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Doctors Describe How A Patient's Lie Nearly Cost Them Their Life

Doctors Describe How A Patient's Lie Nearly Cost Them Their Life
Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash

Not everyone tells their doctor the truth, whether out of embarrassment or a lack of trust. This can have some pretty big impacts on treatment outcomes, though, especially in an emergency.


Reddit user u/GlassCoyote asked:

"Doctors, when did a patients lie nearly end up killing them?"

20.

When patients lie and say they haven't eaten anything prior to elective surgery when they have. I caught a patient snaffling biscuits that her partner had brought in for her because we are "so cruel" to deny her food. People can die from aspirating stomach contents during a GA.

-wrallcomefromaway

19.

How about the opposite? I've moved a lot and when I visit a new doctor they often try to answer my health history for me.

'Drinking? Smoking? Exercise and diet? Meh. You're thin. So moderate, no, regular, healthy.'

None of that is accurate, but when I correct them I get 'Oh. So is this a cry for help?'

What? No. I just want you to have the facts.

-kosigoli

18.

One of my patients was smoking in the bathroom while on oxygen. Could've ended very badly for him and others in the hospital

-callsikhurity

17. 

My teenage brother had the opposite to most of these stories.

He came home after being out drinking with friends, raided the fridge and went to bed. A little later he comes out panicking to my parents that he's having trouble breathing, is feeling dizzy, and has a bunch of other alarming symptoms.

They rush him to the ER and from what they tell me the staff were yelling at him to tell them what drugs he'd taken, even though he was adamant he hadn't taken anything. They wouldn't believe him, my parents were begging him to tell them, but he insisted he hadn't.

I'm not sure of the rest of the details but it turns out he had developed a nut allergy he wasn't aware of, and had eaten something that was causing him to go into anaphylaxis.

-Mah_Jong-un

16.

Social Worker at a children's hospital. We have kids coming in through our resuscitation room that have been seizing and are unconscious with no prior history. I'm constantly trying to get parents to tell me if there is a possibility that their toddler might have ingested something, "Does your kid have access to cannabis? Could they have eaten some?". Parents never want to admit it to doctors and so I'm always on a fact finding mission. As a social worker parents are either glad I'm there or they think I'm going to take their kids away...

PSA - cannabis can effect children in horrible, shut down your ability to breathe, kind of ways!

-Typetwofuncrew

15.

Nurse on an ortho unit. This particular patient was a fresh post-op joint replacement. They woke up in the middle of the night going crazy. He was insisting he had to leave. He was seeing things. We were on the 6th floor and he tried going down the back stairwell. There was no reasoning with this dude. He was straight up determined to leave.

Turns out he was detoxing from alcohol. He had lied to both his doctor and the nurse that admitted him about his alcohol use. When you're a heavy user like he was, quitting cold turkey can kill you. We were lucky he didn't start seizing before we got meds on board to help him detox safely. I was very thankful I caught him trying to get down the stairs before he went ass over tea kettle and cracked his head open.

A few months later, he was back on the surgery schedule to fix an injury on his operative leg from falling. Luckily, his doc knew to plan for detox this time around. But the patient also planned ahead... after he was discharged, we found a bottle of booze in the bedside table. -_-

-trahnse

14.

Vet here so in my case it is is the owner telling the lie that can kill the patient. It is hard to get the point across to people that I am not going to call the cops if you tell me your dog ate your drug stash. Just telling me will save time, lots of money spent on diagnostics, and possibly your pet's life. I really don't care if you do drugs.

The only scenarios I can think of where I would call the authorities would have to involve deliberately harming an animal or extreme neglect that I know will continue in the future.

-dickpicksix

13.

Had a grandma who was basically comatose status in ER, whenever we could rouse her or get a word she stated she wasn't on any drugs, we YOLO gave her Narcan (narcotic od drug) with no effect, 20-30 minutes later we do flumazenil / romazicon (benzo od drug) and she wakes up. A lot of ppl weren't suspecting her of drug OD given her age & statement so they were thinking 900 different routes.

