To be offended by GP comment?

[Macadamia1976]

I have severely injured my lower back. I'm in agony and can't move without pain.
I bent down, lifted a heavy double buggy up from the ground, twisted round whilst bending over to lift it into the boot of my car then overstretched to position it in properly. I did this really quickly and something snapped in my lower back and I suddenly felt searing agony.
After initial urgent care treatment and being diagnosed with a torn ligament, I had a follow up with GP for pain management.
Never seen him before.
He was in his late 30s, maybe 40.
He said "I fail to see how lifting a buggy into the boot has caused this."
I said "Well I was told in hospital it was a combination of bending and twisting my lower back whilst lifting a heavy object. Plus I have an old injury in the same area of my back so I think maybe it was a weak area..."
He said "No, I think this is wrong. It's not possible to be in as much pain as you say you are in from putting a buggy into your car."
At this point I was confused by why he was challenging my injury. I was in pain, and was there for a pain relief medication review.
He said "It's because you need to lose weight."
I said "Pardon?"
He smiled for a few seconds, then said "Yes, you need to lose a stone from your tummy area, if you don't mind me saying" whilst really smiling. "Then your back pain will resolve. You have done this to yourself by eating too much and the stone in weight that sits on your tummy is putting a strain on your lower back. It wasn't lifting the buggy. I'll give you more painkillers but you need to get rid of that stone of weight on your tummy".
I didn't even realise he had even noticed my tummy.
I was wearing trousers and a top.
I am 5ft 7 and weigh 11 stone.
I wear size 12 to 14 clothes.
I've had 2 emergency c-sections so I admit I do have a tummy overhang, but I hadn't thought of this as a problem, I just see it as a result of having emergency abdominal surgery 2 times to save my 2 DC's lives when they were born. I don't really think about it, I'm too busy looking after my DC and working hard in my job.
I was almost crying in pain during this appointment.
AIBU to be upset by his comments?
Or am I in so much pain that I'm feeling oversensitive.
(Edited typos)

Waist to hip ratio is a good indicator, I’m within healthy BMIA but because I have tummy fat I still need to lose weight there.

And in the real world most women are not muscular and BMI does apply to them

I am under 9 stones yet have a waist measurement that is considered to put me at risk of future health difficulties, this is due to the quite impossible-to-shift midriff weight gain of menopause. Looking into weight training. Despite this my BMI is 'healthy' and some people have even told me that I 'look too thin' ! It makes no sense for a lot of women.

Well that’s not true. I have a jelly belly at 8 stone but I’ve been working on it and it’s a lot better despite menopause. You just have to eat less and do stomach exercises.

What exercises do you do? I do eat healthily - no trash carbs and very little sugar, but I have struggled to shift the weight from this area. When I do lose weight, it tends to be from my face, arms etc!

I put my back out by often having a toddler on my hip. As a result I had a very painful back in my late 20s and early 30s when I had young children. Now I'm in my late 50s my back is fine. It's the only thing that worries me about having grandchildren (if I'm so blessed).

A variety of tummy exercises - I found them all on YouTube. You can specific ones for menopause midriff weight gain. Building stomach and pelvic floor muscle really helps women anyway so it’s win win.

I also found an eat right for the menopause tutorial on YouTube from a doctor who gained weight during menopause herself, and that was really helpful.

As I have some degree of insulin resistance, (although I disapprove of low carbing in general) is to eat more protein and less starchy carbs - I still eat lots of veg but I’ve swapped quinoa, rice etc for eating more protein. It’s just a short term thing for me, I don’t think low carb long term is good for you as you need carbs for energy.

You are definitely NOT being unreasonable and I don't blame you for being annoyed, as he's effectively dismissed your pain and focused on something else as the cause, while patronising you at the same time!

On a more practical note, I would recomment purchasing a back support with magnets in. Really cheap from ebay. It sorted my back out really quickly when I had the same problem earlier this year.

