morbid

[keryx]

When you see the phrase "morbid obesity", what do you think it means?

I think, from the language that I see many people use about it that a lot of us think it means "OMG gonna die you're so fat!", perhaps confusing "mortality" with "morbidity" (or maybe the "obsessed with death" take on morbid). So, here's what "morbidity" means:

1 a : of, relating to, or characteristic of disease b : affected with or induced by disease c : productive of disease
2 : abnormally susceptible to or characterized by gloomy or unwholesome feelings
3 : GRISLY, GRUESOME
(from Merriam Webster)

So, morbid obesity is basically a theoretical state in which fatness itself is a disease or causes disease. Y'all know what I think of that theory, so I won't bother with it today, but I do think if we're going to use the medical community's word choices, we need to be clear about what they meant.

This is not, by the way, specifically about anyone - it's just something that feels to me like a trend.

Comments

[lil-ms-drama.livejournal.com]

Personally when I think of morbid obesity, I think of my mother. At her top weight she was 500 pounds. She couldn't really move around a lot, she had tons of health problems such as arthritis and diabetes, and she didn't want to do anything but complain about her ailments and take 3-800 mg Ibuprophen every day while eating chocolate ice cream.

In her case I feel her obesity contributed to her problems because when she moved on to live in the nursing home and they forced her to eat more properly, she was able to move around better and her sugar levels were controlled without medicine.

Now doctors are trying to tell me I have a BMI of 35-40. I tell them I'm pregnant. They tell me I have to lose weight. I tell them to get fucked. LOL.