lindajean

I think the actual statistic is that only 5% of people who are categorized as obese actually meet their goal and maintain it. I am a fat person and I gave up trying to lose weight after my mother died in part because of habits she developed from a lifetime of trying to meet and maintain an unrealistic (for her) weight goal. Obesity definitely is a health risk but I agree that until we really find "the cure" and no, "eating less and exercising more" is not the answer, maybe a little compassion would be a more appropriate response.

I skimmed through the posts and don't know how a discussion on appearance could devolve into an argument on obesity. I hope no one is reading this looking for advice on interview appearance/attire or how to present a professional appearance at work.

I am a Registered Nurse and I was diagnosed with FMS 14 years ago. I was like Emergent and many other health care professionals who believed that patients with FMS were just a bunch of whiney women. I suffered for at least twenty years with a variety of non-specific symptoms before I was diagnosed. I saw many doctors in that time, took a boatload of meds, but no one was ever able to give me a diagnosis and because my symptoms waxed and waned, most of what I took seemed to help for awhile and then, it didn't. I've spent many anxious hours pondering the possibility of an occult malignancy, because, anxiety can be part of FMS and I was legitimately having pain. And yes, to whomever commented on a patient who was having excruciating pain while her blood pressure was being taken, having your blood pressure taken if you have FMS is extremely and almost unbearably painful. I have also been diagnosed, with Polymyalgia Rheumatica, another auto-immune disease that you can't see from the outside. I recently retired from a thirty-eight year career. Until the last few years, I kept my FMS a secret because I couldn't deal with the thought of being judged by my peers and I know I would have been, because I heard the comments they made when FMS patients were admitted. I hope that those among you who are still doubters will look up the research being done on FMS. There are markers that have found on the brain scans of FMS sufferers. It is a legitimate disease and it can be proven. My prayer is that someday there will be a cure for this painful illness and until then I hope that health care professionals will treat FMS patients with the dignity, compassion and respect they deserve.

Yes, the 70's that was a great time to be a nurse, you had enough time to give backrubs, in fact, it was an expected part of your daily routine. We also wore white uniforms and caps and stood up when the doctor came into the nurse's station and gave him our seat and we wouldn't think of getting into an elevator before the esteemed physician. Times have changed. We didn't bake cookies, but I have cooked up a milk and molasses enema (on a stove, no microwaves! Yikes!). As an aide while in nursing school, I remember shaving a patient's peri-area while she cried, humiliated, and I have seen other threads in here that talked about patient's who have requested to be shaved because that's routine hygiene for some these days. IMHO, that's also when the trouble started, we bought a load of crap called TOTAL PATIENT CARE and it was promoted by our national organization as a way to improve patient care (we didn't talk about outcomes back then). Nurse's could do everything! Empty the bedpan! You need to assess the poop anyway. Pass the tray and pick it up! You need to assess what they ate! Can you imagine a time when nurse's aides did most of the more routine tasks? And when the bean counters realized that, yes!, the nurse could empty the trash while she was leaving the room after her assessment and it will save money on housekeepers, there was no turning back. Nursing and medicine are constantly evolving in our fast paced world and nurse's need to learn that their power is in sticking together. We are the largest expense in healthcare and that gives us the power to say no, I'm saving lives today, hire somebody for ten dollars an hour to bake cookies. But we have to stick together and that is sadly, something nurses have never been good at, preferring to leave the decision making to the bean counters.