Doctors suggest Zoo MRI to 700lb Woman. I had an experience like this during my 400lb weight gain.....A doctor wanted to rule out a pituitary tumor, but I was unable to fit in the MRI machines or for the ones where I could fit [an open MRI out of state], being able to lay on my back and breathe was impossible. The endless rules about positions didn't help. I managed a CT scan of the abdomen for adrenal tumors on full blown oxygen and being allowed to sit up every few minutes to hack up a lung with my head elevated. But having the head down, nope not going to work, say goodbye to breathing from the fluids from my stomach coming up to the chest. The designers of this medical equipment you'd think they know better, that the sick and old have a long time laying flat? Look at the table in the picture, they couldn't have made it any skinnier if they tried.
I even once traveled three hundred miles to attempt an standing MRI where I ended up not fitting. Intubation for a test that could be positive or negative, also was considered too risky. When I was at a certain medical center in a big metro city, I got the zoo story too. The doctor told me "Well maybe you can go to the zoo for an MRI!" I said, "In my case, I fit I just cannot lay flat!". But wanting to find out more, I did contact a couple zoos, one I even got the director who runs the zoo MRI, only to be told "No way, the insurance would never cover that!". In our over-regulated society, rules often will be put above human lives. Why isn't there one extra large MRI for the severely obese? They can't afford one out of thousands of MRIs out there. Why was the standing MRI, where many conceivably would go being fat, only 21 inches wide [if the flat open one where you have to lie down is bigger?] The inventors are failing. Ironically when this article mentions "brain tumor" I wonder if they mean pituitary tumor. Even going deaf, I haven't been able to get a brain scan. The shortage of MRIs for large people in many places is not good... see here. Some hospitals are addressing it.
I had to have an MRI a few months back and it was horrendous. Not only was I squashed into the machine (my width at shoulder/arm level being more of a problem than anything) but I also get claustrophobic so being confined in that really small space with things on my face etc was not my idea of a good time. It was quite traumatic actually. I remember wondering what the hell do people bigger than me do when they need an MRI? At 300lb I am big but there are a lot of people bigger or differently shaped to me who wouldn't fit in that damn machine. And like you I wondered why the hell they didnt make the damn machine bigger to start with.
ReplyDeleteever occurred to you that you need to address your weight issues? but instead you demanding bigger scanners?
DeleteEver think that the problem for the MRI causes the weight problem. Even at 220 my shoulders touch the sides of the machine. I have to go to Beverly hill's to get mine done. I'm in good shape. Think before you speak and help someone out and do not be negitive. Anyone over weight already beats themselves up they need no help from people like you.
DeleteSorry you faced that Bri, yes in my cse, I can't even lay flat and breathe. The doctors do ultrasounds on me for things normal people I suspect get MRIs. Knocking me out and intubating me isn't worth the extreme risk. It is traumatic, and claustrphobic. I do know of a standing MRI place if you ever want me to send you the info, I think they are spreading around, at 300lbs you probably would fit in it. I also think why do these inventors not think of these things, don't they understand many people cannot lay flat with their head locked into a cage thing. [I saw that fun device before but knew it would be impossible. Most super fat people go without MRIs, I never had the pituitary tumor outruled. Doctors even want me to get a brain scan, because I've lost so much hearing its just not happening. I think why don't they make all the stuff bigger to begin with all the time. All the inventors of this stuff must be ultra-thin people.
ReplyDeleteNot 'ultra-thin', but simply normal, healthy-sized people. Average weight for men is around 180lbs, and around 145lbs for women. Most MRI machines were designed and created before the obesity 'epidemic' became such a problem. MRI machines are built to cater for the average, I think technically they comfortably fit up to the 95th percentile (The 95th percentile, for women, in weight is 220lbs). Any more, and small people, be they sick, old, or children lose out from a scan as it loses accuracy.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that the reason the equipment is thin is because technology is such that the bigger the equipment the less accurate the results. You just can't see what you need to see. Same holds true for chest xrays, dexa-scans, etc. The bigger the person the more blurry the images. It's not that skinny people are inventing these things, it's the technology isn't refined to deal with the morbidly obese population.
ReplyDeleteHeck, when I was at 180 (5'5") the dexa scan tech was a friend of mine. She flat out told me that if I was thinner the results would have been crystal clear. They were readable, but nothing like what they could have been. Add 200# to that and what will you get?
