Starting Diet Pills at a Normal Weight

huv123

I saw a psychiatrist a few days ago after being referred by a GP to him- he said to me "your weight is in the normal BMI range for your height- but lets face it- you do look overweight"

Worst psychiatrist ever. I'm guessing this one was in the bottom 5% of the graduating class.

This makes me so mad, the more I think about it.

I would personally consider making a formal complaint against him to the medical board. This comment was grossly inappropriate. Worse still, unless someone speaks up he will never have a "history" of making such comments, and you can bet if he makes them to you he is making them to other patients.

kgeyser

I saw a psychiatrist a few days ago after being referred by a GP to him- he said to me "your weight is in the normal BMI range for your height- but lets face it- you do look overweight"

Worst psychiatrist ever. I'm guessing this one was in the bottom 5% of the graduating class.

bottom of the class or not he earns a LOT of money being private.... and didn't mind telling me that either!

Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian earn a lot of money, would you trust either them to successfully walk across a room without somehow lighting themselves on fire? A good psychiatrist has a record of success with his patients, not his bank account. There are plenty of people in the fields of psychology and psychiatry who make a lot of money, not because they are good, but because they have found patients who have a lot of money and are happy to fork it over each week for their sessions without making any real progress.

Ditch the shrink and find another one. I would personally file a complaint against Dr. Moneybags as well.

ETA: Ah, it's early and I didn't see the dates. I got all fired up wanting to punch your doctor. Glad you stopped seeing him.

jetlag

i'll do anything right now to be thin

Anything? If you're light but look heavy, then lifting weights seems the obvious solution while ditching diet pills because you'll need to eat to build a decent body. You'll end up heavier but look lighter.

This. You can be light yet "look overweight" because the only thing between your bones and your skin is fat with a little muscle. Build some muscle and you will look better, I promise.

ndj1979

You need a new psychiatrist. I can't think of a reasonable reason why to tell someone who is in normal BMI with a history of disordered eating and self image problems to use diet pills or even losing more weight.

this

splixi

I'm too scared to file a complaint against anybody. After numerous hospital admissions and just constant deterioration I finally left him. Sometimes with an eating disorder you feel like two people. My eating disorder loved him because he would enable it and give me diet pills and everytime I left I was motivated to lose more weight by whatever unhealthy means I liked. I have just gotten out of hospital after a month in there with this kind of crap and really want to turn things around but finally admitted he was a really awful thing for me even though I think he wanted to do the right thing by me (help me get a body I liked).

He wasn't right for me and the healthy part of my head knows that now even though my eating disorder wants to go back to him.

I'm not going to talk to him again or even tell him that i'm not seeing him but i'll leave it at that. I hope that other people experience more progress with him than I did.

Here's to better times!- learning to try and eat normally again is a very hard thing to do....and the fear and guilt. I'm determined now and have a supportive team of psychiatrist/counsellor/dietician/gp.

The more I read through this thread the more I wish i'd have done this earlier!- I feel so foolish! but like I said it was never "me" that liked him but my eating disorder...

jetlag

Too scared to file a complaint? That's a shame. It will allow him to carry on abusing other patients.

Phrick

Too scared to file a complaint? That's a shame. It will allow him to carry on abusing other patients.

QFT x10. Complaints are generally anonymous, what's to be afraid of??

castadiva

please, please, PLEASE file a complaint with your state medical board. If you can't bring yourself to do it, have a parent or other close family member do it on your behalf. You have survived this, others may not be so lucky, if exposed to this 'Doctor'. For all any of us can know, he may be practising illegally, and your report (and the consequences of his treatment) could get him properly investigated. If nothing else, it adds to a body of evidence that he is unfit to practise, which may hopefully, in time, limit his ability to harm unwitting patients. There is nothing at all to be scared of - you make the complaint, and other people act on it - that's their job.

splixi

He thought he was helping me. He knew I wanted to be smaller to be happier and was trying to help me with it and to control the appetite that came with other medications.

I guess it wasn't his fault that I took the passing/fleeting comments and internalised them. He just wasn't right for me- maybe he'd be perfect for someone else and I wouldn't want to jeopardise that.

RhonndaJ

You need a new psychiatrist. I can't think of a reasonable reason why to tell someone who is in normal BMI with a history of disordered eating and self image problems to use diet pills or even losing more weight.

Um, I'm going to agree with this. I don't know any doctor who would tell a person with disordered eating or body image issues that they're a normal BMI but look overweight. Find another doctor and get a second opinion. I would also go back to your GP and see what he/she thinks about taking the diet pills in combination with the Prednisone.

And I also agree lifting weights may be a better option. Ditch your scale, you're more than a number. Go how by you look and feel. After you've started lifting heavy, you'll lose inches and your body will look completely different.

This.

Personally, I am less concerned about the diet pills than I am about what your psych said to you.

LuLuChick78

You need a new psychiatrist. I can't think of a reasonable reason why to tell someone who is in normal BMI with a history of disordered eating and self image problems to use diet pills or even losing more weight.

Um, I'm going to agree with this. I don't know any doctor who would tell a person with disordered eating or body image issues that they're a normal BMI but look overweight. Find another doctor and get a second opinion. I would also go back to your GP and see what he/she thinks about taking the diet pills in combination with the Prednisone.

And I also agree lifting weights may be a better option. Ditch your scale, you're more than a number. Go how by you look and feel. After you've started lifting heavy, you'll lose inches and your body will look completely different.

I wholeheartedly agree with all of this.

