Why Is It OK to Skinny Shame People?
Why is it OK to Skinny Shame People, when Fat Shaming is Off Limits?
I never thought I would be writing an article like this. I have always been in a place where I have wanted to lose weight. Last year, through eating healthy and exercising, I lost 70 pounds. This was a huge accomplishment for me, and it was not an easy thing to do. I finally made it to my goal weight. This is where I wanted to stay. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
In March of 2019, I started getting sick. I was having severe abdominal pain, in both my upper and lower abdomen. I was in such severe pain one day, I could not even talk. The ambulance took me to the hospital. After crying for two days straight, after being admitted for 6 days, the doctor told me I was in kidney failure, probably from dehydration. He also said that my liver enzymes were high, and my colon was inflamed. He told me I have colitis. With a large amount of fluids, pain medication, and nausea medication, the pain was finally controlled before I released from the hospital. I thought this ordeal was over.
A few days after being home from the hospital, I started getting sick again, but this time was worse. The pain was way worse, which I didn’t think was possible. I was throwing up and had severe diarrhea, running to the bathroom almost 20 times a day. While in the hospital, I was diagnosed with pancreatitis. The doctors did not know the cause of this, so as my liver enzymes continued to get worse, they decided to do a test. It showed that my bile duct was blocked by sludge and stones, so they did surgery to remove that. They then tested my stool, and found out I picked up the infection C Diff. I was put on IV antibiotics for this, as well as antibiotics to take for 10 days at home.
Again, I was fine for a few days at home. Then it all began again. This time I was so ill and dehydrated from the constant diarrhea. I went back to the hospital. My colon was becoming inflamed to the point they thought I had a blockage and would need to do surgery. After many tests, they decided it was a partial blockage, so they were going to hold off on surgery. My colon continued to enlarge, and the doctors were afraid I was getting Toxic Megacolon, which can be fatal. Because of this, they stopped all my pain medication, despite me being in severe pain. meds I cried for days and days. It felt like I was being tortured. No food and no pain . They would not even let me take the nausea meds, because they said those too slow down the colon.
Once released, I was hospitalized 2 more times because of this. I am still dealing with it. With all these issues, I lost a lot more weight. That is when I started getting comments from people. Whether it was family or friends, or even strangers, people were telling me that I am too skinny, or I look anorexic. People told me they could feel my bones when hugging me. This made me extremely self-conscious. When I was young, I suffered from anorexia. I worked very hard to make it through such a traumatic thing. I never wanted to be labeled “too skinny” ever again.
Why is not ok to walk up to a person and call them fat, but people think it is ok to walk up to a person and point out that they are too skinny? It is not ok, for either circumstance. I believe that people are more conscious not to fat shame someone, because it is more talked about, and something more people go through, than being skinny shamed. I found out that most people seem to not look at it as skinny shaming. It hurts just the same. People say, “To have such a problem. I wish I had that.” Be careful what you ask for. You never know what the person went through to get into that position.
