If you’re not following @FatDoctorUK on Instagram then I highly recommend doing that right now. She has created a new podcast and I had the extreme honor and joy to be on episode 2! We talked all about weight stigma and despite a not-so-fun topic, we had a great time together.
Movement/fitness/exercise by any definition is never an obligation or barometer of worthiness. But for fat people who want to move our bodies within a fat positive framework, a fatphobic culture can create barriers, misinformation, and other difficulties. In this workshop we’ll explore tips, tricks, and information to help us move our bodies for our own reasons and on our own terms.. (This workshop can also be helpful to fitness pros who want to create a fat-positive practice!). There will also be a video of the talk provided, and an unlimited live Q&A (I stay until all the questions are answered!) so you are guaranteed to get the information you came for!
Like This Blog? If you appreciate the work that I do, you can support my ability to do more of it with a one-time tip or by becoming a member. (Members get special deals on fat-positive stuff, a monthly e-mail keeping them up to date on the work their membership supports, and the ability to ask me questions that I answer in a members-only monthly Q&A Video!)
How is it July?! This week I went back to everyday office life and it has not been easy. While part of me was excited to go back and feel like a part of something again, another part of me, namely my gallbladder, had something else in mind entirely. Ugh! Yeah, two weeks ago, after no gallbladder pain since the beginning of November, my gallbladder pain returned in full effect. The fucker! After the first week of feeling truly terrible I emailed the surgeon and her assistant trying to get this damn thing removed already. Well, California “opened” on June 15th and well before that the surgery departments have all been booked up for months. I was fine with waiting when I had no debilitating pain, but now? Um…I don’t think so!
The surgeon at first told me to go to the ER but I explained that they didn’t believe I was in pain when I was at my absolute worst last August. After months of wrong diagnosis and testing it was the surgeon, on a hunch over the phone, who discovered what the real issue was. She was the only one who listened to me, who asked about the rest of my life and lifestyle. Because of that I know that I don’t have a blockage or stones, I just have a gallbladder than quit its only job. She wanted to use a robot for the surgery, mostly due to the fact that they also found a mystery mass that while benign it actually grew since the start of the year so she wanted to remove it. This would mean two separate surgeries that could be done in one session using the robot. Now that my pain is back she suggested going with the regular laparoscopy and only taking the gallbladder. I said yes!
I haven’t heard back since but I do have an in-person appointment with her next week so I’m hoping for more answers then. In the meantime my life is ruled by this pain. I feel fine in the mornings when I get up, and for a few hours after. Until, that is, I eat. Yeah eating is a basic function of life. So I went for a few days of not eating until 5 pm, which is the pits and I do not suggest it. But I had to prepare my office for the big reopen. I loved working from home, but suddenly that was no longer an option (I’m an office manager). I wanted to do it, but my body was fighting me every step of the way. Then I had four days in a row of no pain and I got soooooo much done at home. I rearranged my living room, cleaned, built a shelf, did all the laundry, washed the dog, went on a date (my first since Dec. 2019)…
Then my first day back at the office and I started to feel crummy before lunch. I thought I was just extra hungry because I had gotten up so much earlier than usual and hadn’t slept much that night. Nope! Fucking gallbladder! UGH! It took two more hours before it became fully apparent what it was. I can only take Tylenol so I just waited and left work a few minutes early. When I got home I just collapsed on my bed with my puggo snuggled up beside me. After an hour I finally got up and fed the puggo, took some Tylenol, vaped some cannabis, and laid down again. I would not have been able to eat at all if not for the cannabis. Once it all kicked in I was able to sit upright and eat and take care of some things at home.
The part about this that truly sucks is that my life is now ruled by when this pain will return. Will it be another three days of pain followed by four days of no pain? Will it just wreck me entirely? And why can I not get scheduled for this fucking surgery?!?! I understand things are backed up, but this ain’t no mole removal. I’m actually terrified of having surgery, more so being put under anesthesia. I’ve never been put under for anything. Not being able to make decisions for myself, especially medically speaking, is one of my biggest fears. Facing it alone is not what I had planned, but it is what I must do and so be it. It is far better than just living with this awful pain.
People keep telling me that gallbladder pain is some of the worse you can experience. Yeah, no shit! I put on a tough facade, but lemme tell ya, at home I am all moans, groans, and whines. Dealing with this for so long seems absolutely cruel to me at this point. Yet there’s nothing I can do about it either. I just keep getting up every morning like it’s going to be fine. Some days it is fine. When it’s not it is unbearable. I cannot live my life like this.