LuLuChick78

He thought he was helping me. He knew I wanted to be smaller to be happier and was trying to help me with it and to control the appetite that came with other medications.

I guess it wasn't his fault that I took the passing/fleeting comments and internalised them. He just wasn't right for me- maybe he'd be perfect for someone else and I wouldn't want to jeopardise that.

Generally when people finally do become "smaller" they still are not happy with how they look if there are underlying issues. What is your end point? A number on the scale? A certain item of clothing? It is likely something measurable (is that a word?, lol)

kimad

He thought he was helping me. He knew I wanted to be smaller to be happier and was trying to help me with it and to control the appetite that came with other medications.

I guess it wasn't his fault that I took the passing/fleeting comments and internalised them. He just wasn't right for me- maybe he'd be perfect for someone else and I wouldn't want to jeopardise that.

Any doctor in their right mine would help you by working on your body image issues, by making sure you are connected with a doctor specialized in eating disorders, THEY WOULD NOT help you have an eating disorder. The logic is so off, so I second another poster that said he may not even be a legal doctor. I think you not reporting him is a shame also.

splixi

I know he is DEFINITELY a legal doctor. - he has a provider number and has visiting rights at a hospital.

I appreciated his honesty with me because no-one else was honest enough with me to tell me I looked overweight. - which is true. He made me realise that I still had a lot to fix.

Time to leave it behind me. I have another Dr who is amazing.

I don't dare to keep a food diary here anymore because I think doing that is what was enough to trigger me down a nasty path. I still count calories in my head without even thinking but before I went into hospital i'd be lucky to have 200-300 calories a day and seeing it all as numbers in front of me just makes me want to cut everything out or work off every one of them. I come here to look at the forums though - try and get myself into healthier patterns.

RoadsterGirlie

I don't understand how this "doctor" has a license to practice medicine.

roniredd

Personally, if my doctor told me that I looked overweight, he would no longer be my doctor.

splixi

I guess lots of doctors are upfront with their patients (it just didn't work for me)......

He told me my BMI- told me it was normal but not always the best judge and that looking at me I did look overweight.

He reassured me that he had experience dealing with eating/weight issues (particularly with people who had had gastric sleeve surgery) and that he would get me where I wanted to be if that meant being happier and feeling more confident.

The comments were just triggers for me personally that put me down a path of using desperate means for fast weightloss. I have the body I wanted now....but all I want is something more- the cycle doesn't end.

I know any other professional I speak to has said the comments were completely inappropriate- I might ask them if I should do anything about it.

kimmymayhall

He thought he was helping me. He knew I wanted to be smaller to be happier and was trying to help me with it and to control the appetite that came with other medications.

I guess it wasn't his fault that I took the passing/fleeting comments and internalised them. He just wasn't right for me- maybe he'd be perfect for someone else and I wouldn't want to jeopardise that.

His job is not to be your friend and just tell you what you want. His job is to help you be well, the whole you. Weather malicious or incompetent, it sounds like his ability to treat people should be reevaluated before he hurts others. The fact that your new doctors agree his actions were inappropriate shows that it wasn't just you being too sensitive. It was his mistake, not yours.

I'm glad that you have a strong, supportive team now. Best of luck to you in your recovery.

auddii

I guess lots of doctors are upfront with their patients (it just didn't work for me)......

He told me my BMI- told me it was normal but not always the best judge and that looking at me I did look overweight.

He reassured me that he had experience dealing with eating/weight issues (particularly with people who had had gastric sleeve surgery) and that he would get me where I wanted to be if that meant being happier and feeling more confident.

The comments were just triggers for me personally that put me down a path of using desperate means for fast weightloss. I have the body I wanted now....but all I want is something more- the cycle doesn't end.

I know any other professional I speak to has said the comments were completely inappropriate- I might ask them if I should do anything about it.

I'm sorry that it took hospitalizations and lots of problems for you to realize that he wasn't the doctor for you, but at least you can move on now. I'd even suggest talking to several different doctors, especially if they don't make you feel comfortable. Don't assume that the doctor knows best; there are specialists who deal with people with eating disorders, and I'm sure none of them would tell you that you look overweight even though you're not. I'd try to find a specialist to help you even if you don't think you have a "strict eating disorder". It sounds like you don't have the healthiest relationship with how you view your body.

That said, it is possible to be at a lower weight but still have a high body fat percentage. I echo others who have suggested eating enough calories to maintain your weight and add strength/weight training; a progressive program. Here's a great success story, and if you look down towards the end, I think she looks better at a higher weight, but it's because she built muscle and reduced her body fat:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

castadiva

I know he is DEFINITELY a legal doctor. - he has a provider number and has visiting rights at a hospital.

I appreciated his honesty with me because no-one else was honest enough with me to tell me I looked overweight. - which is true. He made me realise that I still had a lot to fix.

I'll rephrase - he may be practising fraudulently - there have been numerous cases of 'Doctors' with all of the apparent trappings of legality and certification who have falsified records and gained provider numbers and visiting privileges etc, but had no business practising medicine.

What he did for you was not 'honest' or helpful - it was dangerous. You survived, though you were hospitalised several times. His 'advice' and 'help' and 'honesty' very fortunately did not put you in a life-threatening situation - others might not be so lucky. Please, speak to the other professionals, listen when they inevitably say that what he did was profoundly wrong, on so many levels, and then report him. At the very least, he needs to be re-certified in working with people who have body-image and eating issues.

splixi

[/quote]

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
[/quote]

What a champ! Maybe one day when I get over my fear of numbers on the scales i'll be able to do that kinda thing too.