Reader Sarah writes:
Just saw this clip from the show “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant,” and thought of your blog.
24-year-old woman took the morning-after pill when the condom broke. Started missing her period. At first she doesn’t worry because her periods had been irregular, but finally she goes to the doctor. He says it’s normal for such an overweight woman to miss her periods. No mention if he did a pregnancy test. But guess what, she was pregnant with twins, whose health was compromised because the mother received no pre-natal care:
First, Do No Harm 
Twistie
/ May 8, 2012Funny, I’ve been fat with ridiculously regular periods my entire adult life. I’ve known plenty of other fat women with very regular periods, as well as a couple who have wildly unpredictable ones. Fat doesn’t automatically lead to a lack of periods and any doctor who thinks it does should have their license revoked immediately if not sooner.
jellybeansouth
/ May 8, 2012Twistie, I agree. I am fat, my sister is fat, and my best friend is fat. And by that I mean OMGDEATHFAT!!!1!! We all have extremely regular periods. The only fat girl I know who doesn’t, has PCOS. Odd that doctors wouldn’t know that menstruation can vary in everyone, regardless of size.
seventhbard
/ May 8, 2012Ugh, the fat-hatey framing in this whole piece is disgusting. They talk about what a “problem” her weight is, despite the fact that she clearly seems unhindered by it, has a physically demanding job she does well in and enjoys, has an active social life, etc. But omg, some day, she MIGHT have diabeeeeetes! Gasp! Yes, presumably also eventually she’ll age, at which point she’ll be susceptible to any number of issues, guess we’d better start offing everyone after their 40s, just to be safe! And it’s all treated as totally normal and okay to tell a fat woman “oh don’t worry, it’s okay if your periods stops, you’re fat!”?!?!?! Geez I’m barely that much smaller than this woman and my doctor asks me if I might be pregnant if I come in with a cough for flip’s sake. 😛
lilitu1uk
/ May 8, 2012Funny (except not), I always thought that a sudden change in cycles is always, but *always* something that needs investigating as a sign of some other health thing happening. Too many doctors don’t seem to know anything about menstrual cycles.
DeidreMiller
/ May 9, 2012Another fat woman with very regular periods here. The “doctor” in that clip was completely full of shit. He also said that being fat causes you to have high insulin levels. Also not true.
The Well-Rounded Mama
/ May 9, 2012A fat woman who is missing her periods…why didn’t this doctor check her for PCOS or hypothyroidism? Doh! Missing periods is not “normal” for anyone, and can lead to endometrial hyperplasia (overgrowth of the endometrium). Untreated, this can lead to endometrial cancer. Pregnancy should have been checked for and then if not pregnant, she should have been checked for other reasons for irregular cycles.
Jenny Islander
/ May 9, 2012Oh, but it’s normal for fat women to be broken, inadequate, and incapable. Any fat woman who reports good health must be too stupid to realize how sick she really is, or else she’s lying.
Yeah, I know, preaching to the choir. I’m still fuming over finding out that a doctor who told me I was going to die if he didn’t come save me from my broken incapable fat timebomb of a body is still telling the same lie to other women years later, even though the charts in his own textbooks show that he’s wrong.
Jenny Islander
/ May 9, 2012Forgot line 3 in paragraph 1: And asyouknowbob, any fat woman who reports a medical problem must always be having a special fatty medical problem, so don’t bother figuring out a treatment; just tell her to take two diets and call you when she’s thin.
Did the woman profiled in the show ever get an apology for the flagrant medical malpractice?
KhleSmizth
/ November 6, 2012I agree with you!