how to get doctors to not call me anorexic?

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  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Try going to a male doctor. Their opinions can vary greatly from female.
    If you eat 1800 calories everyday, then you're not under eating. Try heavy weight lifting to gain weight instead.

    She's not eating 1800 calories every day, and she weighs 86 pounds.
  • forswearitssight
    forswearitssight Posts: 33 Member
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    This has already been said, but you definitely need to find another doctor. No doctor should ever label someone or make them feel badly about anything... EVER. I had a sports medicine doctor tell me once that my knees hurt because I was overweight and that I should stop eating. When I told him that the weight gain was due to medication, he actually had the nerve to say, "that's not possible." Oh ok dude. Go see a different doctor and if that 2nd doctor doesn't believe you, then keep trying until you find one that will. You know yourself. Your mother knows you. You both know how much you eat and that you want to gain weight. No one should ever make you feel bad about yourself ever... especially not someone in a profession where their job is to help people.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
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    Adults with anorexia generally have a BMI below 17.5, this is what your doctor will go off of. It is not a "judgement" in the sense we use it here when coming from a doctor, it is their job to place you in the categories established over averages of people. If you truely are or not is maybe up for debate without knowing lots of other information about you, but the doctor would be negligent if they failed to say you are anorexic in weight vs height for a BMI calculation, when you fit in that category.
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
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    You sound like a nice girl, really you do :flowerforyou:

    However your post sends up a few red flags to me & clearly, the Doctor you saw too. Not judging you, but I'm curious as to why you're so upset if you're getting the help you need.

    You went to the doctor to gain weight, doctor said, yep, this gal is anorexic & needs to gain weight.

    The doctor agreed with you. Don't get hung up on the label & do what you know you have to do. Good luck, I'm sure there are ED groups on here, that can help you better than the general boards.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    This is quite a strange thread. The OP I believe just wants people to tell she hasn't got a problem which obviously she has. Many people with eating issues say they wish to put on weight but when it comes down to eat they struggle to do the practical things.

    To the OP it really doesn't matter if the doctors label you or not just take any help they can give you as it's obvious by this thread you have problems Good luck
  • noona92
    noona92 Posts: 1
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    ANOREXIA AND ANOREXIA NERVOSA ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!!!

    Everyone on this forum seems to be mixing it up! Regardless of how the weight was lost, Anorexia is used for an individual who is underweight. Anorexia nervosa is used for those who, along with being underweight, carry one or more of the mental issues that everyone here is throwing around (obsessive calorie counting, fear of fat, etc etc).

    So yes, an anorexia diagnosis is entirely correct. Whether or not an Anorexia NERVOSA diagnosis is correct is something that needs to be determined by a mental health professional.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    The doctor agreed with you. Don't get hung up on the label & do what you know you have to do. Good luck, I'm sure there are ED groups on here, that can help you better than the general boards.

    The problem being that she is in denial that she has an ED, hence this thread.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    This has already been said, but you definitely need to find another doctor. No doctor should ever label someone or make them feel badly about anything... EVER. I had a sports medicine doctor tell me once that my knees hurt because I was overweight and that I should stop eating. When I told him that the weight gain was due to medication, he actually had the nerve to say, "that's not possible." Oh ok dude. Go see a different doctor and if that 2nd doctor doesn't believe you, then keep trying until you find one that will. You know yourself. Your mother knows you. You both know how much you eat and that you want to gain weight. No one should ever make you feel bad about yourself ever... especially not someone in a profession where their job is to help people.

    I don't think you fully understand the role a doctor plays in the care and treatment of their patients. Sometimes, they may...nay, they *must* say things in response to which the patient may "feel bad".

    Note to self: confirm with my doctor that he not refrain from telling me the truth even if it means I might feel bad in response to the information/diagnosis.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    Orexia - means appetite
    An - means no

    Anorexia - no appetite
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    Look, I made a very adult decision this month and am VERY proud of myself.
    I looked up some internal medicine doctors in my area, found one, left my pediatrician (I'm 20 now) and ventured over to her in the hopes of asking how to gain some weight and if she knew a nutritionist i could go work with. I told her i wanted to build some muscle and thought she would respect my decision to fix my underweightness. heres the thing, i'm underweight cause i have no clue what I'm doing, I've been using bro-science and google for three years to diet, so i lost a lot of weight very slowly. the past year i dropped to a weight that i saw no issue with, until i started looking in the mirror and being like '**** i look like I have pencil arms and my shoulders are creepy bony'.

