Her Doctor Told Her That She Just Needed To Lose Weight When She Brought Up Her Health Issues, And Finally, She Was Diagnosed With Sleep Apnea

Emily Chan |

Nov 29, 2023

Photo 194848533 © Fizkes - Dreamstime.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

Going to see a doctor or any other medical professional can be anxiety-provoking for many people, so it’s important that they feel safe, comfortable, and like they’re being listened to. Most professionals do their best, but some patients have reported feeling disrespected and unheard, in which case they may have experienced medical gaslighting.

Medical gaslighting is a phenomenon in which a doctor or other medical professional dismisses or downplays a patient’s physical symptoms.

Unfortunately, medical gaslighting is very common among female patients. Over 70 percent of women say that they’ve experienced medical gaslighting.

TikToker Sam Hart (@thesam_show) is opening up about how her doctor put all her health issues down to weight.

Over two years ago, she went to a doctor and informed him that something seemed to be wrong because she was feeling tired all the time.

She tried to tell him that it wasn’t just regular sleepiness. She had been experiencing excessive fatigue that required her to lie down immediately; otherwise, she would pass out wherever she was standing.

In response, he told her that she just needed to lose some weight to solve the problem. At the same doctor’s appointment, she also mentioned how her foot would go numb when she ran. He asked her if she had tried thinking about it less.

Then, she requested to get some fertility tests done because her mother had gone through early menopause, and she wanted to know where her own fertility levels were.

However, the doctor brushed off her concerns yet again and asked if she had considered just calming down because she seemed like a very anxious person. After she left the appointment, she sat in her car and cried for a while.

Photo 194848533 © Fizkes – Dreamstime.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

When winter rolled around, the excessive fatigue only grew worse. She went to the doctor again and insisted that they test her for “mono,” or infectious mononucleosis.

The test results came back negative, and the doctor chalked her symptoms up to seasonal changes.

In the summer, Sam visited her obstetrician-gynecologist and brought up how she felt really tired. Her OB-GYN attributed it to the fact that she was just getting older. Since then, Sam’s tiredness had never gone away.

Eventually, she went to see her original doctor again for a primary care checkup. Throughout the whole appointment, he emphasized the need for her to lose weight.

She tried to talk to him about her migraines and how she was training to run a half marathon, but all he cared about was her weight loss.

She decided never to go back to that doctor again. In the spring, she scheduled a visit with a new primary care doctor because the exhaustion had begun to affect her ability to work.

When she walked into the appointment, she immediately stated that she did not want to discuss her weight and described the fatigue she had been experiencing. Her new doctor signed her up for a sleep study right away.

After doing the sleep study, Sam found out that her excessive sleepiness had nothing to do with paranoia or being overweight.

It turned out that she had sleep apnea. Her body was not resting, and she was waking up around 80 times a night.

She added that her sleep apnea hadn’t just come about in the past two years. She has been dating her boyfriend for almost ten years, and during that time, he has collected countless photos of her napping.

She had been 115 pounds when that was happening, which proved her exhaustion had nothing to do with weight.

Sam also stated how ridiculous it was that she had to jump through hoops to seek out proper healthcare. She stressed that being exhausted is not normal.

She has now been treating her sleep apnea for about three months. Her migraines have disappeared, she no longer needs to nap, and she is finally having dreams again.