I'm a GP and this behaviour is shocking to me. I don't even bring up weight with severely obese patients unless it is directly linked to their presenting complaint (uncontrolled diabetes, high cholesterol, chronic musculoskeletal pain, etc), because many patients find it demeaning and a source of anxiety when visiting the doctor.

The fact that you are 11 stone and had an obvious acute injury and he still brought up your weight! I'm sorry you went through this.

They are taught to look out for drug seekers. Unfortunately it makes them really sceptical to genuine people. I was arguing for 16 years that my back pain is more than muscles, finally a scan shows my spine is crumbling and I need it fused! I find from years of experience, female GPs are more sympathetic to back pain so if you need to go again, try and see a female.

I’ve had advanced training in ergonomics, including manual handling. Lifting a load while bending and twisting at the same time is extremely risky for back injury. If we were doing a task design at work, the process would be arranged so that nobody would have to bend, twist and lift at the same time. So he’s a complete idiot, and rude, and patronising. And unnecessarily fixated on “tummy weight”.

This level of incompetence from a GP is definitely worthy of a complaint. It’s bad enough when they tell you that what happened to you didn’t happen. It’s even worse when they’re completely wrong, because lifting a buggy absolutely can cause a serious injury.

I bet he has no idea how heavy a double buggy is either. I bet he’s thinking of one of those lightweight flimsy single ones.

Horrible, horrible man. You are not fat. In fact you are within the NHS healthy weight range. https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/

What an arse. He should be reported. Plain old misogynist.

OP I have back issues, and once started a massive flair-up by leaning into the car the wrong way to click the dogs seatbelt into place.
How dare this GP say this to you?! Can you complain?

I put 2 discs out in my back just by SNEEZING. I've also broken my coccyx falling down 2 steps and landing funny. Old injuries regularly give me horrendous pain, especially bending or making the bed or walking into doorframes (I have ADHD, I do this regularly!!)

A female nurse practitioner at my old GP told me that my tummy problems, pain, bowel changes etc were all due to me being 1st overweight. I changed GP surgeries, I lost 1.5st and the problems got worse, so did the agonising pain in my right side, that landed me in hospital twice - once by ambulance sent by 111. I had to have my gallbladder removed and was told by my surgeon I was lucky to be here, as leaving it longer may well have killed me! But yeah, I was just 'fat'.

Why do they get away with this? I made a complaint to my former practice, but don't think anything was done.

You need to make a formal complaint that he can learn from!

He is a cunt.

I would absolutely make a formal written complaint about him.

What a bellend! I would put in a complaint to the practise manager.

I dislodged the facets in my back twisting to lift my daughter’s car seat so you definitely can injure your back doing any form of lifting if the positioning is wrong. I had osteopathy to click the facets back into place then physio on the muscles to loosen them. Nothing to do with weight. But I am now more susceptible to it happening again so have to be careful but at least I don’t have to go through the gp because they’re not too helpful for back issues.

Men-dicine strikes again. Surprised he didn't do you a dual diagnosis of anxiety alongside the old "eat less move more". Cunt.

He sounds a proper basket of happiness, his bedside manner needs a bit of a polish; I think hD have taken the prescription & left mumbling what a jumped up fucking cockwomble he was 😂😂😂

What a prat. I did this or something very like it lifting DS into car when he was a baby. Couldn't even get onto or off the bed without help for a few days and as for sitting on the loo ... Nothing to do with weight. Our old GP was wonderful. Oh yes, he said. VERY painful. Just twisting the wrong way can do it. Can't remember what he gave me - think it was a short course of anti inflammatories - but it gradually eased. I'd complain to the practice manager.

I would complain

OP, I hurt my back by repeatedly taking the turkey out of the over and basting it. I didn’t even twist! The GP was a knob.

I would put in an official complaint about this doctor. And ask to see another doctor, a more professional one who can actually help you. He’s an asshole!

I really think you should complain about what he said and how he said it.