Worst advice given to you by a "professional"

Not weight loss related, but when I had raging bad TMJD and couldn't open my mouth more than 9mm without intense pain and my jaw making all kinds of horrible cracking noises, a tmj specialist oral surgeon told me, "That's just the way god made you."

Dude... I'm an atheist. In my mind, god didn't make me. And I wasn't "made" this way two years ago, so fix my damn jaw already!

My regular dentist got me all straightened out. And now I can open my mouth like a frickin' Pez dispenser. :happy:

That I needed to weigh 120 pounds, by a doctor. I was only 140 at the time (at 5'4, so not even overweight). I'm pretty sure my bare skeleton weighs 120.

So, you think that the whole rest of you (organs, skin, blood, water, turd) weighs a whole 20 pounds? Yeah... that sounds reasonable... stupid doctor.

A doctor gave me a serious complex when i was 17, weighed 135lbs at 5"4 and told me I was 15lbs over weight....Uhhh...that's a helathy BMI and back then I was mostly muscle...What the heck?!

I once had a nurse weigh me and then say "whoa I didnt know you weighed that much. Don't worry , you don't look it. I guess it's bc you're tall."

Backhanded compliment much? Btw at the time I only weight 143 at 5'9

I had something almost exactly like that happen to me. I weighed 150 at 5'7", and the PA said "Wow, I guess it's a good thing you don't look like you weigh that much."

I've gotten that, too. Also, "Oh, I thought you weighed more than that. But you carry it well." And this from a severely overweight nurse.

The doctor who was going to remove my gall bladder when I was 17 told me I needed to lost 50 lbs in a month or he wouldn't do the operation. In order to lose that 50 lbs he suggested I eat only unsweetened applesauce and sugar free pudding. My grandmother decided he was out of his freaking mind and we never went back.

HA! A few weeks ago, a nurse (also personal trainer 63 years young) who administers my allergy shots and hadn't seen me since last October told me (based on seeing me fully clothed, jeans and fitted t-shirt) that I shouldn't lose any more weight. She scoffed when I told her I was beginning a heavy lifting program. She said I'd become all muscly. um, what??? This, from a personal trainer!

At age 18 a school doctor taking my medical history said if I was a horse they'd shoot me.
Now, at 58 plus y.o. I have outlived MANY horses thank you doctor!:drinker:

The doctor who was going to remove my gall bladder when I was 17 told me I needed to lost 50 lbs in a month or he wouldn't do the operation. In order to lose that 50 lbs he suggested I eat only unsweetened applesauce and sugar free pudding. My grandmother decided he was out of his freaking mind and we never went back.

Lets do the maths here.

50 x 3500 calories = 175,000 calorie deficit for the month
Divide that by 30 days and we have a daily deficit of...5833.33

So not only would you have to not eat for a month, but you would have had to burn about 3800 calories a day in exercise. I wonder if he ever operated on ANYONE.

The doctor who was going to remove my gall bladder when I was 17 told me I needed to lost 50 lbs in a month or he wouldn't do the operation. In order to lose that 50 lbs he suggested I eat only unsweetened applesauce and sugar free pudding. My grandmother decided he was out of his freaking mind and we never went back.

Lets do the maths here.

50 x 3500 calories = 175,000 calorie deficit for the month
Divide that by 30 days and we have a daily deficit of...5833.33

So not only would you have to not eat for a month, but you would have had to burn about 3800 calories a day in exercise. I wonder if he ever operated on ANYONE.

That doc is smoking something!

Too many to know where to start... luckily most of mine were less serious than others listed here...

My (then) doctor started writing a prescription. I asked her what it was for, and she said it was for blood pressure medication. I said, "but I don't have high blood pressure". She looked and my chart again and didn't hand me the prescription. (I could maybe deal with one mistake, but two other times she tried to prescribe things... in one case I again pointed out that I didn't meet the criteria for needing it. The other time, we discovered after further testing, that I didn't have what she'd thought.)