It’s been weird, too, to have to be “on” again at work all of the time. After wearing PJ’s and not worrying about my looks at all for fifteen months, I kind of like putting a little makeup on in the morning. Driving in traffic I could definitely do without. Ha! The few people who have come into the office have been great though. All very complimentary. I have a new boss who seems to give a shit about way more than any of my previous ones, so that’s cool. Usually with my job people only really notice what it is I do when something goes wrong. Having people in the office thanking me for getting it ready and assisting them feels good.
I’m so grateful to have what I do and be where I am in life and I am doing my best to take nothing for granted. It is an odd feeling to both thrive and struggle through on my own. It is a hard thing to explain. When I’ve had my darkest moments in the throes of truly horrific pain, I can’t imagine having someone else around or looking after me. It has often been when I’m having bursts of joy and silliness, dancing around in my little apartment, that I wish I had a person to share those moments with. I don’t feel that my life is lacking in any meaningful way. I have jolly good fun on my own with my puggo. My nearest and dearest, though spread far and wide, are very supportive. Once this gallbladder is outta me, I’m definitely going to “get out” more, but I also won’t feel bad about preferring my own company at home.
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“Medical Professionals” created a device to bolt fat people’s jaws shut. Subjects reported discomfort, speech issues, and feeling tense/embarrassed. Creators still claimed “there are no adverse consequences.” This is a grim reminder that many “medical professionals” do not view fat people as human, or deserving of ethical, humane healthcare.
I’ve had hundreds of people ask me to write about the bullshit new device created by UK and New Zealand researchers that bolts fat people’s mouths shut to keep them from eating.
TLDR: It is wrong and horrific on every level, and it would be wrong and horrific even if it was actually likely to lead to significant long-term weight loss, which it is not.
Content Note: This piece will describe violent anti-fat healthcare practices.
First of all, and I can’t believe I have to type this, it’s not ok to bolt people’s mouths shut. There are certainly situations in which wiring someone’s jaw is medically necessary, but bolting someone’s mouth shut for the express purpose of not allowing them to open it to eat is not now, nor will it ever be, a humane healthcare intervention.
Based on their article (which I will not be giving traffic to by linking) they are launching this based on the belief that the reason long-term weight loss fails so often is that fat people can’t submit to long-term starvation for long enough if we can open our mouths. Except that’s not remotely valid, research shows again and again that low-calorie dieting does not lead to long-term, sustained weight loss for more than a tiny fraction of people at best. They are also launching this based on the results of a two-week study (that’s not a typo – two weeks!)
During those two weeks the participants reported issues including discomfort, speech issues, feeling tense and embarrassed and decreased satisfaction with life, which the researchers completely ignored, claiming that there were “no adverse effects.” The researchers also pointed out that with the similar treatment of jaw wiring that was used in the past “many jaw-wired patients felt anxious and some developed acute psychiatric conditions. In addition, after 9-12 months, patients developed periodontal disease. After wire removal, a transient, and in some cases persistent, limitation of jaw movement was also observed.”
Also, the people regained their weight after their jaws were no longer wired shut. Completely unsurprisingly, the participants in this two-week study had already regained weight in the two weeks following the two weeks in which their jaws were bolted shut. Which may explain why they are trying to sell this based on a two-week study and the ludicrous idea that people can just keep taking it off and putting it back on. HAES Student Doctor has a great breakdown of this here.
If I had turned this in for a freshman level research methods class I cannot overstate how hard I would have (rightly) failed the assignment, so the fact that it both passed approval for human subject testing and was published is a testament to the amount of weight stigma in healthcare.
This is a grim reminder that many of the people who are impacting fat people’s healthcare believe that life as a fat person is a less than human existence, and thus any amount of inhumane treatment (including risking our lives) is worth it for even the smallest chance that we might get a tiny bit thinner even for a short time.
Again, the existing research is VERY CLEAR that extremely low-calorie liquid diets don’t lead to long-term weight loss and don’t “jump start” a weight loss journey because the human body is wired to see the complete lack of solid food and extreme caloric restriction as a famine situation, causing it to become a weight gaining, weight maintaining machine for our own protection. Of course that’s takes more than two weeks to see.
And again, whether or not it “works” is immaterial because it’s not ok to bolt people’s mouths shut to keep them from eating.