Why not refine it for a rapidly growing morbidly obese populace? That is sad if 180 is to considered too large, isn't that the average weight of men even? Why is everything being designed for some very small group of very thin people? Sometimes I wonder about designers and inventors, even our electrical grids are based on the same problems we still had in the 1930s, poles, wires, and more where the electricity goes out everytime there is a little bit of wind. Maybe some of the priorities are off, or these designers often come from an "elite" upper class world where people are often smaller? I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteWhy should an investor spend $2M on a machine that isn't necessary for the majority of people? Most doctor's don't even like the quality of a regular open mri. That would be a poor business decision, and we are in a free market society. I'm sure if we had universal healthcare, the government would find a way to scan the obese, but nooooooo....No one will vote for government run healthcare. I sympathize with you, but until "health" isn't a for-profit issue, nothing will change
ReplyDeleteWhy should it cost 2 million?
ReplyDeleteThat said why not a few of them country wide? I traveled 300 miles once to a stand up.
If they can waste 700 million dollars having an experimental plane crash into the ocean, they can save a few fat people's lives, when fat people are starting to outnumber the thin ones.
The universal healthcare, sounds good on front but is more about the enrichment of insurance companies rather then improved health care, kind of like how in many states you are forced to buy car insurance now there will be forced health insurance.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/20-signs-that-the-health-care-industry-has-become-all-about-making-as-much-money-as-possible
Read this, I agree with this guy...
The greed of the for profit on one side is destroying health care, and well remember the corporations are married to the govt now, in the synthetic "Third way" economics but think about that...
Health care never should have got so expensive to begin with.
By the way they will be making GOBS of money off a fattened up populace.
The moment elephants/old ppl outnumber regular ppl is the moment u start to die in the streets bcs there wont be enough of us to deal with you all. Im gonna be there maybe even to film and sell poking sticks. Oh and im gonna make a degree in astrophysics just to make jokes.
DeleteBe careful of pissing off elephants, it's easy for them to squish people. Some little short stick, ah that's nothing. :p
DeleteWhy not lose weight? What a nightmare!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell lets see some of us have diseases like hypothyroidism, pcos, cushings or took medications like birth control, steriods, or anti-depressants that has caused the weight gain. Most of the time even with treatment it almost impossible to lose the weight you have gained. A lot of the time its not from overeating and laziness.
DeleteWell lets see some of us have diseases like hypothyroidism, pcos, cushings or took medications like birth control, steriods, or anti-depressants that has caused the weight gain. Most of the time even with treatment it almost impossible to lose the weight you have gained. A lot of the time its not from overeating and laziness.
DeleteBecause not everyone can lose weight, their bodies don't work the same. I spent months puking my guts up, hate the sight of food, only eat nowadays when I am about to pass out from diabetes and still am hugely fat!
ReplyDeletehey i get that alot your fat diet but i dont eat much like the last coment i only eat when i feel dizzy enough to pass out from it i hate looking at food never mind eating it but because im obese dont you love that word because im obese i eat alot is all i get constantly eat less move more my doctor told me i feel like screaming my body just stores fat even if i eat a lemon or look at one ill gain weight idiots there has been times ive not had much at all like i had a tuna lettuce and tomatoe on brie bread that was it and a few cups of tea without sugar and low fat milk that was all i had you tell me why im gaining and the best i get is your bodys in starvation mode because your not eating write wtf cant win
DeleteYeah, I know it's a bad scene. Actually I fear gaining when I eat too little. Ie when there is a food insecure week...:0 Some probably would find that insane, but remember there is less fruits and vegetables, etc at that time. So yeah I believe you definitely.
ReplyDeleteActually, the vast, vast majority of those overweight who say they eat right actually don't. When monitored, they actually consume much more than their proper daily amount.
ReplyDeleteThere are some rare medical conditions that can cause you to gain more weight than other people, but that weight is extremely small compared to what people in fat-acceptance movements are claiming. For instance, the oft-cited "thyroid condition makes me fat" argument is nonsense, because thyroid conditions only cause you gain about 10% more bodyfat than you normally would AT A MAXIMUM.
Additionally, for the vast, vast majority of people (statistically, you included, Five Hundred), calories in/calories out is a real thing. Your body will gain fat if it doesn't use the calories that you consume. If you use more calories than you consume, you will lose fat.
Count calories and make sure you're getting all the proper amounts of nutrients per day.
