slightly high. Not enough for it to cause anything noticeable, but high enough just to be out of normal range.
I gave up on talking to any doctors about it. I needed a better diet, exercise, fresh air, you know the drill.
In my thirties I finally got a b12 test. It was low, had five injections and told that I once again needed a better diet, and that same thing with the red blood cell hadn’t fixed itself. It was just outside of normal range, nothing to be overly concerned about. Three years later after a massive skin condition that affected 90% of my body, again it was coming up. Dermatologists now concerned, I told them that I did have B12 injections, three years ago but I was told it was bad diet, and never followed up. No repeat blood test a year later, no referral, nothing.
My dermatologist turned out and told me that either I had the shittiest diet in the world, or there was something very wrong. Yeah I have pernicious anaemia. But because I was fat, and the red blood cell width wasn’t THAT far out of range it was never spotted. Sorry for the long post. Again, thanks for talking about this.
Something a doctor has said to me.
"Your too young to be in this much pain."
"Your too young to be on this many meds"
"You should lose some weight and see if the pain gets better"
I found a doc that listened to me, and I now have my life back!
The third one the doctor said is a good idea but like doctor Mike said, weight isn't always the key thing that is causing the problems. I would still at least try the third thing they said.
I'm happybyou found the help.
@@HowToDrinkWater101 Take it form someone whose been Morbidly Obese all my Life; the BIGGEST Issue--no pun intended--is when Doctors Repeatedly address Weight as the SOLE factor in any set of Symptoms. Yes, Weight--Personal Experience speaking here--interacts in conditions in such a way that it is often hard to tell where the Weight STARTS contributing, and to what degree, to ANY given set of Symptoms. A GOOD Doctor will address this and try to help YOU sort out what OTHER Factors may be at play and how to address them IN ADDITION to addressing the Weight issue.
ALSO from Personal Experience; very few Doctors are willing to do this. :/
I've heard all these things too, and I just left the doctor telling them to me. I found a doctor who listened and didn't even suggest a diet change other than an off handed comment about one med's side effects. I just need to send the paperwork. Glad I'm not the only one dealing with this bullshit! Also glad you found someone who listened.
Your doctors' grammar sucks
Thank you so much for caring about your patients. I can't tell you how many times my health concerns have been ignored and attributed to my being a woman and being overweight. It's very rare I find a doctor who investigates or helps me in any way. It's been a crushing existence.
As a future doctor, thank you for this awareness, it's a great lesson for me to treat my patients with compassion, empathy and kindness. Thank you so much
bartonella is the biggest emerging infection that is going undiagnosed causing symptoms like MS, Fibro, RA, any idiopathic rheumatologic disease, many mental disorders etc, please educate yourself on it future doctor.
I had a doctor tell me my pain was from weight issues.... This was after I explained to him that I was shot point blank in the chest at 19 and the bullet bounced around in my body tearing everything up. That didn't matter to the doctor, it just had to be my weight. Definitely isn't the afteraffects of the equivalent of being beaten in the chest by a massive sledge hammer
That doc gotta graduate common sense and then medical again
How tf you alive rn
Well it's easier for a bullet to go straight through if it doesn't have to go through an extra layer of fat
@@I.KUchiha Incredible luck most likely. There's spots where it's possible to survive a direct point blank GSW to the chest. Lungs are the main one, you can survive with only one lung. Intestines in some locations too, there's surgeries to repair that. Liver you can survive if you can get a donor fast enough. Stomach you can also survive, there's surgeries to remove the stomach, and you can still eat after that, although it is limited in how much and what you can eat.
@@nikkiofthevalley wow that’s so crazy
That's so satisfying to hear from a doctor, this level of attention and respect and validation. Maybe you could also address medical sexism next? Specifically how many doctors jump directly to the conclusion that women's pain or discomfort is a psychological issue or overly exaggerated.
He already did that
Thats not medical sexism, its the truth a lot of the time.
Just like he didnt go after medical fat descrimination here because he simply had the benefit of other doctors already going through other issues, he could see that and mark them out right away and then go beyond that.
@@chrikke that doesn't make it sexism or fatphobia. It's simply doctors going for the first thing they can think of which will be the most likely thing. I was always raised that you get a second opinion not because doctors hate you but because like he said medicine is an art not an exact science. There's so much that can go wrong and so much that people don't understand yet that they will go for the first diagnosis and you may want a second one.
The good thing is that we have plenty of choice. If you would stop trying to be a professional victim you would do even better in life including in health.
And you should always try to lose weight. The real problem is that doctors don't do more to encourage people to lose weight to solve their problems after diagnosing them with the problem based on weight.
@@chrikke you try not being human and not going by your studies. That's why there are really good doctors and really bad doctors the same as there is in any industry.
You were taught by others to hate the world and that's why you can only think in negative terms.
