To think I still deserve medical attention despite being overweight

[Frequency]

Every time I have a medical issue and seek help for it I get told to lose weight, which is fair enough, I understand that, but that is all the support I get.

For example, I went to the GP recently about crippling pain in my left knee. I can't walk far, I can't sleep, and it often escalates into shooting pains up and down my leg or stabbing pains in the side of my knee which make it really hard to concentrate on anything but the pain.

I was prescribed 3 months of Orlistat. Nothing for the pain in my knee, just three months of weight loss drugs and told to come back after I had lost 5% of my body weight to discuss my knee.

I've been on it for a week now. I still cannot walk or sleep and last night another condition I have had previously flared up which I think is related to the Orlistat/weight loss/diet.

It's something I have had previously, only ever when trying to lose weight. It's like a really sharp, unbearable pain across the top of my stomach. The pain is so bad it causes vomiting and shortness of breath. I would honestly rather spend the rest of my life in labour than to experience that pain again and now it's back. I've only had it once up to now but I know the pattern, it will become more and more frequent until I'm having daily attacks that last hours. If I seek help during an attack, then I know a Dr will take one look at my weight, tell me it is because of all the fatty food I eat, and send me away in tears to buy myself some Gaviscon and lose weight.

It never happens when I eat fatty food it happens when I try to lose weight but they never believe me.

So now I am stuck, I can either be fat and never walk without pain again or I can continue losing weight and have hours of childbirth-like pain every day.

AIBU to think it shouldn't be like this?

To be honest the knee problem probably is related to weight, until you fix that theres little else that can really be done. I have never been 'overweight' but when I gained weight quick in pregnancy my knee where the first thing to go, losing weight and fixing posture and a waddling gate fixed it.

With the stomach pain and vomiting is your vomit brown and 'gritty'?

I have hiatal hernia (stomach is in my chest cavity and the diaphragm is like an elastic band constricting the middle) and it causes ulcers. Whenever I diet the ulcers bleed and require Lomiprozol to stop the acid so they can heal.

The symptoms are a lot like you describe, sharp stabbing pain around the center of the diaphragm that makes it impossible to stand up straight and walk normal. Should hurt less when sitting down but still burns and causes vomiting.

Also if it is an ulcer (even just suspecting it can be) DO NOT take ibuprofen it can cause hemorrhages and ruptures which can be fatal.

I am sympathetic - but you know the weight affects your knee pain.
Having said that if you have done damage to your knees- wear etc due to the weight that is not going to miraculously disappear overnight.
So you need treatment for weight and also anti-inflammatory treatment for your knees.

Orlistat is possibly the grimmest prescribed choice for treatment for weight loss. You say you have a high BMI could you get Wegovy?

Also you need to strengthen your legs by gym training to reduce the displacement

@housethatbuiltme you are wrong. Even if weight caused the knee issue, then physio can help.

With the stomach pain and vomiting is your vomit brown and 'gritty'?

No, it's usually just what I've eaten recently and then bile if it goes on long enough that it empties my stomach and it does make me scared to eat the next day which is where I am at currently. I've had two slices of seeded wholemeal toast and 1 tine of sardines all day. I know I need to eat some dinner but I'm terrified to eat in case the pain comes back. I also only have salad, tuna, and fruit in the house which is not helpful and my knee hurts too much currently to walk to Tesco for anything so I'm in a bit of a catch-22 right now.

I'm going to look on Uber and see if I can get Tesco or Morrisons to bring me some chicken fillets and veg and force myself to eat.

Should hurt less when sitting down but still burns and causes vomiting

It hurts less when I curl in a ball or stand hunched over. Sitting makes it worse and laying down is impossible.

My point is that most people who are overweight have tried dieting - if the human psyche was as simple as the calories in vs calories out people make it out to be, then most would have been successful at dieting and would be slim. The dieting industry is a multi million pound industry precisely because overall, humans do not work like a machine - we have minds that are complex and need more than base nutrition.

Check out the Minesota Starvation Experiment

I don't have any advice OP but actually I can't diet either.

Every time I do I wake up in the night shaking, faint and with my heart racing. I think it's low blood sugar but I basically have to go and eat to stop myself feeling so unwell.

In the end I've given up dieting and naturally lost my postpartum weight (it just took a bit longer) so I'm a healthy weight now. I'd still like to loose more weight, but I just have no idea how people keep up diets. I get terribly unwell. So I totally believe you that this is causing pain.

Instead of dieting, can you try and get loads of sleep and be busy? I lose the most weight when I'm super super busy every day and evening

Be smart about it. Get online (BBC good food is a good place to start, Google healthy recipes BBC), meal plan and order in what you need for the week as a proper shopping delivery from your chosen supermarket. Write today off and start again tomorrow, don't beat yourself up for taking short cuts, Rome wasn't built in a day!

