Coming to the Clinic - Part 7 - The Weight is Over

  The last few posts in this series have been rather weighty. It’s time to lighten things up.

   Back in March when I started this series on how to be the perfect patient, my plan was to take you step by step through your entire visit. Last time I wrote about that, I believe I still I had you sitting in the waiting room. Well, come on back!

   The first thing I am going to do is stop you at the dreaded scale. I feel bad that the scale always gets such a bad rap. Just like me, the teen-ager in the McDonald’s drive-through and the IRS, that scale is just doing its job. And that job is not to tell you that you are fat; its job is to help your health care provider keep you healthy. You can not blame that scale if it tells you something you don’t want to know. And if you really don’t want to know, don’t look. I’m not going to announce your weight to you or anyone else.  

   But before you even get on that scale, I bet you want to take off your shoes, empty your pockets, empty your bladder, take off your glasses and your baseball cap. And that’s ok, but first I want to ask if you have ever flown on a commercial airplane?

   

   Us seasoned travelers know how to dress when we will be going through airport security. For starters, we wear our airport shoes. Footwear that is comfortable for walking but quick and easy to slip on and off. Few things annoy me more than standing behind someone in line who has to untie and unlace their eight-inch high hiking boots. 

   

   Feeling secure about their footwear, the seasoned traveler already has empty pockets. All they need to carry on their person is their boarding pass and ID; everything else will already be tucked into their carry-on.  

   

   So, when you come to the clinic and you know you will get weighed and you hate to see what the scale will say, plan ahead as if you were on your way to meet with TSA. Set your carry-on on the counter, slip off your airport shoes and step right up. It just makes everyone’s life easier. You don’t waste your time and mine emptying your pockets and shedding extra clothing. You don’t have to worry about putting it all back on your person or leaving it behind. It’s just so much easier.

   

   Which may lead you to ask, “but why do you have to weigh me every time anyway if it is such a hassle for everyone?”

   To be honest, we probably don’t have to weigh every person every time. But sometimes, we won’t know that til after the provider sees you.

   You may have some vague complaints and when we add to the mix that you have lost 10 pounds in the last three weeks without even trying, your doctor may go, “ah-ha!” Or you really hadn’t noticed how swollen your feet and ankles have been, and now that your doctor sees your weight is up significantly since your last visit, he or she will once again go, “ah-ha!”

   The list of medical diagnoses about which your weight is important include hypertension, congestive heart failure, diabetes, thyroid disease, sleep apnea, arthritis, cancer and many more. And it’s not always an increase in weight that we are concerned with; unexplained weight loss is something to look at also.

   One other thing, no matter how few clothes you wear when you stop on our scale, the first thing you are going to think to yourself, or say to me, is “but my scale is five pound lighter”. And I totally believe you, because mine is too, but the scales in your medical clinic are supposed to be calibrated by professionals at least once a year. They are as accurate as they can be; sometimes your weight is just going to fluctuate by a few ounces from the time you walk from the scale in Hall A at your clinic to the one in Hall C.   

  

   I seem to be running a bit long here, so will end by saying, don’t let your weight weigh you down, let your health care professionals do their job and let them tell you what to do or not do about those stray pounds.