You will never have you or Utopia ever.
Humans are just not robots.
Instead of trying to be a victim instead of educate yourself and find a doctor that will work with you on your needs.
All doctors go to similar training and yet they come out different not because hate you but because each person is simply different.
It's like I've been in management and some managers don't have the ability to see each person as individuals. So they treat everybody the same which is a problem because not everybody is the same. They end up putting everybody like the lowest common denominator and it makes it really hard for people to excel.
I'm able to quickly assess people as individuals cuz I have a high IQ and a knack for you might say a sixth sense. But because I'm able to do that also know that most managers can't and they just need to be found a position where they can do really good at what they do.
But sadly you need more managers than there are good managers so you'll have them in positions where they aren't going to be good managers cuz nobody else wants the job.
Oh with them you never going to get the best outcome. It doesn't mean they are bad people just means they are human.
@@chrikke I think it was after the Adam's show commentary or something. There was a segment on that.
My little brother actually got this when he was quite young. He got sick all the time so we had put it off as another flu or something. He unfortunately developed Bell's Palsy on the left side of his face as a result of it, it's no joke. I'm so glad you actually figured it out and helped him before it got too bad
As soon as you listed the symptoms I knew it was Lyme. Essentially, I the same exact thing happened to me, except when I contracted Lyme I was 13 and it was written off as growing pains and due to my weight. I ended up having Lyme disease for 8 years which has now developed into Late Lyme disease. I finished the treatment 6 months ago and I’m still suffering from all the damage it’s done :(
I just wish they took me seriously earlier and maybe I wouldn’t be living like this
I feel you. I had Lyme Disease for 10 years before it was diagnosed. I was called stupid, lazy, crazy, dramatic, bitchy, you name it. Took probably 50 or 60 different doctors to actually find one who would listen. Went through treatment a couple years ago, but things haven't gotten much better. Everyone is asking why I'm not getting better, and I don't know what to tell them other than what I've already told them. I think they believe I'm lazy or making excuses. I'm not getting worse, but I'm not getting better. The people in my life keep forgetting that I'm still in pain all the time, that I'm still just as tired, if not more. No, I can't babysit for you. No, I can't host the family reunion this year. I'm barely a legal adult now, and now people are pushing me to get a job, go to college, find a boyfriend, get married... I technically haven't reached highschool yet due to being held back so much. (Gotta love Lyme Brain, eh?) That's a lot of pressure for someone who is healthy, let alone someone who's basically been sick and disabled for most of their childhood years. It's not as if I don't want to do those things, it's not just realistic right now. I can barely get out of bed most mornings, I'm so tired all the time. "But you're so young!" Yes, it turns out ticks don't care how old you are. I wish people were more informed on Lyme disease, it's common and can happen to anyone, and if undiagnosed for too long can be absolutely devastating. I'm sorry you've been through so much.
Lyme disease is unfortunately common and I can’t believe how many doctors, yours and the guy’s in this video, wrote it off as a weight issue. Serious malpractice. Makes me angry for you. You deserve better ❤
I automatically went to lupus, as joint pain, fatigue and rashes (particularly when Dr Mike said erythematous) are key symptoms of lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). My phd was on lupus in children so know the symptoms that can occur. Though lupus is a nightmare to diagnose as it presents as other diseases, or vice versa (forms of arthritis and lupus can present very similarly). Maybe Lyme disease needs to be on the chart of ‘is it lupus or something else?’
I have two friends who have Lyme disease. One has had it for years and she suffers from fatigue and bad headaches. I’m sure she has a lot of pain from it too. The other friend had Lyme disease for over a year before a doctor diagnosed her. I’m sure the second friend, Ina, may not be able to be cured from it.
I was 14, and even had the rash. We just didn't recognize it because Lyme was thought to still be so rare and not in our area of the country. I was 30 when I was able to finally get treatment. I have permanent brain damage, one side of my face kind of does what it wants, and my heart is just having a good ol' time scaring the heck out of me. I am so sorry you had to experience this. I hope your after-effects improve. It took a few years for me, but I'm always terrified it'll come back.
Dr. Mike is a legend, I respect the fact that he doesn’t let any sort of bias get in the way of his work, that saves lives just like in this story.
dOcToR mIkE iS fAtPhObIc
Having lived with chronic illness as an overweight woman, I’m not remotely shocked he got that diagnosis as weight related and written off. If they don’t blame weight, it’s either downplayed as “female” related, or even just drug seeking pain meds in trying to get help with pain.
I’m glad Dr. Mike caught this, but this guy was “lucky” he had a rash and was male and youngish.
Still it's awesome he talks about this. It's much better for me to share this link rather than expect people to just believe me when I talk about wright biases.