My mum has terrible knee problems and is massively overweight, but never sees this as a possibility for the issue. Admittedly she’s 78, but is always bloody baking cakes and eating the majority. I’ve found bags of sweets stuffed down the side of the sofas when I’ve visited.

When she goes for her yearly M.O.Ts she is constantly reminded that her weight is too much for her height etc, also she never tells me what she actually weighs.

But, her G.P wouldn’t put her on a diet if she asked for something for the pain, I have the same Drs and they just wouldn’t do this, although they gently try to cajole her into making an effort to which she’s always offended by.

Sorry if I’ve come over as a bit of a bitch, I’m not a skinny minny, an average size12/14 5’3” and weigh 10 stones. I wish my mum would just make an effort,she does no exercise whatsoever, her neighbours do her shopping and take her wheelie bins out. She’s happy to just sit there and do nothing to help herself and that frustrates me, they’re just enabling her 🤦‍♀️

@Snippit weight of course makes a difference. But I also have plenty of friends who are slim and have knee problems.

You habe plenty of slim friends with knee problems, wow.

Yes I do. I move in a sporty crowd. Plenty of friends in their sixties who have knee problems. One who has already had two knee replacements, one waiting for one.

All my family are skinny with knee problems. Most of us have had surgery. Being overweight would put more pressure on the joint but losing weight won't fix a meniscus tear or torn ACL! OP deserves an MRI scan to see what the actual problem is.

• I agree. My knee pain is bone on bone . If I lost the 4 stone my bones would still be rubbing together. I have to explain that one quite a lot.*

It's not purely about the weight loss having a direct effect on the pain though. 4 st weight loss will help because the pressure on the joint will lessen and the accumulating damage will slow. More importantly though, those 4 stones could make the difference between 'relatively safe for an op' and 'likely to die under general anaesthetic'.

Doctors don't get kicks out of being mean to fat people. The advice they give will be for a reason

Weight loss helps. So will physio to build up knee muscles.

To be fair . It's likely that being 17 stone over weight might have caused the significant damage to your knee in the first place . Losing weight along may not simply repair it .

I see what you are saying. But until you are honest with your doctor about your previous? anorexia and obvious mental health issues (sorry wrong terminology) you have with food and eating then you will always 'yo-yo diet'. You cannot have the rest of your life centering around 'dieting'. You have to find a way to just see food in a 'normal' sensible way. You can then adjust what you eat and how much you eat and take losing weight from there. It's good that you can cook food from scratch, that will really help you.
There is no magic bullet. But I will say that a lot of the things that you read and tv programmes you see about ultra-processed foods make them food items to mostly stay away from. Not just because of the physical effect but because of the mental effect too.
Listen to some of the Michael Mosely podcasts.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001ngjx

This might be hidiously naive, but can you just tell the doctor that weight loss is not something you are interested in, you just want them to do what they can abou the knee?

@Frequency
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001yxkb

@Frequency

I have cortisol injections 💉 put in my knee it's worked wonders for myself,

It does not work for everyone unfortunately

However when it does what a difference it makes

I am convinced if i hadn't had cortisol injections i would now be in a wheelchair

Rather than being able to walk out and about obviously my health fluctuates from day to day depending on what i haven eaten or if i have over exerted myself a bit too much,

I have Rumertoid and OestoAthritis in my knee waiting for knee op like a lot of people

Obviously excess weight is bound to complicate health matters and exert extra pressure on joints ect and effect your health in adverse negative ways...

A friend who is waiting for a knee replacement is slim and sporty. She started off only having knee pain if she was carrying something heavy. Weight did not cause her knee pain. Being fat would have made it worse though.

Rather than dieting, and changing your diet completely in one go, can you Google healthy swaps and just do some of them? It's not all or nothing.

The increase in fibre may be causing stomach pain

@Frequency lots of really good ideas and little things you can implement to take back control of the way you live, to regain your health.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p09by3yy
Don't just focus on exercise that involves your knee. There's lots of ways to excercise.

Sounds like a double whammy. Possible gallstones, possible hiatus hernia. Insist your GP sends you for an ultrasound scan for gallstones. It's a cheap procedure and quick.

As for salads when I was bad, onions, tomatoes, fruit were a very bad idea. It's well documented that these foods can set you off.

Stick to chicken, steamed veg. Toast.
My friend has had a gastric band eek the foods she can't eat. Last week spaghetti Bolognese reappeared very quickly. The good news is she's lost four stone and her knee is much better

Get voltarol gel for your knee. I've spinal and hip issues, have to be so careful with ibuprofen. Only two a day when I'm desperate.