I used to be quite overweight (250lbs, 5'10"). Everyone in my family is overweight besides me, with the exception of my mother since I convinced her to eat right and exercise. Now I'm 170lbs and fairly muscular, with a healthy BMI and only 15% body fat. It was very difficult at first. It actually is very much like quitting smoking, in that the urge to smoke (i.e. eat) is very strong. What you have to do is count calories, stop buying bad foods, and make sure you're eating about 500cal below your maintenance.
Almost nobody is as overweight as you are. You're morbidly obese. You have so much extra fat that you literally can barely breathe, and can't even breathe at all in some cases. You had to be taken to a zoo because no human should rightfully be alive with this kind of harm done to their bodies.
Um I've had hypothyroidism since I was 12 years old. Been on medication since then. Been big since I was 8, pretty sure thats when my thyroid went bad. Then lost my insurance for 10 years so wasn't able to go to the dr to get my thyroid medication, so you guessed it I gained a lot of weight. So yes your thyroid can make you obese if you can't get the medication, or your dr doesn't diagnose it right off. I dont have diabetes, high cholesterol, or heart disease. I'm healthy other than my thyroid. So try to tell someone who hasn't had the disease for 25+ years your bull crap.
DeleteThese people are trying to use facts/staristics/quantitative evidence that you could lose weight if you follow a plan. It takes commitment to lose weight and it won't happen in a week or two. I hope you get the medical help you need but if you're going to attribute everything to your pesky thyroid you may want to stop telling your story since people aren't buying it.
DeleteI was diagnosed with Lipedema stage IV, after writing this article many years ago. I have lost 250lbs before and still have 200lbs of it off since 1999. I know I have lost some weight recently. What does it matter? Every damn fat person loses weight all the time. Be glad your body works. I don't care what you buy or don't buy.
DeleteHow do you know what fat people eat?
ReplyDeleteAnd if everyone just calls them a liar from the start how does that work?
I don't see thin people eating all proper amounts. In fact my jaw drops watching all these skinny people buying this total crap, and even if they only ate one meal a day, I don't know why they aren't all sick.
They say the amount people gain is small but it's not. Why did I stop gaining weight when my thyroid returned to a normal level? How come my hyperthyroid sister become almost anorexic looking, but if a hypothyroid gets fat, its all their fault?
Hey put me in the lab tomorrow to measure the metabolism. I'd sign right up.
That is total BS about thyroid conditions making people only gain 10% of the weight. I guess fat discrimination rears its ugly head there too. I know THIN people who gained 100lbs from thyroid. YEARS OF LIVING NORMAL AS A THIN PERSON then BAM! and this 140lb woman who went up to 350lbs from a pituitary tumor.
I call total bull on that one given what I experienced first hand.
Calories in and Calories out is absolute nonsense.
http://fivehundredpoundpeeps.blogspot.com/2013/03/but-i-thought-calories-were-making-us.html
http://fivehundredpoundpeeps.blogspot.com/2012/11/are-calories-themselves-myth.html
The American population is getting fatter, you tell me everyone woke up one day and decided to become lazier and sicker, they are doing crap to the food and the endocrine systems are being AFFECTED. I have dozens of articles talking about this.
I've lost 200lbs since the peak weight sure Im still hugely fat but I DID NOT DIET.
It was mostly medical care. I know if the Spiro gets taken away, BAM the weight will jack up to the skies, same for any water weight and more.
Calories are a lie.
I don't believe the official story about 9-11 and I don't buy it about calories either! [One thing some people know how propagandized this system is and see through "the matrix" so to speak and the brainwashing is rife when it comes to obesity, calories and the diet industrial complex. So many making millions and billions off us!
How do you know I don't count calories? I counted them for years. Every fat person has.
And what should people who face more hunger do about it?
Your stupid diets are failing. I have to drive 30 miles just to get some food that is edible at a health food store The grocery stores are so full of MSG laden crap, I wrote one a complaint letter recently stop imposing the bad lower common denominator food and tastes on me!
So you were moderately overweight and successfully lost some? Good. keep it off. Practice WEIGHT PREVENTION now for the rest of your life. I am glad your body works properly. I wish mine did. There is far more going on then fat.
You tell me I am morbidly obese like its a mystery to me.. LOL YEAH I'M FAT. I am probably the FATTEST woman in my entire town! I only have written a blog for three years about it.
Already you are lost, thinking anyone would choose to be fat.
"calories are a lie...."
Deleteits very basic science, actually.
I'm going to go ahead and assume that you don't exercise either.
Hey keep repeating the mantras like a parrot.