Finally, weight stigma in healthcare tells us to blame fat bodies for health issues, but that completely ignores the deleterious effects of weight stigma (which is perpetuated by the idea that fat people should have our mouths bolted shut,) weight cycling (which the research tells us will be perpetuated by this device,) and staggering inequalities in healthcare access (which include being told that rather than supporting our health in the bodies we have, it’s “healthcare” to bolt our mouths shut.)
This is barbaric and I think that every “medical professional” who willingly participated in this should be banned from the healthcare field forever. Starting with this guy…
Professor Paul Brunton
Lead researcher
Pro-Vice-Chancellor Health Sciences
University of Otago
Email: pvc.healthsciences@otago.ac.nz0
You can also cc the New Zealand Human Rights Commission:(with thanks to Justine for these links)
media@hrc.co.nz
infoline@hrc.co.nz
UPCOMING ONLINE WORKSHOP:
Getting Jiggly With It – Movement in a Fat Body
Movement/fitness/exercise by any definition is never an obligation or barometer of worthiness. But for fat people who want to move our bodies within a fat positive framework, a fatphobic culture can create barriers, misinformation, and other difficulties. In this workshop we’ll explore tips, tricks, and information to help us move our bodies for our own reasons and on our own terms.. (This workshop can also be helpful to fitness pros who want to create a fat-positive practice!). There will also be a video of the talk provided, and an unlimited live Q&A (I stay until all the questions are answered!) so you are guaranteed to get the information you came for!
Like This Blog? If you appreciate the work that I do, you can support my ability to do more of it with a one-time tip or by becoming a member. (Members get special deals on fat-positive stuff, a monthly e-mail keeping them up to date on the work their membership supports, and the ability to ask me questions that I answer in a members-only monthly Q&A Video!)
I’ve been struggling to do more than 10 minutes on the treadmill for months. I’ve also been concerned that my pulse was anaerobically high when I’d finish on the treadmill. I’d been toying with going to shorter times and just doing more of them, and then the new endocrinologist suggested the same. I’ve started doing 5 minute sessions, and found that 3 of them is doable. My pulse doesn’t get above aerobic levels; to put it another way, I’m staying in “vigorous”, sometimes even “moderate”. And I’m still feeling the exercise, all right.
I’ve been reading Every Body Yoga and doing six or so asanas, twice a week. I’m also getting on and off the floor twice a week – something that before my pulmonary embolism I didn’t regard as all that remarkable. In my case and my current levels of fitness, I’m using our bedframe (specifically the side rail) as a support in going down and up. I didn’t need that 5 years ago, and I’m working to not need it in the future. Still, like yoga teachers have told me many times, if a prop helps, use it!
Other props I have used to get off the floor are our coffee table and a chair. Do I need to write that I do not trust just any piece of furniture? Because no, I don’t. I also find – while the man of the house is always ready to help – it can be best for him to hold a sturdy chair steady for me, instead of him bending over. This saves his back.
New doctors tend to result in me being anxious. In this case, it was a new endocrinologist. Reasons include: new insurance doesn’t support the prior endocrinologist and the prior endocrinologist is a sole proprietor leading to delays for anything. New endocrinologist was selected from the group practice at the hospital system where I have everything else. They know how my insurance works and they have support staff.
To my surprise – and after stressing for days – the visit with the new doctor went well. Staff did not show surprise about my arriving on a mobility scooter. They were fine with me “parking” it in the waiting room, and pointed out I could use it the entire time. I explained I’m more comfortable walking in the more closed in offices, but the scooter made it easier to navigate the hospital complex where their office is located. The waiting room had a variety of chair widths; the exam room had a wide chair, exam table, a stool, and another chair. I was able to move comfortably. The blood pressure cuff was appropriate.
I arrived with a list of things to discuss, mostly involving meds. I was treated respectfully. I was not told to diet. I was not asked what I eat, much less lectured on my assumed eating habits. We discussed tests to check on my hypothyroid and other function. I agreed with the recommendations. One prescription was renewed. I was given written directions to the lab for my tests (down the elevator, down the sloping ramp to another building – this is why I brought the scooter).
That afternoon I had email notifying me of an update in the hospital system’s portal. My labs were fine. I was reminded to feel free to reach out in the portal if I have questions or need another prescription.
Overall, I’m relieved.
I’m also a bit frustrated that being relieved is good, and that my expectations were low based on experience.
