#i'm so sorely tempted to tell them i used to dance 4-6 hours per day

[salute--salute]

Seven times my doctor told me to lose weight:

When my vertebrae were slipping off of each other, causing multiple hernias and loss of function in my left leg. Would have left me paraplegic if left un-operated

When my periods hurt more after getting surgery for the above. I was told it was probably PCOS caused by my weight. No one ever checked to confirm, and it couldn’t possibly be from spinal surgery

When my bouts of depression would be easily solved, but always return. It was un-diagnosed ADHD

When I couldn’t put weight on my left foot after landing weirdly after jumping while dancing. I’d broken a bone in my foot

When I couldn’t put weight on my right leg after “spraining my ankle”. I was walking around on a broken leg

When I came in with a resting heart rate of 120 bpm, unable to complete sentences without gasping for breath, with a fever of 106 degrees. It was covid-19, and it very nearly killed me

When I kept having a high resting heart rate, kept being short of breath, started having edema in my ankles, felt constantly nauseous, lost all my muscle strength, felt cramps in my torso, neck and left arm, couldn’t think, had constant stomach aches, the light hurt my eyes, kept fumbling words, lost motor skills, had hyperactive bowels, felt random bouts of pain in my feet, and couldn’t bear heat/cold anymore. It was post-viral thin fiber neuropathy, blood clotting, chronic low-grade meningitis, chronic systemic infection, and dysfunctioning lungs that are only converting ~50% of the air I breathe, all as a result of covid

These are the times that there was something else going on, that was missed because the doc dismissed me with advice to diet and exercise. No doctor ever bothered to ask me if I already did.

This isn’t counting the times that I was told to lose weight and the actual thing that was going on was diagnosed.

I haven’t stepped into a doctor’s office without being told to lose weight for about ten years.