to find the reaction to BMI related vaccines.... interesting?

[staydazzling]

Ive noticed a lot of posts on twitter and of course Prof. Tracey from Facebook type posts bemoaning the fact people with a high BMI are getting an early vaccine, how undeserving we all are, its almost as if "we only care about your health" only applies if we are at a disadvantage in the health care system, and as soon as an outdated measurement gives us an advantage that 'care' is replaced by resentment 🤔. funny that, almost as if it was never motivated by care at all.
A big reason why ill have to tell noone ive had the vaccine i also have an immune condition that flags me not particularly serious, ive only ever been in hospital to give birth, many others like me, seeing lots of true colours recently. finally benefitting from the blunt instrument that is BMI and apparently that's no ok either! all very interesting.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

*Thyroid problem. Bad luck. Not your fault.

Choosing to eat 3 bars of chocolate a night. Not bad luck, bad decisions.*

I got fat on that huuuuuuge salads people keep talking about😳
Not even joking. So it's like I made good decisions to eat healthy but bad decisions in how much if that healthy. It's ridiculous yet funny actually

Ye of course eating healthily is actually complicated when you look at what's in food. Salads seem healthy but many store ones are as bad as a big sandwich. But people like my MIL just arent bothered trying. She says she is on slimming world and then sends pictures of her chinese takeaway or her chocolate pancakes or whatever cake she has baked. She then snarks at me and DH because we try to cook healthy meals for ourselves and DD (we are being controlling for not giving her chocolate after dinner apparently). That's not trying with a salad. At least you were trying!

Surely it depends why you’re obese. The NHS doesn’t treat thyroid or pcos proactively and so those with severe forms will be obese (at the lower end) despite limiting calories and exercising. Disabled people often become obese once they are in a wheelchair because it’s often really difficult to find spaces that will enable you to exercise (or access to dieticians who have appropriate calorie advice).

This is a great post.

I have two married friends, the husband is fat the wife is slim, they eat literally the same (have stayed with them), same portion size everything and do the same amount of exercise. I don't know why, maybe just metabolism or genetics but one of them just never puts weight on and the other does. We ALL know people who are super skinny without trying and eating loads.

It's not as simple as it being a choice. I suspect the number of people just blithely eating loads and not worrying about getting obese is really minimal. Being overweight really isn't that nice, lots of health problems come with it.

My BMI is in the healthy range, but reading this thread has made me want to order the entire contents of my local Dominos and wash it down with sixteen tubs of Ben & Jerry's. And a doughnut the size of my head.

Anyone else you want to have a go at, fat-bashers? How about all those selfish smokers who gave themselves COPD and got their jabs in Group 4 or above? Or do they not give you as much chance to feel superior?

@fridgepants

"I believe obesity is caused by excess calories and is ALWAYS reversible if the patient is willing to eat less."

I have a diagnosis of PCOS and two medications that would disagree with you. Most people with PCOS don't know they have it, and in terms of metabolism it can become a vicious circle. The only thing that helped me to lose weight was keto, where I was eating a lot of calories daily.

Mainly, though, I don't really give a fuck if someone else is overweight and whether they should be or not. I'm not their doctor.

Agree that most people don't know they have it. I was diagnosed a few weeks ago dispute displaying symptoms and actually having blood results that should have led to a diagnosis 10 years ago.

[quote Crowsaregreat]@Rasclut wow, groundbreaking idea there - obese people should eat less, someone should tell them, bet that's never been tried before [/quote]
Rascluts post is very harsh.
There can be lots of underlying reasons why a person is obese and I'm pleased they're getting the Vaccine.
However, there is one thing I've never understood
Why do obese people use thyroid problems as an excuse for being overweight?
I was diagnosed with a low thyroid 6 years ago which I'm on Levi for.
My immediate thought upon leaving the gp surgery after being given the diagnosis was "shit! I'm going to have to shave some calories off my normal intake somehow and maybe start moving more"
Which I did. It was tough and if I'm not careful the weight soon starts to creep on, but then I'm back on it.
At no point did I ever think we'll that's it. now I'm going to get fat. Ah well never mind. At least I have an excuse.
I see the low thyroid/autoimmune thing trotted out a lot.

Levo (levothyroxine)

I read something the other day which said the obese were more likely to be super spreaders, so the more that are vaccinated the better as far as I am concerned.

Oh yeah I've noticed this. People only like to care about obese peoples health when it means they can criticise them and tell them to lose weight. They don't seem to like it when it gets fat people the vaccine sooner than them.

@likeamillpond

Levo (levothyroxine)

Well aren't you smug? I don't think many people choose to get fat.

Some people put in weight before diagnosis. Some put on weight despite watching their calories. Some don't have the mental health to calorie count. Some have busy lives and can't watch calories and manage this condition.

What I'm basically saying is people with the same health condition have different experiences to you. Like myself, I'd been struggling with my weight for years then had my thyroid issue diagnosed. But shockingly fat people get shitty treatment from doctors and are just dismissed.

But yeah well done you for not being fat with an underactive thyroid. Here's your medal

t's a pity that 'me first' re vaccines seems to be a thing with some folk as we all need to be offered one asap and the more folk that take them up the safer we all are, right across the globe.

Absolutely. No one's safe until we are all safe.

Better those with high BMI get a vaccine ahead of others rather than an icu bed

Its pretty disgusting that people are attacking me im entitled to be annoyed at peoples unkind behaviour towards overweight people, oh wait? of course im supposed to just get back in my box and be grateful the nhs treats me at all, if we can't air this problem it cant be solved!

I think some people don't like being confronted with their own ugly prejudice.