    so i went to the doc and the first thing i said was "help me gain weight? and i told her everything" she had the GALL to literally label me as anorexic. she used that term. i said, no, I'm not afraid of eating, i eat quite a lot, and i told her everything i eat. i also asked her how someone who seeks out a doctor to gain weight because they SEE a problem with being to skinny would be considered anorexic. she literally ignored me and made me cry. yeah, i cried in front of her, it was so embarrassing. because i took myself to my first adult docs appointment seeking to gain weight out of my own free will without any influence of friends or family. i just wanted to get healthy. and she insulted me and called me anorexic. even after i told her i wanted to gain weight and wasn't afraid of eating, she labeled me, just like that.

    it was like one of those nightmares where nobody believes you, ya know? when you're screaming and nobody can hear you or they ignore you or you're paralyzed and can't move. it was so horrific and I'm mortified. how can i get her to stop treating me like a crazy person? i was able to get a nutritionist appointment for tomorrow so I'm gonna go talk to her. if nothing else, how can i get this nutritionist (and my doc of course) to treat me like a human being without a mental problem? an eating disorder is a mental state. and i don't have a mental state where i want to lose weight, or that i see a fat girl in the mirror. no, i see a skinny girl who needs muscly arms and some increased calories.

    she mortified me by calling me anorexic. she is wrong. i want to gain, so how am i anorexic? that terminology was used incorrectly! there are fat anorexic people! there are also skinny underweight girls who want to gain weight! that does not make them anorexic since they are skinny! that is a state of mind!

    proof:

    Definitions of anorexia:

    "Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that makes people lose more weight than is considered healthy for their age and height. Persons with this disorder may have an intense fear of weight gain, even when they are underweight. They may diet or exercise too much or use other ways to lose weight."

    I DONT FEAR WEIGHT GAIN I ACTIVELY LOOKED FOR WEIGHT GAIN WITH THE HELP OF MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

    I DONT DIET/OR EXERCISE. AT ALL. I SIT ON MY COMPUTER ALL DAY. IT"S MY JOB.

    another definition:

    a lack or loss of appetite for food (as a medical condition).
    an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat.

    I EAT ALLLL THE TIME AND ALOT! I ate 1800 cals yesterday! I'm only 5'2 and female! WHAT THE HELL SHE THINKS I DONT EAT!

    Help i feel like nobody believes me! My mom even said if the doctor doesn't believe me she will take pictures of me eating every meal and shove them in her face. its so unfair and she's making me out to be a crazy person who starves themselves! should i never see this quack doctor again?

    I'm hoping that the nutritionist will have a better understanding of anorexia and will likely see you for who you really are.

    Further I'm hoping the nutritionist will have good ideas for how to help you set your cal goals in line with your height and activity levels and some foods to help you get therer. If not TDEE is a place to start and scooby website can help.
  • mfp2014mfp
    mfp2014mfp Posts: 689 Member
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    Get a second opinion, but also maybe your doctor is right.
    Looking at your other posts you seem to be completely freaked out about fat in your food or gaining fat with gaining muscle. Oh and the not taking advice from overweight people...
    Fat is essential for normal brain function. It also may help you deal with things better emotinally (like visiting a doctor) if your body is getting what it needs.
    Also 540 cals isnt a binge.
    I just hope you find the help that you need, and when you do that youre in a position to accept it.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
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    This has already been said, but you definitely need to find another doctor. No doctor should ever label someone or make them feel badly about anything... EVER. I had a sports medicine doctor tell me once that my knees hurt because I was overweight and that I should stop eating. When I told him that the weight gain was due to medication, he actually had the nerve to say, "that's not possible." Oh ok dude. Go see a different doctor and if that 2nd doctor doesn't believe you, then keep trying until you find one that will. You know yourself. Your mother knows you. You both know how much you eat and that you want to gain weight. No one should ever make you feel bad about yourself ever... especially not someone in a profession where their job is to help people.

    ^This is an extremely harmful opinion that some people have. Doctors are, and should be neutral analyzers of your health condition. They may say things that make you feel bad, and are actually negligent in many cases if they do NOT say something that makes you feel bad when its the truth and damaging to your health. But since they are Doctors, they have standards to uphold on privacy as well as health measures, so you should not take the Doctor telling you you are obese or anorexic the same way as a person on the street.

    You can get anyone to lie to you, whether you know it or not, but you go to your doctor to get a neutral evaluation according to their education. If you don't like what is said, its not a "judgement of you", it is their opinion according to their education, so go to another doctor and see what their opinion is. If doctor's opinions are matching after you go to a couple or more, maybe you need to change your idea about your condition. If you can't go to a doctor for a neutral evaluation of your health condition, who would you go to? If you "know" your doctors are wrong, even if they *are* wrong, thats fine too, maybe there are some health measures that are "wrong" for you, but still, the notion they shouldn't say anything that makes you feel bad is absurd.

