<p>Good point, atomom. Maybe the doctor was hurt or disappointed in the reaction to her suggestion. Maybe her suggestion could have been worded differently (if how it was reported here is how it was presented). How did you respond when you “refused”, OP? What did you say? Maybe she responded to that, Just a thought. I know several people who had breast reduction surgery and found it very beneficial.
And apologies for the typo above. Calling the Dr “nuts” is not nice. </p>
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<p>I said flatly that this is something that I will never do. It’s the truth, but I could have been more tactful about it.</p>
<p>I would recommend talking to the doctor about why she recommended breast reduction. If in fact she was telling you to get surgery simply to lose weight, nuts would be the mildest thing I would call her, so hopefully it was for other reasons. Breast reduction surgery generally is to lessen strain on the skeletal system, I am not a doctor but in my reading about health and nutrition I have never seen any reference to breast reduction surgery preventing disease or some such, other than as others mentioned, maybe making it easier to exercise and so forth. It could be your doctor thought getting breast surgery was a really great idea and can’t believe you didn’t jump at it, or that she was frustrated that she felt you weren’t listening to her. </p>
<p>The key thing here is to follow through with her. I read something a while ago that talked about patient outcomes in terms of hospitalization or being treated for a condition or a disease, and what the study showed was that the best results often came from patients whom I am sure more than a few doctors and nurses would call “pains in the neck”, because of the questions they asked. I don’t take anything at face value when it comes to medical advice, and when a doctor recommends something I do research and ask questions about why they recommend what they do, bring up alternatives, and get involved in the decision making process. I kind of live by Richard Feynman’s idea of science when it comes to medical care, that it begins and ends with questions. </p>
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<p>Very good point, and I try to be that patient, but I was caught off guard this time.</p>
<p>My main reason for starting this thread is that I have had the same doctor for 12 years, and until she made this suggestion, I have trusted her judgment. Now, I’m not so sure that I do, and I’m considering changing doctors. </p>
<p>My husband’s long-term primary care doctor recently retired, and he’s very pleased with the doctor he chose as a replacement. I was thinking of finding out whether his doctor is still accepting new patients. But after reading all your comments, I think I should give my doctor one more chance to explain her reasoning before I make a decision about switching to another practice. I’m not going to make a special appointment for this purpose because I already get criticized at work for taking time off too often for medical appointments. But I will bring up the breast reduction issue again at my next scheduled visit with my doctor and listen to what she says before making a decision about whether to switch to a different practice.</p>
<p>If you do end up changing doctors, try to find one you can see during your non-work hours. Or at least a doctor who doesn’t make you wait forever (I go to one who has a solo practice and I have never waited more than 10 minutes and that time she apologized; usually she is right on the dot)</p>
<p>A doctor not being on time, often means that they are taking the time needed with a patient before moving on to another one. Do you want to be the one the doctor hurries so she can be “on the dot” for the next patient??? Scheduling appointments can never be an exact (or even close to exact!) science. </p>
<p>The difference is that my doctor does not block book. Your scheduled time is your time, plus she puts in leeway after each. But it’s a tiny practice - just her and a part-time office admin.</p>
<p>I’m OK with a doc who is more or less on-time. I once went with S2 to an orthopedist who, apparently, scheduled all his patients for 3:00 PM, since that’s when all the kids with sports injuries could come. For the first appointment, we waited for an hour – and then they took S2 to get an xray and made us wait another 20 minutes while they developed and looked at the x ray. I complained. The next time we went back, we waited another hour, and at that visit I requested all of his records. We never went back.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my mother once spilled Clorox in her eye. A neighbor rushed her to the ophthalmologist, who spent an hour with her rinsing her eye and making sure it was OK. If a doctor takes care of emergencies like that during office hours, I’m OK with being delayed. </p>
<p>A lot of good advice/comments so far. Physician here. I have given anesthesia for women undergoing breast reduction surgery. One was still in HS and didn’t mind the side effects (possibility of losing some erogenous sensation et al). All were tired of sore shoulders from the weight of their breasts causing bra straps to dig in and so forth. You likely would benefit from losing the extra weight that likely also causes you similar problems. Even with reduction surgery you will still have a larger cup size than many but it will not cause you medical problems any more. YOU have to be ready. It is possible you heard negative words and tone because you are sensitive about this subject. Perhaps your physician was not well spoken. We weren’t there and will never know.</p>