DeleteHow do you know if I exercise or not? I used to walk for miles when I had the weight gain. That was the most insidious thing about it, I loved to walk and 2-3 miles was nothing.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1454084
DeleteScience disagrees with you.
On the MRI size: they are astronomically expensive. The cost is exponentially related to the size, ie, doubling the size quadruples or more the cost.
Is it worth spending money on the obese, when you could spend it on children, or mens' health, which is vastly underfunded?
>And what should people who face more hunger do about it?
The only lucid thing you've said.
It's a choice of "behave like a dog and reward yourself with food" or "be healthy and attractive"
Why are the MRIS so expensive. Let's break this down.
DeleteThey seem to have no problem buying jets and tanks to take over the streets of America.
The children and men are getting fatter and soon won't fit in the MRIS.
You do realize I believe the American people are being fattened up via things in the food and destruction of our endocrine systems. You need to read more of this blog.
You think all thin people never eat? I sure see a lot of them eating at restaurants and buying groceries.
Tell me what you eat skinny guy. I mean I already wrote what I did. Do you only eat every three days? What story you going to tell me?
Delete"You need to read more of this blog"
DeleteYou realize that backing yourself up with stuff you said is logically fallacious right?
It's your credibility that's being questioned. Quoting your own blog to defend your credibility makes no sense.
This blog contains research studies and links to other websites.
DeleteWho asked you to prove my credibility? And why'd you self appoint yourself to the job?
Good thing I ignored people like you when I almost died at the peak weight.
Try Dr. Fuhrmans Eat To Live
DeleteIt is awesome!
How many calories do you eat in a typical day?
ReplyDeleteSnacks and all, mind.
It's on here. I wrote an entire article about it.
DeleteYeah I listed the food.
You can look for it.
Since then I went off the gluten-free diet.
Are you going to tell me "I am thin and eat only once every two days"?
Why should a hospital divert money to an extra large machine simply because you choose to eat too much and exercise too little.
ReplyDeleteWhy should a hospital divert money towards oxygen for the smoker who chain smoked or the guy who refused to wear a helmet?
ReplyDeleteWho chooses to eat too much?
I am curious why do you see that as a choice?
I didn't choose for the lungs to go either when I was 20 before the severe weight came.
>Why should a hospital divert money towards oxygen for the smoker who chain smoked or the guy who refused to wear a helmet?
DeleteOxygen is cheap. Accidents happen. Obesity is a choice.
I do not think we should invest heavily into treating smokers, alcoholics or heroin addicts, aside from rehabilitation programs.
If you want to divert money away from every problem that doesn't effect you those problems will effect you. Crime is a choice... we spend billions of dollars a year fighting crime, you think we should stop? Let's unlock those jail cells and save some cash. I guess you just aren't very important so they didn't ask you for your opinion when they made their fixed budget. You sound like the kind of person that enjoys talking loudly about personal opinions that don't effect you meanwhile you self-destruct in other ways.
Deleteand you sound like a narcissist and lover of the police state, wouldn't be surprised if you love the private prison for profit system. Another low information Trump voter? And are people who troll on blogs someone who is not self destructive?
DeletePeople do not choose obesity. I mean you think someone wakes up and says WOW I want to be fat. I mean why do you believe something that stupid and insane. So why do the drug addicts get rehab programs and the fat do not. [even for the fat people with food addiction problems]
ReplyDeleteNo people don't choose to be fat. I knew from the get-go I was handed a crap body that never worked right, and I exercised like mad as a kid with 2 to 3 miles a day on my bike to deliver newspapers and still was FAT.
Did you know that people are being paid by our govt. to troll blogs and forums to tout the party line? It's good work, if you can get it. lol I saw a documentary about it awhile back because some of them were feeling a need to confess their sins publicly. One of their favorite come-back lines is to tell the commentator that their argument is a "logical fallacy". I've seen that quite a bit in other health-related sites as well. - chakradancer
ReplyDeleteAll I see is a bunch of fatties who can't stop enjoying the privileges of the first world defending what they are.
ReplyDeleteIf genes are the be all to end all in regards to weight gain and weight loss why aren't there genetically fat people in Africa? How has that entire continent avoided thyroid problems? Geez, they sure have some lucky genetics. They should stop rubbing their thin privilege in our fat western faces. We can't help being too unable to stop glutting ourselves on processed slop and using scooters instead of our legs.
But then, why are there so many skinny Cambodians? Most of them are unable to walk thanks to mine related accidents, shouldn't they be fat like us. It must be genetics again.
