You are an expert in your own body. You know when something is wrong and even if doctors are telling you otherwise, follow your intuition!
One of the main things I’m passionate about in body positivity is advocacy in a doctor’s office. When you hate your body, and don’t trust yourself, you won’t advocate for yourself. I had a problem when I was 21, and only because of my extent of medical surgeries, kept pursuing it. I had 5 doctors tell me that I was fine, all my symptoms were just due to my fat but I kept going. In one appointment I even said “I was fat before I had the symptoms, so it’s not the fat”. It finally took the fifth one to diagnose me and trust me when I say it had nothing to do with my weight. If undiagnosed in two years it would have left me infertile.
When I was 22, I walked into A and E telling them I had an obstructed bowel. No one would listen, they started running all kinds of tests and thought I was a hypochondriac because they didn’t have my medical record. I wouldn’t take it. I was like “look, I’ve had 15 surgeries, my bowels have obstructed twice before and I know it’s only a partial obstructed Bowel because I can still pass gas”. Suddenly they listened.
I can only advocate for my body because I have the confidence to. This is why body confidence and body positivity is so much more than bikinis. What I fear is that so much of my confidence in a medical setting is DUE to the fact that I’ve had so many surgeries. If my knowledge was half as extensive, would I still say something? I hope so. Don’t wait until your medical record looks like mine to seek help.
In all honesty, I would be dead right now if at 11 years old, my mum didn’t advocate for me as strong as she did. Nurses told her I was fine, she persisted and called the doctor at 3 am. I had a punctured intestine and a few more hours and I would have been dead. (Look forward to reading that full story in my book!) Advocating for your body saves your life. That’s when body positivIty counts most. #ScarredNotScared