<p>Please consider this surgery despite your experience with this physician. The benefits likely far outweigh any surgical risks. It is one of those things many women wish they had done years ago. It has nothing to do with the rest of your body weight- I recall less than four pounds per side as the most I ever saw removed. Good idea even if poorly presented.</p>
<p>@wis75 you didn’t read the OP properly. She never complained about sore shoulders or back pain, and if she isn’t having pain, then it’s not a medical problem that needs to be fixed. The doctor was advocating the surgery as a means of rapid weight loss, which is idiotic because removing breast tissue does nothing to address the aspects of being overweight/obese that are a health risk</p>
<p>jazzcatastrophe, you are correct. I did not complain about shoulder or back pain because I don’t have those problems. My large breasts don’t bother me at all, except for the difficulty in buying certain types of clothing, such as bathing suits – and I certainly wouldn’t have surgery to fix THAT. As far as I know, I don’t have any medical problems at all related to breast size, and I never have had any. </p>
<p>Why would I have surgery to correct problems I don’t have?</p>
<p>If she has been your doctor for that long, I would give her the benefit of the doubt, and schedule time specifically to talk to her about this. Not many weeks go by where I don’t second guess something I have tried to communicate.</p>
<p>I am "borderline " (7 pounds from) obese based on bmi calculators, although I don’t think you would guess it to look at me. My breasts really cramp my style, especially because one is quite a bit larger from nursing on my stronger arm more than 20 years ago. I have asked my H about surgery, just to even out. We are both physicians; neither surgeons. He said go with the weight loss. </p>
<p>What I like is a doctor who calls you if they are running late. (Say more than half an hour.) Unfortunately they are few and far between. Sometimes my dentist calls me and says he’s gotten done with a patient early and ask if I’d like to come sooner. </p>
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<p>My dental office does this too, and I hate it because I always have to say no. Time off from my job has to be arranged in advance. I can’t just switch times same day, and I feel bad about it.</p>
<p>Well, realistically they are not trying to do you a favor. Instead, they’re trying to reschedule their day and make use of downtime after someone cancelled. There is no reason to feel guilty. </p>
<p>Definitely don’t have to feel guilty. I’m really close to my dentist and I am self-employed so I can often accommodate him. He also has called me when he was running late. He’s a keeper!</p>
<p>I wonder what “body-type” the doctor has? If she is thin/small breasted, I wonder if she might be more likely to have the impression that carrying large breasts would be uncomfortable/a problem to be fixed? Perhaps she has seen other patients with the OP’s body type and most of them were asking for reductions, or were happy to have them. In that case, the doctor might have been surprised at the OP’s negative reaction to the suggestion–not realizing that the OP had had past issues with her family over their suggestion that she have this surgery, and had already decided against it. Even though the OP didn’t complain about any discomfort or medical issue with her breast size, maybe it was the doctor’s general experience that reduction is something most women that size would welcome.</p>
<p>My doctor recently joined some sort of health information system, where patients can go online and see all sorts of details – including, it turns out, the doctor’s notes from each office visit.</p>
<p>So I hunted up the password, went into the system, and read the notes from the visit when she recommended breast reduction.</p>
<p>The only mention of breast reduction was in a paragraph where she was discussing counseling me on weight management. She noted that a lot of my excess weight was due to my breasts and that she had suggested breast reduction and I had refused. So from her own notes, I can confirm that weight reduction was her reason for bringing up the possibility of surgery. </p>
<p>Also, please remember that I’m not a new patient. I’ve been seeing her for years and bringing my boobs with me every time, and she never mentioned breast reduction before. But she seems to be making a concerted effort to intensify her counseling of patients about weight management – in fact, she specifically said she was doing this.</p>
<p>@atomom You asked about the doctor’s body type. She’s chunky – though not as heavy as me. And she has small breasts.</p>
<p>There are many reasons for getting breast reduction surgery. I find no problem with the doctor having suggested it. But it seems very odd to me to suggest it in the context of weight loss. I do not think breast reduction will contribute to any significant weight loss. What it might do (among other things) is improve the appearance of your overweight figure. Perhaps she meant it that way (aesthetics) as opposed to actual loss of weight. </p>
<p>Body fat, whether stored in breasts or belly or thighs, is metabolically active, and there are endocrine advantages to reducing the amount of body fat you have (there’s an explanation here: <a href=“Adipose tissue - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipose_tissue</a>). It sounds to me like your doctor is a poor communicator, but not crazy. </p>