Kind doctors do exist!
I wanted to share some recent experiences with my doctor to highlight positive examples of anti-diet patient care with GLP-1 use. I’ve been with my PCP for about 4 years and she’s wonderful on all fronts!
Pre-Zepbound: I was able to discuss my curiosity about the meds without being afraid of judgement and/or a huge shift to focusing on weight loss. I’m currently disabled and have a history of a restrictive eating disorder (which happened in my current, larger body). She kindly expressed concerns about past eating disorder behaviors being activated if I were to take the medication. She also knows I’ve been in a good place for a long time and wanted to provide me autonomy to make the decision about trying Zepbound or not. I brought up all the non-weight-loss reasons I was interested in trying it, as well as some medical procedures that require a BMI lower than my current one. (BMI is garbage and also a very real barrier to care that would improve my quality of life.) We talked about common side effects and insurance coverage. I expressed that I didn’t plan on tracking anything at all (weight, food, exercise) and had zero intention for making any significant changes. We didn’t talk about expectations of weight loss, eating less or exercising more because those weren’t things I asked about.
Fast-forward to a check up after my 6th shot: At every visit the nurse weighs me on a scale that I can stand on backwards. My weight is recorded but not announced. They know to do this without me even asking because it’s listed in my chart :) And yes, I can decline, but due to some wonky medical stuff I usually opt in so someone other than myself can catch any unusual changes.
I expressed some difficulty with a dose increase and described strategies I’ve been using for adequate nutritional intake and GI symptom management. I said I wasn’t sure if I should go back to the lower dose. My doctor was sympathetic about the challenges I was experiencing, offered some insight and left the decision to stay or decrease up to me. She asked if past eating disorder behaviors were feeling triggered (nope!) and if anyone around me was worried about that (also no). She asked me to message her if things didn’t improve within the next two weeks. She didn’t say what my weight was or indicate if anything changed, make any weird comments about side effects being a good thing, encourage restriction, or make me feel bad about saying I was struggling. She just wanted to make sure I was okay and felt supported in my quest to feel better.
If you don’t have a doctor like this one, I guess I just wanted to say that they exist and are worth looking for. You deserve to be treated with kindness and dignity while also having your individual needs recognized and supported.