-Wxxz

12.

We had a patient that took her home heart meds religiously even in the hospital when we were also administering then to her. She was Educated to not take any of her home meds while she is hospitalized since were giving her the hospital meds. She would sneak and take them. Her blood pressure bottom out and would have to bolus her. Security was called and had to remove the meds from her and lock them up. We had another patient requested a sleep med. The nurse gave it to her. Later, found patient barely arousable and blood pressure dropped which did not make sense she was given a low dose of sleep aid.

Patient had her purse open on the bed and found a prescription of Ambien. The patient took our sleep aid plus double dose of her home med Ambien. We always instruct patients on admission not to take their home meds while in the hospital. We are not allowed to go through their belongings due to privacy.

-Lanna33

11.

One of my relatives had a bad reaction to amoxicillin as a child; Puffy face, trouble breathing, emergency room visit bad.

Fast forward fifteen years, she's off at college and has come down with some sort of infection.

She, however, didn't inform the campus health people, because, and I quote, "Allergies are caused by a bad diet, and since I'm a vegetarian I shouldn't have them any more."

Yeah. They prescribed her amoxicillin, and, if it weren't for her roommate being home to call an ambulance she'd have been dead.

-technos

10.

Middle-aged housewife comes to ED with episodes of headache and collapse/vacant episodes. Usually early hours of the morning. Has the full work-up with CT scans and lumbar punctures several times - always negative. It took several attendances before anyone asked her about recreational drugs (she was an unassuming suburban mum). Turns out she was into cocaine in a big way leading to reversible cerebral vasoconstriction. No more cocaine = no more headaches (and no lasting consequences luckily)

-TheUniqueDrone

9.

Paramedic here, one common one is when older guys are having chest pain and we want to give them nitroglycerin paste/pills to help the chest pain.

One thing that doesn't mix well is nitro and Viagra...it causes a blood pressure drop that can be really dangerous.

We always ask and make it really clear that if we give the nitro and they are taking Viagra and similar meds that they could die. It usually takes 3 or 4 warnings in a row before the guy will admit it.

Early on I made the mistake of trusting a guy after just a couple mentions of how dangerous it would be.

I sprayed the nitro under his tongue and he said "does generic Viagra count?"

F**k.

At one point his BP wasn't even registering on the box cuff, it was bad. I thought I was going to get screamed at by my doctor, but he just laughed and said it was so common that he wasn't upset, and gave me a couple ideas on how to make it clear how dangerous it was to the patient.

-CaptFluffyBunny

8.

Not a doctor BUT I was in the ER once separated from another patient by only a thin curtain. It was impossible to not overhear what was going on. She was an elderly woman who had taken an ambulance in due to feeling faint and said she had no other symptoms.

Hours are going by, she gets up to use the washroom a couple times and makes small talk with her brother, sounding pretty woozy the whole time. Doctors keep checking on her, they draw blood and check her blood pressure. I think it was like remarkably low but they aren't sure why.

Cut to several hours later when a nurse notices there's some blood on the woman's bed. After some back-and-forth she finally admits that she had been bleeding profusely from her rectum for WEEKS.

The doctors gave her a hard time but got her out of there REAL fast.

-bustypirate

7.

I work in outpatient surgical center, lying to anesthesia can be really dangerous. I've had a person lie about not taking drugs and then react badly when given the anesthesia meds because they interacted (fortunately for that patient not nearly dying but I will forever have it ingrained in my head the anaesthetist leaning over their head screaming "what drugs did you take?!". Anotehr that I fortunately havent seen serious event but definitely has happened to our providers and I've seen more mild versions, people eating/drinking before the anesthesia and then denying. Lucky for my patients they just have puked after waking up so we know they had it but made it ok. The danger is you can puke during sedation and then get it in your lungs (called aspirating) and die from that. Could be really bad but fortunately I personally havent seen the worst yet, but I've heard plenty of stories of it

-future-nurse19

6.

