Surprisingly clueless people

[Sharon1964 2,530]

Another one of my silly rants. More of an observation, I guess, than a rant.

I work for a practicing physician. His specialty is pain management, but like all physicians, he is well-versed in many areas.

On New Years Eve, we both went to a surprise birthday party at a nice hotel. They had a large appetizer spread, and I had some meatballs, some bacon-wrapped shrimp, as well as a couple of pieces of cheese.

Later the appetizers were replenished with new items (although they kept the meat and cheese trays out). The boss and I walked the line together at that point (I had enough to eat and wasn't really looking for more), and I said, "there's nothing I can eat here". He stopped at each item and said, "why can't you eat this?"

Deep-fried spring rolls - no wonton wrappers, no deep-frying (my surgeon doesn't allow bread, Pasta, rice, crackers, Cereal or anything of the sort for 6 months)

Jalapeno poppers, breaded and deep fried - no breading, no deep-frying

pizza - no bread

chips and queso - no chips

chicken fingers - no breading, no deep-frying

He seemed genuinely surprised that I couldn't eat those things. I told him if I wanted to change my life, I couldn't keep eating the things that got me where I am today (or where I was before surgery 4 months prior).

My biggest surprise was that he was so surprised. I figured being a doctor, he would know these things.

[catwoman7 11,173]

a bit surprising - although I was surprised that my PCP didn't know that RNY often cures GERD, or that there's a risk of bone loss (mostly in people who don't keep up with their calcium).

[B-52 7,113]

Is this Dr. overweight???

[Pinkgirl1234 761]

This is why I keep my WLS to self..,ignorance is rampant.

[Sharon1964 2,530]

Is this Dr. overweight???

No, he's not. And he's not sedentary either.

He's a brilliant doctor in his specialty and his interests, I was just surprised at this.

[Djmohr 6,965]

I have to say I am not at all surprised by this. I have found in the last 15 months that none of my doctors with the exception of my nephrologist understand anything about Bariatric surgery and life after.

In fact it really is rather frightening. I moved states about 6 months ago and because I have had multiple spine surgeries in the past 6 months I have had to find a whole new team of doctors here. They simply don't get how to even manage our nutritional data. I have a list of the tests that need to be performed and I have to be an advocate for myself otherwise I will end up with malnourishment issues.

My Thiamine was too low. I had to know that I needed the test and call my new doctor to have her order a recheck.

My Bariatric team stopped my B12 because I had huge stores built up. I now have to call the new doc and have her order the recheck. If I don't stay on top of it, they won't even order the right tests.

Same is true of my pain specialist, neurosurgeon and ortho guy.

It is crazy how under educated these doctors are about our care.

I am supposed to have shoulder surgery in February. I got a call telling me to stop all NSAIDs and Vitamin supplements now. I said, ah NSAIDs is not a problem but I cannot stop all my Vitamins now.

Now keep in mind this medical team are all in the same system and have access to my records.

Scary that they simply have no clue and in some cases don't seem to care to learn. At least my PCP really is trying to learn and will order any thing I ask for.

[James Marusek 5,244]

I'm not surprised. People are people and doctors are no different. My general practitioner has smoked cigarettes for years. He probably knows it could well lead to cancer but he continues to smoke. Many doctors are specialized in a field, but are not universal experts. They see the micro but not the macro (the big picture).

[jane13 2,256]

That is why if you don't ask, or speak up, you needs may get overlooked or not questioned. That is why it is so scary that people get this surgery and don't ask those questions.

If something seems "off" or "wrong" ask....keep asking, get a different doctor, go to ER...

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

I think that unless a doctor practices bariatric medicine, he or she really doesn't know anything about obesity. What most of them are taught is that all you have to do is eat less, period. It probably didn't occur to him that the kind of food you eat matters.

I did have a very wise pediatrician decades ago who said that to lose weight I should quit eating sandwiches (I.e., bread). I didn't listen because:1) I was a kid and 2) how does a kid give up eating sandwiches (it never occurred to me I could eat the insides from the sandwiches until lately). He was a very wise man.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

A lot of people are not up on nutrition. Even Drs, I know a few personally that I went to college/grew up with. Most people have very little idea of what low carb is, let alone what people eat after weight loss surgery.

I would have had the spring rolls if I wanted them. The carbs and calories in a wonton wrapper is a rounding error if you are an active person. If someone budgeted their calories for the day to include eating out it wouldn't be a big deal, but I can understand following your Drs plan exactly.

WLS is still very rare, even thought it is increasing dramatically, it is rare and I wouldn't expect every Dr to be well versed in it. It is like thinking a Corporate Attorney is up to date on child custody laws.

[jj7481 363]

This isn't surprising in the least. Medicine and the human body are complex, hence why doctors have specialties. Like you said, they are brilliant at their specialty but can be seemingly oblivious to other areas of medicine.

Medicine is an art and requires continual practice. After many years you narrow you focus away from medical school to concentrate on your specialty. Doctors are smart but medicine is too multifarious for one person to know the intricacies of each system.

[Babbs 14,680]

Reading these comments, I'm convinced that most of us know more about diet and nutrition than most doctors and even NUTS's do.

We all should be proud of ourselves. And get paid what doctors do.

[AvaFern 3,516]

Is it possible if he was asking you if you could physically eat that stuff? Not if you should eat it because it's obviously bad for your diet, but if because of your sleeve you were medically prevented from eating certain foods. If he's a brilliant doctor he obviously knows what you should or shouldn't be eating to maintain a healthy diet, however because bariatrics is not his specialty he may have been asking to see if your stomach was medically compromised to a point that you actually cannot eat those foods.

Technically you CAN eat all of them, you just shouldn't be.

[animallover1247 249]

This scares me. I will be the first weight loss surgery patient my endocrinologist has monitored. Great. I guess I'm going to be the guinea pig

[Miss Mac 6,262]

Although most medical schools offer nutrition courses, in 2009 only 1/4 of US medical schools required their med students to take nutrition classes.

Years ago I was working in a hospital cafeteria and went on the Atkins Diet. I successfully lost fifty pounds in a short amount of time, and the head of Nutrition at the hospital thought that was just horrible of me to take on such a controversial diet. So, I asked her what she recommended, and get this.......she said to eliminate sugary and starchy foods from my diet, and eat more Protein and green veggies! Duh! That IS the Atkins Diet.