Do some doctors just get a kick out of telling you to lose weight?

Thing is that for five years, my HBA1C was increasing and it wasn't picked up. I trotted along every year for the blood test and inquisition appointment (of course, no appointment during the covid years!). Never heard anything back afterwards. Just assumed bloods were fine, as they had been for years. I "assumed" someone from the GP would contact me if there was a problem with the HBA1C results.

About a year ago, I went to see the GP for a different matter and just casually asked about the HBA1C to check it was still OK. He read out the readings of the last 5 years and each year was above my target range and getting higher. I asked him why no one had picked it up and he couldn't give me an answer. Just kept saying he'd get "someone" to contact me about it!

That started a train of events where there was a perceived urgency to deal with it! Starting with a phone call from a "diabetic nurse" who I'd never seen before, increasing a tablet, then another blood test a few months later, resulting in a phone call from a different "diabetic nurse" increasing another tablet, and then another blood test and another different "diabetic nurse" issuing a different tablet. No "lifestyle" advice. Eventually they stopped ringing and arranging new blood tests, so I assume the bloods are now within targets again. I did try to make a phone appointment with a diabetic nurse to find out, but told by the receptionist that they have no diabetic nurses anymore!

At the last annual blood test, back to the old ways again - lots of the same questions, blood test taken, but radio silence ever since. The GP surgery don't put the results on the NHS app. So I phoned up a few weeks later to ask the receptionist for the results - she'd only tell me the GP had marked them "satisfactory" like the previous five years had been marked that way, and she claimed she "couldn't" give me the actual reading!

I really don't think that's "great" or "correct" at all!

I'd rather they spent the (very short) appointment actually discussing the condition, making suggestions, giving advice, etc., rather than quick-firing questions that, if required, I could easily have answered via an online questionnaire (or even paper questionnaire in the waiting room) before the appointment. I object to spending most of the short appointment answering the same questions meaning there's little, if any, time left over to actually discuss anything useful!

I have a medical coming up next week (every 2 years) it's not with my Gp it's with an accredited Dr. He dose have a sense of humour and told me last time you need to grow a bit or lose some weight, replied that's a bit pot and kettle, I'm not the one here for the medical!!! Fair one.......

See gp soon after for different issue who said concentrate on changing shape and the weight will drop easier than concentrating on scales.

I'm sure doctors get a kick out of patients responding positively to good advice and taking action to make themselves healthier.

I'm a GP. Part of our job is health promotion. I tell people they need to lose weight all the time but acknowledge it's difficult and that I'm carrying more weight than I shd be too, so I understand it's not the easiest thing to do.

Lol that's down to the individuals who aren't taking responsibility for their own bodies and that of their overweight children.

It doesn't mean HCPs aren't doing their jobs! 😁

HCP of course need to have empathy when dealing with patients but they also need to do their job.
But they are not doing their job. The obesity crisis is getting worse, not better, despite people claiming that all this 'nudging' works.

Well that may be your experience but it’s not universal. Has every HCP you’ve seen really nagged you about your weight? Because you may indeed need to do something about it, as that seems excessive. The PP does not have to do anything, you can look at research yourself if you’re so bothered about it. Again I never said nagging. But who are all these people you are seeing that are nagging you? I find it hard to believe you were “nagged” about your weight if you had a verruca or an appointment for hearing loss. HCP of course need to have empathy when dealing with patients but they also need to do their job. What’s the alternative? Never discuss weight when it’s something that is affecting their health?

The gp could have said something along lines of - " part of the advice for this condition is to lose weight, but as we have already discussed you have already done well losing weight and are aiming to get in to the healthy bmi range in good time. Obviously there are ways we can support you to lose weight so please let us know if you have any concerns or would like to access support." And the op would likely feel heard and pleased that there is support if she wanted it.

@Crawdle, having not seen you for so long, of course your GP is going to state the obvious. You also say he had a serious tone - being overweight is potentially serious; he's doing his job.

That's quite some projection on your part to imagine he's having laugh at your expense.

His gut is none of your business.

The obesity crisis has many factors. Main reason is people not eating healthy food. You eat crap and get fat it’s not that complicated. Education around food is also a factor but that doesn’t have anything to do with poverty. That would be like staying all poor people are uneducated which they are not. Plenty of resources out there you can access about how to eat healthy food, surely we are all taught this in school?

It's their job to give you health advice! It's not your job to judge their body.

Because we, as a society, have made talking about weight shaming.
Because HCP do use weight as a way to shame and put all the responsibility on the shoulders of patients rather than ALSO helping them with their issues.
And all the while, they have no idea what nutritious food is. And I dint mean theirvown diet. I mean Theyre not trained in that area and have no clue.

It’s a bit like exercise.
If exercise is therapeutic, then it means it’s contra indicated to some people. And yet it’s always touted as THE solution. Regardiess of the risk for the person. It’s left to them to sort out.
Imagine if we were doing that with medicines….

Not all slim people know that either. I have 2 children. One very skinny and one slightly chubby. The chubby one eats the healthiest diet and exercise the most 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you say it’s plenty of evidence, then surely you can produce that evidence easily .

Because the obesity crisis is just people not knowing how to eat…
Nothing to do with poverty, difficulty to access good food, change in farming production, the fact most food now is at least semi processed, MH issues etc etc…

I wish it was simple as ‘eat better’.
At least, it would mean when people have lost weight, they keep it off. And it would be as easy as handing a cheat sheet to get it all done.

This envokes the same kind of emotion in me when I go to the library and say at the counter something along the lines of "I'm just here to return these books". Cue much teeth sucking/head shaking and annoying comments like "we need these back. You've had them a long time". 😡 I know that hen, that's why I'm here!! They're not overdue, library staff always just seem to feel they have to say something, anything at all to exert some kind of power. Thank god for the self scanners but in all reality - our local librarians seem to be annoyed at you borrowing books when surely that's what you are supposed to do. Infuriating.

No one is nagging about weight. The PP said that there is plenty of evidence that these interventions “nagging” are beneficial to people and lead to healthier lifestyles and losing weight
a) they do nag.
b) despite there being 'plenty of evidence' the PP couldn't / wouldn't link to it
c) since when is nagging beneficial? It makes people defensive and/or switch off. It puts me off going to the doctor because I know, before I set a foot in the door, that they will start with the comments about being overweight - even if I go in for hearing loss, a verruca, flu jab or some other condition totally unrelated to weight.

@LottieLamaz actually not all fat people know what a good diet looks like or how to eat properly. Hence why we have an obesity crisis.

Of course they are, who do you think refers them and has to complete the aftercare. Yes, they’ll have to go to hospital to get a limb amputated but that’s the case if any health condition where you’re referred.

No one is nagging about weight. The PP said that there is plenty of evidence that these interventions “nagging” are beneficial to people and lead to healthier lifestyles and losing weight, hence reduce symptoms of long term health conditions. If you’re fat there is evidence to show you are at an increased chance of having chronic health conditions. These are facts. If you don’t want to do anything about being fat fine but don’t complain when you’re losing your foot or having a heart attack because of it. Take accountability

Complicated diabetics are not treated in primary care.

But it's too late by then, surely you understand that?

Obesity can cause many irreversible health problems.

Doctors are there to look after their patients health, not pander to them.

Great. Agreed. So stop wasting appointment time nagging me about weight.

A healthy bmi is between 18.5 - 24.9. So yes you are slightly overweight. I however think BMI is an outdated system that doesn’t factor in muscle mass. You have athletes that are the fittest people are the planet will have a high BMI due to their muscles. I also would have weighed you and not just assumed your weight based on sight. No idea why they did that.