by Amy Fletcher

Created on: November 02, 2009   Last Updated: November 03, 2009

If being overweight wasn't hard enough, should I have to put up with being treated badly by my doctor? I don't think so. I have struggled with weight gain my whole life. Along with the rest of my family. One could argue that it is hereditary. But, also learned.

Although I have struggled, and struggled I have been rather healthy. No weight related health issues. So when I went in to see my doctor after feeling quite certain I was pregnant I was devastated with her response. She did a physical exam and urine test and when neither of these produced positive results she sent me home telling me that I had gained too much weight and it was affecting my cycle. I was crushed. I cried the whole way home. Not because I wasn't pregnant, I did already have a child at home, but because my doctor told me I was fat.

Well, I was back in her office a month later vomiting. She was so wrong. After an ultrasound that showed I was 16 weeks along I felt redeemed. But that would not be the last time my weight or my financial situation affected the way I was treated.

When my second born child was around two years old he started waking up crying and telling me his leg hurt. I took him to the doctor and had him checked over. The physician told me nothing was wrong. But this continued for months and I kept taking him back. One time I took him to the walk in clinic. The physician there looked me in the eye and said "there is nothing wrong with him, go home". Again, I was crushed. I was hurt by what he said and by the way he said it. But I did finally get someone to listen to me and they ordered an MRI. The MRI revealed that there was a cyst growing around his tendon. Surgery was scheduled and a 2" cyst was removed. Poor little guy. Sometimes you have to be persistent.

Since all of this has happened I have had weightloss surgery and am 125# lighter. I definitely am treated differently. It doesn't seem right, but it is reality. I had to go through a program before my surgeon would consent to the surgery. During that process I learned that my obesity was really a food addiction. Food is how I dealt with everything. Instead of talking out my problems I stuffed them down my throat with a chocolate chaser. It doesn't take long to add on the pounds. But know I have the tools I need to lose and keep of the weight and deal with life in a more healthy way.

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