Could Have Been Mine If The Dentist Let Me Keep Them

Background: for the past 2 years or so I’ve been dealing with some health issues, that have progressively been getting worse. I’ve been tired all the time, sleeping for 12 hours isn’t enough, weak, had pain in all my joints and muscles (top to bottom), when I get home from work I lay on the couch until I get the strength to get ready for bed, and my most noticeable symptom is weight gain. Over the last 2 years I’ve gain almost 100 lbs in bursts, meaning I’ll gain 50 lbs in 3 months, 2 months later I’ll gain 70 lbs in 4 months, etc. obviously this isn’t normal and I needed medical attention.

Experience with doctors: over the past 2 years I’ve gone to about 5 doctors for these issues. They’ve refused me blood tests because these are all “symptoms” of weight gain, completely ignoring that my weight gain is a symptom. I even had a doctor refuse to treat me until I lost 75 lbs, he literally said he would even give me antibiotics for an infection if I didn’t lose weight! The same guy also told me “of course your joints hurt, you’re getting fat.”

Then, about 6 months ago I started getting horrible, can’t get out of bed, crying all the time depression and decided to seak mental health services. My psychologist is wonderful (we’ve talked about fat phobia and she told me she knows sometimes bigger people are worried about talking over these issues with her because she’s tiny, but she always tries her best to reassure us she is not a bigot and wants to help no matter what - she’s the best). My psychologist thought I could use some meds, so she referred me to a psychiatrist, who is also amazing and probably the best doctor I’ve ever been to. We started talking about mental and physical symptoms and he asked me why I hadn’t been to a doctor about the symptoms I was having, I told him the story, he became visibly angry, and said those people shouldn’t be doctors if they don’t want to help people! The psychiatrist tested my blood for everything, I had to give 5 tubes. Last week, after 2 years, I got the results. It turns out I have a significant vitamin D deficency, which cause all of these symptoms, both physical and psychological. All I needed were supliments that you can buy anywhere. I’ve only been taking them a week and I already feel amazing, including less hungry, no sugar cravings, and way more energy.

There are good doctors who will treat you, unfortunately some of us have to live with horrible pain for years before we can find them. I can’t help thinking that if I had started at 100 lbs instead of 180, I wouldn’t have had these problems getting treatment.

Ghada Karmi and Ellen Siegel, in 1973, 1992 and 2011. Photos by Francis Khoo (1, 2) and Jean-Pascal Deillon (3).

BJORK

specimen, 1983

The Simpsons (TV Series )

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