Another doctor told me that stomach crunches, leg lifts and sit-ups weren't real exercise and did nothing but stress your joints and back. (Now I have to agree that done wrong almost any exercise can hurt you, but at the time, I'd been doing those for about 10 years, no damage. Now, after not doing them, I'm here trying to lose weight.)

Yoga's not exercise.

No pain, no gain.

An almost vegetarian diet with cheese, fish and eggs will raise your cholesterol.

Ignore the migraines. (Never mind the pain, but recent research has indicated that not treating migraines or trying to "tough them out" may actually increase their frequency and severity.)

Let the infection get better on its own.

This topical antibiotic is fine for people who have allergies to that other antibiotic. And then when my skin turned bright red where I put the antibiotic and where the bandage tape was... oh that looks like a bad infection. Really a "rectangular" shaped infection?

And in a totally different arena, a recent one... oh that problem with the Internet browser is caused by the keyboard. (Had the keyboard for years, the browser for awhile, but the patch just downloaded last night. Rolling back the patch fixed the problem, but the problem's caused by the keyboard?)

FML. I'm a pharmacist and if I hear one more physician recommend the HCG diet I'm going to scream. What? Starving my body on 500kcal a day is reasonable? Provides sustained weight loss? Fantastic! Sigh

When I was 20 weeks pregnant with my son I started itching, but a doctor told me it was PUPPPS (a skin condition you get when you're pregnant). After 2 weeks of scratching myself to bleeding and crying I went to the ER.... the ER doc came in for 2 seconds and told me I had some problem I can't even remember to pronounce. I asked "What's that" and he said "see the redness around your eyes?" I said "No, that's from me crying because I ITCH so bad! When I cry I get a raccoon mask."

"Oh. Well, then, it's scabies."

And it was.

Took 6 weeks to stop itching after the treatment.

And every doctor and nurse I saw after that made me feel SUPER self conscious every time they saw my skin. "What are these holes in your body?" .... scabies... "Was it treated?"... yes... "Is it active?" no... "Well you should get it checked, it looks like a flesh-eating virus."



It wasn't.

I worked with a client in a wheelchair who I took to his Doctor over and over again for that same "mysterious rash" and they would prescribe skin creams that only made it worse. I took him in a 3rd or 4th time and said "look doc, why don't you take an actual minute and LOOK AND EXAMINE his arm, what you are giving him is making it worse, it's obviously not what yu diagnosed it". She was like "oh it's scabies...." DOH!

After reading this thread, I have even less faith and trust in doctors than I did before...I didn't think that was possible.

Just another reminder that you have to be your own advocate in all health-related matters, because earning a medical degree does not necessarily mean they can tell their head from a hole in the ground.

I think a great doctor is like a great man--hard to find, but worth the wait! :bigsmile:

How about no advice or help at all? When I was first diagnosed with Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism (38 years old mom of 4 and full time work and could barely could get out of bed) I was sent to an Endocrinologist. He put me on Synthroid and when I tried to talk to him he would cut me off would not answer questions and acted like I was wasting his time. Everyone in the waiting room was overweight and looked to be in ill health. I knew I did not have the time to waste anymore with this joker. . After a blood test the phlebotomist said Oh I have Hashie's too. I ask if she saw this Dr. she said no because it was a conflict (Im thinking in my head its because he is a jerk.) She gave me the number of her Naturopath who has now been my Dr. for the last 5 years. She found the start of a goiter and was able to reverse it. The endo never even checked me out for a goiter...

I think you had the same endo I had at one point...I want my money back from that guy and my time I wasted...

When I was still at my highest weight & totally out of shape, the doctor told me to exercise moderate to high intensity for 30-60 mins 6 DAYS A WEEK!

Yea I know exercise is a must but to tell somebody who is obese, unfit & very out of shape who haven't been exercising in a long time to suddenly exercise that much is a no-no.

my EX doctor took my off my thyroid medication because my TSH levels came back normal on my blood work...

of course they were normal... the medication was working.. (