My Story: Switching to a Health At Every Size Doctor
After a long run of body aches, skin issues, mood and persistent low energy, I was desperate for a new approach to my health. As one does, I went to my regular doctor but all they had to offer in terms of support was, “lose weight or get weight loss surgery.” This wasn’t out of the ordinary for this office: I was previously fat shamed by the doctor twice in one year. I was yelled at for not dieting even though I actually had completed a keto diet that was even lower in carbs than she’d recommended.
Thankfully, I had a dietitian (who, incidentally, this doctor told me to ignore) who recommended I seek out a Health At Every Size (HAES) practice. I found Dr. Erica Wadas and immediately loved her website: https://foothillsdirectprimarycare.com/
I left her a voicemail and sent an email sharing my experiences with being in a larger body at the doctor and not getting the health answers I needed. She emailed and called me the very next day.
Before the appointment:
I filled out all the paperwork online. Immediately, she sent me helpful articles and podcasts about breaking weight stigma through a google doc and invited me to add other resources. What’s more, the doctor had looked at my website and got to know my approach to healing, which helped piece some things together for her about what I wanted.
My first appointment:
I went to a small office suite and texted the doctor to let her know I’d arrived. She greeted me in the lobby. Not her medical assistant. The actual doctor met me in the lobby and greeted me. We went back to her suite which had all the fixtures a typical exam room would have, but felt more intimate. There were also no scales. At all. Anywhere.
We sat at a table together and talked about weight bias in the medical system, my medical history, my bad experiences at the doctor and my major medical concerns at the moment. She cried with me and I felt like she really got it. She shared how she came to adopt a HAES approach in her practice and her own ways of fighting weight bias in the medical system by teaching at medical schools so that new physicians could be made aware of different options.
She checked me over from head to toe and came up with a plan, which she emailed me later, for what we discussed and what our next steps were. We signed paperwork for her to obtain records from all of my previous providers. I had specific health concerns about why my blood sugar was up when I never had issues with it before, in conjunction with skin issues, body aches, fatigue, high cholesterol and irregular periods. She had a hunch that I had PCOS but wanted to look more closely at my medical charts for my full history.
She provided me with her cell phone number to text her as needed for any medical concerns that came up. We scheduled my next appointment for telehealth as that worked better for my schedule at the time.
By the end of that very first appointment, I left with a plan I could start implementing that same day and I felt so validated and heard. I expressed that working with past doctors led me to believe I was one step away from a heart attack and was severely unhealthy. She validated that I was doing the best I could, that together we would go deeper than previous recommendations from typical doctors to “ just lose weight or have surgery” as my only options.
Next appointment:
I met with her again at the beginning of this year after implementing the tools she had recommended. My body aches had gotten better. A simple SSRI had taken care of my aches and pains. I also added a sun lamp and yoga per her recommendation. I was still a bit fatigued, but I had only implemented these changes for a couple weeks at this point.
By the second appointment, she had reviewed my previous medical information and felt confident going with a PCOS diagnosis, which explained skin issues I was having, as well as fatigue, high blood sugar, irregular periods and more.
I was given a super low dose of metformin, and knowing that I have a preference for integrated healthcare, I was sent to a great nutritionist (Liz Brinkman) to address my PCOS with a high protein diet and supplements. I was given lab orders for further blood work and told that I could likely eliminate other specialists who used a fat biased lens since my new HAES doctor is an internist and thus can see me in place of multiple specialists.
The second appointment was even more validating and made me realize how much I’d be ignored and harmed by typical doctors. I had been going to doctors appointments all last year telling them all that something did not feel right, but my pain was ignored. I was told it was simply age and I needed to just lose weight. No one considered any other explanations or listened to me with any depth.
I know that’s not unique to me. Black women’s pain is often ignored and we’ve seen very high profile examples of this, like Serena Williams and many others. And when you are a Black woman in a larger body, it's even worse.
From my new HAES doctor, I learned that BMI is not a good indicator of health and that I am in fact healthy! I move regularly, I eat 3 balanced meals a day with balanced snacks, I work to get enough sleep most days, and my health issues - outside of the PCOS, which we are now working to address - are controlled. While before, the endocrinologist was threatening to put me on meds I wasn’t comfortable with taking. The experience with an HAES doctor has been a complete 180 for me - physically, mentally and emotionally.
One thing it’s important to share: She doesn’t take insurance, which I know may make some folks hesitant. Instead, she uses a concierge service where you pay $125 a month with no co-pays and you have access to her directly via text, telehealth and in person. What that means in practice is that I can take a picture of a spot on my arm that I am concerned with, text it to her and get a real time recommendation for what to pick up, over the counter or script, or get an appointment with her. For me, that’s a more than worthwhile tradeoff.
All in all, it’s been an excellent experience so far. My mood has improved and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I feel good about my health and my projectory, knowing that I am being cared for by someone who has my best interest at heart and sees me as a whole, valid person instead of just a number on a scale. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I feel like my health is truly in good hands.
To look into HAES doctors in your area, check out the HAES Directory: https://haescommunity.com/search/
