Women interviewed for Gailey’s research also shared stories of mistreatment by physicians. “Overwhelmingly, the women were not seen as patients who needed help with an ailment,” Gailey wrote. “Instead, they were treated as though their fat was responsible for their sore throat, cough or sprained ankle.”
While in high school, Lauren was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome. Her physician recommended birth control to manage the symptoms but emphasized “the weight gain aspect” of her symptoms rather than her pain, Lauren said.
When she started college, Lauren began losing her hair and feeling fatigued, but she did not see a doctor. “I started losing hair in clumps, gaining weight, having massive headaches almost daily and other symptoms,” Lauren said. “My mom deeply felt for me and knew I needed the help that I never would personally reach out for.
“I was incredibly skeptical, of course, because I had been told over and over [by doctors] to just lose weight, get on birth control, try doing keto and cutting out carbs,” Lauren said. “I felt like doctors all just sort of throw out the same suggestions or basically just say that many women have it and that my diagnosis is common. They basically pushed it under the rug.”
Tired of seeing her daughter struggle, Lauren’s mother took her to a thyroid specialist who diagnosed Lauren with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease affecting the body’s thyroid gland, making metabolism slow, leaving people feeling tired and causing weight gain, among other effects.
“Once I went to the specialist and saw how trained and well-educated they were on my issues, I felt like I was in good hands,” Lauren said. Treatment involved medications and lifestyle modifications, including a gluten-free diet. Lauren said she hopes that learning how to nourish her body with the foods it needs will help her feel better.
Many women Gailey interviewed for her latest research discussed their experiences of “mistreatment, hostility, disgust and disdain” from health care workers, she wrote. “It became clear to me why so many fat people avoid going to the doctor. … Anti-fat bias has been linked to subpar health care in a variety of ways, including providers spending less time with larger-bodied patients; speaking more curtly and less compassionately to them; and misattributing symptoms to their weight instead of referring them for testing or offering evidence-based, nonweight-related treatment options.”