It's because you're fat

I once worked with a woman who said that she had had a headache every day for the last five years. The doctors didn't know what caused it and there was nothing to be done about it. Aspirin or other palliative medicine didn't work, so she had simply learned to put up with it. I felt bad for her, and wondered what sort of mystery could bring on such a condition.

A few years after working with this woman, a woman who was around 50 years old and absolutely average weight, I developed a headache that wouldn't go away for over a month and gave in and went to a doctor. The doctor did a lot of tests including various neurological tests and X-rays. In the end, he could find no cause so what did he tell me? He told me that “sometimes fat ladies have headaches for no reason.” He then advised me to “lose weight” using the “color method” where I should try to eat foods in various colors in small portions every day. He talked to me like I was an idiot who needed some sort of explanation that a child might understand because clearly I was stupid. This would be clear to anyone who saw my body because, you know, “fat = stupid.” It's not like overeating is often related to psychology rather than intellect. No, fat people are too dumb to understand how food and weight have a relationship.

Now, my coworker and I had the same problem, but because she was average and I was fat, my weight caused my headaches when no other cause could be tracked down. Here is reason one why I hate, no, DETEST, doctors. If you are fat and have a health problem, it must be because you are fat and if you lose weight, that will fix the problem. It doesn't matter what the problem is, cold sores, athlete's foot, pimples, etc., it is because you are fat. In the end, I didn't change my eating, even though I wanted to, and the headache finally went away after 6 months.

My experiences with doctors have lead me to believe a good many things about them and none of them are good:

1. They are lazy and impatient. Doctors will jump to the fastest and simplest conclusion about a patient rather than listen carefully and consider all possibilities. What is the point of years of medical school and training if you're going to jump on the easiest cause without considering other possibilities? I haven't been to a doctor for years now because I don't want to pay someone to tell me I'm sick or in pain because I'm fat and then give me a vague recommendation to “lose weight.”
2. They believe they are infallible. If your health fails to improve under a doctor's care, the doctor believes it is because you haven't done as he or she has recommended. It's not about the fact that they may have ascribed your illness or problem to the wrong cause (fatness), and given you an ineffective treatment, but because you failed to comply adequately to his or her wishes. Even if you lose weight and are still sick, it won't be enough.
3. They fail to realize you are “a customer”. The doctor-patient relationship is fascinating from an economic viewpoint. You pay someone to help you get well, and they treat you as if they are doing you a favor by treating you if you are fat. They think it is okay to be patronizing, judgmental, and rude to you even though you pay them. This is like a porter who carries your bags to your hotel room and complains about how heavy they are and expects you to tip him heavily for the privilege.
4. They are dictatorial and sensitive to having their authority over you disobeyed. Doctors believe they have the right to tell you how to live your life, and get angry and dismissive if you don't follow their dictates to the letter. Even if you do follow their instructions, they will believe you are lying if you don't show the improvement they expect of you. It's always that you're disobedient and a liar, not that they are wrong about the underlying notion that your fat causes every health problem known to man.

I've read again and again that being overweight shortens you life, but I'm beginning to wonder if what we're seeing is a correlation and causation mistake. Yes, being overweight can contribute to certain health problems, but what it also very much relates to is an avoidance of seeking regular medical treatment as well. Fat people don't go to doctors because the doctors zero in only on their fatness (which often can't be fixed, or if it can, not quickly, easily or, more often than not, medically) to the exclusion of all else and are patronizing, rude, or dismissive.

If you don't receive regular medical treatment, you are less likely to get an early warning on diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. You're more likely to seek treatment when it is too late and die earlier. Maybe being overweight doesn't cause you to die at an earlier age. Maybe it causes you to avoid medical treatment such that you are more likely to die of illnesses that thin people receive help for at a much earlier stage and therefore they survive. Fatness may not cause early death so much as the doctors' responses to overweight patients and the emotional damage it causes.

I don't know if my speculation is true, but certainly my aversion to doctors because of my weight could contribute to an early demise from some budding problem which I do not get tested for. I can't say one way or another. I can say that I hate doctors, and I don't think that will change even after I lose more weight and fall into a “normal” range because I can only take being treated like crap by the entire medical profession so many times before I write them all off as arrogant jerks. I'm sure that won't break any doctor's heart. After all, the last thing they want is another fatty patient who won't do what they say.