Not a doctor but my sisters godfather was diabetic. He went to the ER because he had a really bad cold for like 2 weeks. He went in and they asked him if he was a diabetic and for some reason he said no. Long story short they gave him something that made his sugar levels go up and he went into a coma. He died about a month later because his organs shutdown.

Edit: he was only 32 years old just in case anyone was wondering.

-GOLdeMESSI

5.

I wasn't the lead on this case, but I was the assist. When I was in dental school this patient came in and was really hyped up. My buddy asked him if he has been on any drugs and the guy just said he had a lot of caffeine. OK-we move forward. From what my friend told me his blood pressure was high, but not too high for an elective procedure.

Part of the local numbing we give patients has epinephrine in it and sometimes this gets into the bloodstream with certain types of nerve blocks, not uncommon. However, if you've snorted a couple lines of cocaine and then get epi in your bloodstream that's no bueno.

Ended up calling the ambulance, his BP was so high he was at risk for a stroke. So yeah, even stuff the dentist does can kill you if you lie.

-lbvsg

4.

I work in an STD clinic, so the stuff I deal with isn't usually deadly or at least not immediately deadly. However, I am constantly surprised by the percentage of patients who test positive and refuse to tell their partners.

A guy came in a few years ago who for something relatively simple like gonorrhea, but seemed to have trouble walking. Long story short a nurse called an ambulance for him and sent him to the ER for a spinal tap. Turns out an ex boyfriend refused to tell him about his syphilis diagnosis after they had a rough break up like 15-20 years earlier. So not only was our guy possibly spreading syphilis unknowingly, he now had untreatable neurosyphilis.

He worked with our Disease Intervention Specialists to track down as many partners as they could but I think he died from related complications like a year after his initial visit.

-tortiekelpie

3.

I was admitting patients in the psychiatric ward. Busy night, and I was way behind. An older man with schizo-affective disorder is admitted with a caretaker. A nurse asks them a few questions, including if the patient has taken any medicine and/or narcotics. The caretaker says no. I see the patient 4 hours later. He seems delirious, which often is caused by a somatic problem (including medicine - you know where this is going). He can't maintain eye contact and can only sit in his chair and talk nonsense. He drools and yells every word, but somehow seems very tired. I ask the caretaker if the patient has taken any medication, and she says the patient broke into a medicine room at the the institution he lives and just started eating random pills.

Apparently this is somewhere around 80 pills not being more precise because she did not bother gathering the empty pillboxes. The only information I could get was, that he definitely ate over 40 lithium pills (which is just great if you really hate your kidneys). Now, after calling the emergency department to quickly prep and an ambulance with an anaesthesiologist for transport, I talked with the caretaker (through my teeth - just slightly - angry). Apparently the nurse "wouldn't understand" because it wasn't his own medicine and she didn't want to "make a fuss". I screamed into my pillow that night in pure frustration. I later found out he lived after intensive care and almost loosing his kidney function.

-nicholasdennett

2.

I'm not a doctor but a patient with a couple of really weird disorders that cause doctors who arent familiar with them to think I am taking. I have been denied very needed basic treatment like a bag of saline because my dehydration is exasperating my symptoms because they think I'm somehow gaming the system. These assumptions that patients are lying do a lot of harm, too.

-MangoMadness1289

1.

When we do our pre op check before a surgery, our office prints out a list of meds we have in file that the patient is taking. We tell them please look at this list and sign it to indicate this is the current and up to date list of the meds you take. Patient signed and we plan for surgery next week.

Get a call from anesthesia the day before her scheduled surgery. Apparently she "forgot" to mention she had started taking a weight loss drug that if you're taking it, can cause severe hypotension when you go under anesthesia and in extreme cases you can die from that. You have to have stopped the drug for at least 4 days to be safe to have anesthesia. So her surgery got pushed back a week. Not canceled just pushed back enough to be safe. She call our office fuming and demanding a refund for the time she took off work.

Seriously lady? Sorry but we have a signed document saying you told us all your meds. Exactly who should be mad at who? You put us at liability and now the surgeon/our office doesn't get paid for that day when we could have subbed in someone else in that slot.

-DoUBleaveNMagic

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.