    You have to realize a standard can be off, but it is still a Doctor's job to tell you how you fit in the standard. I know this with my own BMI. I was "obese" according to BMI charts, all doctors would weigh me in as "obese". But I know I carry more muscle mass than average and have broader shoulders/bone structure than average, so right now, and even when I am at a great body fat percentage I am in "overweight" category (yeah right now I still could stand to lose some weight, but I'm not "obese"). I also know my heart rate is lower than average and I am firmly in the "bradycardia" range. Both of these facts put me in categories where an evaluating doctor may state a health risk, even though it is not a health risk in my case. But, because it is "abnormal" outside standards, if they didn't tell me this, they would not be doing their job. This is GOOD because it catches many people with various conditions in these categories. However, it may make me feel bad, all doctors would have told me before I lost some weight: YOU ARE OBESE. Now any new doctor I go to will STILL tell me YOU ARE OVERWEIGHT. Some may even have wanted to run tests due to my heart rate... But after a few visits and delving more into the issue, the doctor I saw would tell me "you are in great shape". Its up to you and your doctor to see if you are outside "normal" ranges or it really is a problem.
  • cholepapi
    cholepapi Posts: 79
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    That's pretty tough. I had a friend who had the same problem, she couldn't gain weight. People teased her in school but I knew she ate because I lived with her and she ate more than I did. Some people are like that, oh yes she is very healthy. If there is nothing medically wrong with you, then be happy......:D oh & of course second opinions are always good.
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
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    The doctor agreed with you. Don't get hung up on the label & do what you know you have to do. Good luck, I'm sure there are ED groups on here, that can help you better than the general boards.

    The problem being that she is in denial that she has an ED, hence this thread.

    yep. I got that, I think she does too, just hasn't gotten around to admitting it to herself.

    Still, you can't fool someone who's been where you are with the usual seemingly innocuous excuses. From what I've read of her previous posts, I don't think the doctor was wrong.
  • DayByDayGetStronger
    DayByDayGetStronger Posts: 108 Member
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    This is your second post on this exact same thing.

    I'm not quick to call TROLL, but I smell something cooking.

    Eat more protein and lift weights. You want to gain muscles without working out. That will never happen.

    If you want to be rich do what rich people do.
    If you want to be fit do what fit people do.

    If your not willing to put in the work, then accept responsibility for where you are


    Yeah, ditto. Why would you go on ranting and ranting and typing so fast that you can't even put in proper punctuation or capital letters if you weren't raging angry at someone telling you the truth? How you're responding to this issue IS the issue. Denial runs deep in addictions.
  • supermodelchic
    supermodelchic Posts: 550 Member
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    Sometimes doctors do not know best, get another doctor .....goodluck:flowerforyou:
  • tjsoccermom
    tjsoccermom Posts: 500 Member
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    Given all the posts you have made recently, I would say that you do have a serious problem that needs to be addressed by someone other than an MD. You'll get doctors to not call you anorexic by not being anorexic. Seek some professional help and get over this disease that has a hold on you so you can live a long and healthy life! I mean that as nicely as I can. Best of luck to you, you can overcome this with help.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    ANOREXIA AND ANOREXIA NERVOSA ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!!!

    Everyone on this forum seems to be mixing it up! Regardless of how the weight was lost, Anorexia is used for an individual who is underweight. Anorexia nervosa is used for those who, along with being underweight, carry one or more of the mental issues that everyone here is throwing around (obsessive calorie counting, fear of fat, etc etc).

    So yes, an anorexia diagnosis is entirely correct. Whether or not an Anorexia NERVOSA diagnosis is correct is something that needs to be determined by a mental health professional.

    You know, I had wondered - the doc referred OP to a nutritionist, but not to a counselor/therapist as well? Doesn't make sense for a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa.

    Still, if the doctor can't take 2min to explain the difference between the two when the OP is protesting the diagnosis, and given the post here, likely pretty upset about it, then again, she needs to find another doctor.

    If you don't think your doctor listens to you and at least takes your input into consideration, you're not likely to take your doctor's advice because you're going to be convinced he/she missed something. Especially if you think the diagnosis is contrary to what you are saying are your symptoms.

    Folks - it isn't about finding the doctor spewing sparkles and rainbows out of their butt, and handing out lollipops every chance they get. It's about finding one that knows what they're doing AND that the OP feels can be trusted to advise her. What difference does it make if the doctor is right if OP ignores him/her?
  • Kenazwa
    Kenazwa Posts: 278 Member
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    I think you're in denial.
    Or trolling for reactions.