@likeamillpond

Levo (levothyroxine)

How long did it take before you were diagnosed? The weight comes off much slower than it goes on. Maybe people (women) will have waited a long time before the diagnosis actually comes, years in some cases, all the while feeling shit and too tired to do the exercise you need. Then you get your thyroxine and GP after GP want to lower your dose below one you feel halfway human on.. It's not a magic pill, you should be pleased it's all been straightforward for you rather than judging others.

People are weirdly idiotic about this -

We do need to tackle obesity as a nation, but the point of the vaccine programme is to vaccinate the most vulnerable in order to reduce pressure on the NHS so we can all get back to normal. Giving people the vaccine as a reward for healthy living would achieve the opposite.

I don’t know why this is hard to understand...

@MrsAvocet

Some people seem to see getting the vaccine as a reward that Boris the Benevolent has showered upon those deserving of his favour. I somehow doubt that. It's ultimately about health economics. The high risk groups don't represent the people who are likely to take up most resources if they are infected - most likely to be hospitalised, most likely to be admitted to ICU, most likely to require ongoing care if they survive etc. It isn't about being kind to vulnerable people, it is about stopping hospitals being full to the brim with Covid-19 patients at great expense to the public purse and to the detriment of other types of care. Once that's achieved it is far easier to remove restrictions. Of course it is natural to be most concerned about yourself and your loved ones, but as a society it is to our benefit to vaccinate those most likely to become severely ill first. It isn't about who is most worthy of protection. The priority groups do have the most to gain from vaccination and that has knock on benefits for wider society. Plus the argument about moral rights to treatment is a very slippery slope. So many illnesses and injuries have at least a degree of self inflicted-ness. Broken bones in a sporting accident - serves you right for playing. Heart disease related to lack of exercise - serves you right for not playing. Pre menopausal breast cancer? Oh look you had your children late in life and you didn't breastfeed for very long did you - you've got to carry the can there. Cervical cancer? Well look at you - sexually active from a young age and you didn't always use a condom - what did you expect?! People are very good at taking the moral high ground when they see someone with what they view as a self inflicted ilness if it isn't a "failing" that they personally have. But we do well to remember that we all make decisions which impact on our risk of illness or injury. Starting to make moral judgements on who deserves care is a very dangerous thing. It is one thing to say to say, a smoker "You can't have this operation unless you stop smoking because we know that wound healing is delayed in smokers and the surgery often fails as a result" but quite another to say "Smoking makes you a lesser person so you don't deserve treatment". Or to decide what in someone's background absolves them from the "sin" of smoking, over eating or whatever. There's no place for that in a civilised society in my opinion.

Very well put. Couldn’t agree more!

@Rasclut

For me it's just ridiculous that someone with a bmi of 40 plus is pretending to be concerned about health when they have had a whole year to lose weight and chosen to spend that year stuffing their faces and posting stay the fuck at home all over social media. If obese people want the vaccine, they should take it, we will all get offered it so I dont care when they get offered it.

I believe obesity is caused by excess calories and is ALWAYS reversible if the patient is willing to eat less. I know there are medical and emotional reasons why people find it hard to eat less but I'm not about to engage with the 'you're mean, it's not my fault I'm obese' crowd. No, it's not your fault you're obese, its your choice to stay obese ffs!

I feel better for that rant!

I'll look forward to your explaining your medical qualifications.

But you are right about one thing. Sometimes people can reverse obesity. Whereas you are evidencing that it's much harder to stop being a total bitch. Anyone who feels better launching an vicious and untruthful attack on other people must be one.

I hate weight bashing, pisses me right off. I used to be overweight myself. Also you shouldn’t judge as you really don’t know the persons issues. A dear friend of mine who is very overweight began to over eat as a child to prevent her abuser from abusing her. It was the one thing she could control, she suffers with serious mental health and eating makes her feel happy, less anxious and calm. It is just one problem that she has to battle along with all the other crap such as judgemental a-holes who make stupid comments and laugh. I’m very happy
that all vulnerable people are receiving the vaccine.

I am in the obese category for BMI, due to an under active thyroid and CFS.

I’m losing weight. So far it’s been painfully slow but I’m sticking at it for 2 reasons. One is covid and the highlighted effects of obesity. The other is my wedding, I don’t want to feel horrible about myself on my wedding (reading threads like this really don’t help my self esteem so should probably stop).

For those who think all fat people are lazy/don’t care etc. Think on, you don’t know the stories behind peoples issues.

@ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown I wasn’t going to say what you did. I had a battle to get my thyroid medicated, all the while piling on the pounds. Having tried over the past couple of years and found the weight coming off at a snails pace, I’ve lost motivation a fair few times.

I always assumed people with thyroid issues understood, clearly not

@Chailatteplease

I am in the obese category for BMI, due to an under active thyroid and CFS.

I’m losing weight. So far it’s been painfully slow but I’m sticking at it for 2 reasons. One is covid and the highlighted effects of obesity. The other is my wedding, I don’t want to feel horrible about myself on my wedding (reading threads like this really don’t help my self esteem so should probably stop).

For those who think all fat people are lazy/don’t care etc. Think on, you don’t know the stories behind peoples issues.

Well done for losing weight! It's not easy with an under detective thyroid . I should know. but it is doable if you stick to it.

Meant “was going to say”

When is MN getting that edit button?

@likeamillpond thankyou!

@Chailatteplease

Meant “was going to say”

When is MN getting that edit button?

Never mind an edit button. How about a Medal button? Someone upthread tried to give me a biscuit. No thanks! Too many calories!

@likeamillpond yes no biscuits with hypothyroidism, have to be so strict! Maybe half an apple instead 😋😂