As someone who has suffered issues from Lyme most of my life, it’s ridiculous how many doctors would just write me off as obese. Even once I had my diagnosis, doctors didn’t believe that I was still sick after the initial treatment. They always said that either I needed to lose weight (at 14 I really wasn’t heavy) or that it was all in my head.
I’m glad my doctor took me seriously when I went to see her presenting all the same symptoms and I said very clearly “I think it might be Lyme Disease- please test me”. She listened to me. Tested me. Had me start anti-biotics immediately just in case. Tests came back positive.
Also, if a doctor refuses to listen and just dismisses everything as a weight problem, ask them to write it in your medical chart that you had certain symptoms but they refused to treat them.
My 5month old son was just diagnosed with RSV, yeast infection in the diaper, thrush, and a possible lactose intolerance. I’ve taken him to the doctor and hospital at least 5 times each in the past two months and every doctor kept telling me that it was just the weather or acid reflux and I was worrying too much as a first time mom. I finally went to an entirely different clinic and set of doctors when they FINALLY listened to me and checked my baby. I was sad to hear everything that was wrong but so relieved to finally have someone listen and set up a treatment plan to get him better. We are finally over the yeast infection and thrush. We have switched his formula so no more diarrhea, throwing up, and belly aches. And we are hopefully nearing the end of this RSV. 🤞🏼
Always fight for your kid. I agree with the duty doctor over the phone when my daughter was 13 months old. She had norovirus and was clearly dehydrated and very weak, but her said she didn't need to be seen and to keep giving her fluids. I pushed, he agreed, and his colleague called an ambulance as soon as she saw her. Turns out the issue was an underlying metabolic condition, and, had she not received treatment she would have died within hours. I hope your baby feels better soon ❤️
I got bit by a tick and appreciated my primary care doctor taking it super seriously and helped me take precautions to reduce my risk for lyme disease
I went for pain in one shoulder that I've had for a decade that's getting worse. "Lose weight and it'll get better" is what they all said. Until this recent doctor who actually bothered to do something so simple as an X-ray and discovered my arm constantly falls halfway out the socket because of damage to tendons and stuff. I had a hernia for a year and the docs here wouldn't touch it because I'm overweight but it hurt too much to exercise. When I asked one how I should exercise with the pain he said "I don't know but you need to drop that weight so work through the pain I guess. If you want it bad enough, you'll do it."
These types of incidents are exactly why a lot of big people don't even bother going to a doctor- we already know what the doc will say so why waste the time and $?
That's kinda fucked up ngl, but most doctors don't act like that, yeah they'll blame fat on a lot of stuff, but when it's proven it's not the cause or the pacient says that the docs must check alternatives. Maybe u just met a bad doctor that time.
Yup. Multiple docs missed a problem with my foot for years.
@@brettfo I hope you got it taken care of! I still haven't found someone who will fix my shoulder and now the other one is getting the same issue.
@@leomoose7786 not yet... in part because I use any excuse to disengage but also I lacked a good friend I could call on to help me out while I'm recovering. I have at least figured that part out. It usually doesn't cause too many problems... its not painful in most situations. But I'm one bad fall away from a much bigger problem.
Weight loss starts in the kitchen. You don't need to exercise to lose weight. It just helps. Which is something your doctor should know. I really hope you get your issues fixed, though, that's so terrible.
“If you have a doctor that is overly focused on your weight …” LITERALLY EVERY DOCTOR I’VE EVER SEEN!!!
@@corpsepaws How sweet you are. They're point isn't that they are not obese/overweight. It's that dumb doctors ignore every other possibility and attribute all their issues to their weight. Sure, weight can cause issues sometimes. But that doesn't mean you should be denied proper testing and diagnosis cus weight is the first thing they see. 🤷♀️
@@lilacblue3331 he said if, he's not being mean about ut
Even my gynecologist... 🙄
@@Spidsle my point remains nonetheless, it's not impossible that their weight is affecting them, but homing in on that one possibility of many does not help people as Dr Mike explained
Same
Thank you for not focusing on his weight! He's working on losing weight, but my boyfriend's had this issue before too. It floors me how many people, who are trained medical professionals, take a look at someone and just automatically assume their weight is the sole cause of their issues!!!
yeah specially when the symptoms makes no sense with the problems obesity would bring.
@@rampage3337 Or instead of the cause it is symptom like in cushings etc.
This shows that history taking is very important not only for veterinarians, where patients do not even talk (just the owners) but for human doctors which oftenly missed to take history. Once again, Dr Mike motivates me to become a good doctor, thank you.
You're so right about weight bias preventing proper medical care. Only when I found a doctor that looked beyond my weight did I find out I have hypothyroidism and a food allergy that once they were resolved, symptoms went away and I started LOSING weight. I lived with those conditions for 20 years bc doctors couldn't see beyond my weight.