looking for a specific doctor's letter if anyone had any ideas?

I was in two minds about whether or not to share this latest piece of information, largely because I know it'll open up a whole new round of grief but I just felt it was absurd enough to warrant sharing either way.

Earlier in the thread I mentioned I was seeing a specialist in August and I would ask them for help with obtaining the letter I wanted.

I've now seen that specialist. We talked about my weight and dieting and I explained my situation to him and how I felt about things, including motivation and he told me that he felt I was suitable for bariatric surgery, and that he'd like to refer me for it.

It was at this point I brought up the topic of the bet. I explained the situation to him and told him what i was looking for. I've since learnt that the letter I need only has to say "Losing X amount of weight will not cause any medical issues" rather than the previous wording that was causing so many problems.

Of course, he refused - but - he still wanted to refer me for the surgery.

So he'd rather spend £5-£8k of NHS money sending me for surgery, with all the risks it entails, than write me a letter that could achieve the same results for free ..

My one regret is that I didn't actually bring that particular point up with him at the time.

At the end of our conversation, he did actually agree to write me a letter of support but he said it was highly unlikely that it would be worded in the way I want. I made one final plea for him to re-consider and left it there so we'll have to see what the postman brings.

k3lvc wrote: »

Does his response not show how unlikely it is that your method will get the results so he expects you to be back at some point in the future asking for the surgery ?

Out of interest how much have you lost in the intervening 3 months ?

A normal, calorie controlled diet with sensible exercise is a "method" ?

I never asked for the surgery at any point, and I expressed some major reservations about it from the point he offered it as an option.

I doubt i'd go back and ask for it at any point to be honest.

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Are you going to respond to K3lvc's other question?

So they can triumphantly tell me that that is the reason I won't get what i want ?. No thanks - been there, done that.

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Look I know you're fixated on getting this ruddy letter as you believe that this is the only way you're going to have the motivation to lose weight but in the meantime why not at least try the more conventional methods ?

The end goal is the same surely so why cut your nose off ?

I believe that you can be referred to slimming world by your gp for 12 weeks. That's the same length of time you've been procrastinating.

If you join there's a Slimming world support thread on this board & you'd be more than welcome to join it

Yes, I may be "fixated" on getting this letter, but that's driven, in part, by the fact that I believe i'm not being treated fairly due to the fact that so many other people - including practising GP's - are given the opportunity to do what i'm trying to do every year.

It's also driven by the fact that the default position for many is "Well i've personally never heard of this, so I'm going to dismiss it out of hand and call it a stupid idea" which is usually followed by them imposing, or projecting, their idea of "normal" or "conventional" as the way I should be doing things rather than actually taking a minute to try and understand where i'm coming from and why I feel I should be able to do this.