Oh, the plight and hardships of the first world. MRI machines are another sign of how unlucky we all are.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php/features/science/137134-30-nigerians-are-obese-says-report
ReplyDeleteNigerians are fatter then Ethiopians.
You trying to tell me there is no genetic obesity in Africa HA!
Can you please try having me avoid the nausea of a the "first world problems" meme, that the globalists love to have useful idiots use, so they can support agendas to have even more serfs to work for pennies in their megacorporate plantations? Hmm more help for the bankers, to hide more money in Swiss Bank accounts supposedly headed to "help" the third world.
Even there, your vision of Africa as everyone being people who live in huts and all live just on millet is false, and more of the brainwashing. Please go look up pictures of African cities, and other places, the modern world is there too, and they will one day deliver the same crap GMO food, we got going. African governments are even requiring ID cards.
You never heard of untreated goiters?
Why do you think every African is thin?
To assuage your liberal guilt, I guess you can go live in a hut somewhere in the bush and get really thin to prove how special you are.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Modern+african+cities&client=opera&hs=1Fq&rls=en&channel=suggest&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=UFubUs2CNMbpoATDioL4Cw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1247&bih=771
ReplyDeleteRegarding the diameter of MRI machines:
ReplyDeleteThe new MRI, like the existing 7-Tesla models, will have an internal bore of about 60 centimeters, or just under 2 feet, once the final electronics and shielding materials are added. That should accommodate most of the population, a factor he said was critical in its design. Each centimeter increase in the machine’s size adds millions of dollars to the price.
This from an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune regarding the installation of an extra-powerful MRI for brain imaging, but the principle holds for all machines
http://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=ser&sub=def&pag=dis&ItemID=82543
ReplyDeleteI don't think society wants to accept obesity as a norm. It's the sad truth but it is a burden to society being obese. I used to be fat, thankfully, I am also diagnosed with ADHD. From then on, I lost a tremendous amount of weight thanks to the stimulants I was prescribed. I did some research and found that FDA does approve stimulants for weight loss. I strongly believe that every person has the choice to be who they are on the outside. I highly suggest speaking to your doctor or better psychiatrist for stimulants (e.g. amphetamines, methylphenidate). Btw, Desoxyn also known as methamphetamines is FDA approved for severe weight loss. Under proper supervision, all drugs are useful --they are made for a reason.
ReplyDeleteCould be a possiblity for some but not with someone with my kind of heart problems. I also have a history of anxiety disorders. I don't think the EMTs want to find me running down the street screaming or clinging to the ceiling. Just drinking two cans of soda makes my heart race.
DeleteThat makes sense. Remember though dosage is everything. We usually start out with the minimum dosage. It might feel like a good coffee buzz. The doctor slowly increases the dosage periodically at the appropriate pace. Two cans of soda isn't good for you haha. Jokes aside, it's probably just the sugar though. When we break them down on the cellular level, we out specialized enzymes to work. They requests payment in the form of oxygen. We oblige, by getting the lung to do its job; drawing breath. Thus of course, the engine of them all, the heart does its job. Stimulants designed by scientists are made specifically to target and stimulate the brain. The only significant energy demand comes from the desire to move around.
DeleteThe brain likes to be stimulated. When there is a deficiency, it tends to look for some. A typical source of stimulant comes in the form of energy. We are fortunate to have mastered the extraordinary ability of cultivating it. One of the most richest source of energy per unit volume is refined sugar. As with those struggling for life, greediness is a resourceful aide in storing energy. When energy is stored, it becomes potential energy. In 1905 Albert Einstein discovered that mass is a form of energy. From his famous equivalency principle we learn that as the mass of an object increases so does its potential energy. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can never be created nor destroyed, thus as the potential energy of a system increases, its kinetic energy decreases. A direct consequence of the decrease in kinetic energy is the decrease in velocity. Therefore when potential is converted to kinetic energy, the velocity of our synaptic momentum increases and the brain gets its dose of simulation. -M
ReplyDeleteIf you want to, give it a shot. Also, find a good doctor. -M
ReplyDeleteI have been told I was too fat for several things, the most recent is being told I was too fat for gastric bypass surgery... literally too fat for weight loss surgery... it's been very depressing
ReplyDeleteSorry you went through that. There are some specialist surgeons who will take extremely overweight patients like Dr. Now.
DeleteI want to lose my own weight so I have contacted you
ReplyDeleteFind out what's wrong first. Diets often fail and or make you fatter. Get into fat liberation, do what you can for your health and join a gym when covid is over.
Delete