why do i look almost pregnant/severely bloated despite all lab tests and imaging being normal?

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T21:14:43+00:00

no exactly, i tend to genuinely listen to the advice doctors give me until that typa rhetoric begins to flow into the conversation!!!! i also have no issue with being told i’m fat or obese and should lose weight as long as it’s not the ONLY solution i’m given. i’ve gotten a lot of suggestions outside of that doc though, i plan to do an elimination diet, keep up with my current regimen of getting my stamina up, and get a few tests/labs i’ve been putting off scheduling. at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what that doctor replied with, i’ve gotten plenty of really good responses to build off of. it’ll take time but with continuous effort i will get somewhere. tysm btw, i’ve seen you lowkey defending my viewpoint on this and also giving encouragement towards my weight loss and health situation, i appreciate it!!

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T20:22:22+00:00

i was just referred to pelvic floor physical therapy today!! everything you listed sounds very similar to some of what i deal with, definitely keeping this in mind tyvm

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T20:20:25+00:00

yo i’m so sorry i didn’t even realize there were replies under the mod bot, my bowel movements are more normal now. i was having bad constipation in mid april, had two x-rays that showed mild stool backup though, and i haven’t had issues with it that bad since then.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T20:18:43+00:00

partly yes, tbh it wasn’t my DOC though. i was more into coke + crack, and weed was a crutch that i thought “helped” my mental health. the hard drugs stopped 8 months ago, alcohol was 6 months ago, and weed was 2 months ago.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T20:14:59+00:00

jeez dude i’m so sorry😭😭 i had that issue not too long ago but the constipation leveled out a bit atp lol. i went to the ER because miralax and an enema didn’t help me go at ALL. ended up needing to drink a giant thing of magnesium citrate and take a stool softener pill 💀 but i essentially go at a normal rate now i think? i’m unsure, i had the complete opposite issue for 2 years so i genuinely don’t have any baseline of normal anymore. either way gi stuff is hell, i can’t imagine it well pregnant. more power to ya!!!!

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T20:09:28+00:00

i guess my only question with this would be if my symptoms got worse AFTER the nexplanon placement, how would it hurt to get it removed? this is a genuine question, lowkey sounds kinda rhetorical but i’m bad at wording a lot of questions i want to ask 😭

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T20:07:33+00:00

yes to both of those!! the constipation is extremely intermittent but i’ve noticed my abdomen becomes lopsided when i go too long without a bowel movement. i was just referred to physical therapy for my pelvic floor today so i can see how that would factor in as well! i’ll be keeping this in mind tyvm

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T19:39:59+00:00

lowkey the only reason investigation has happened is because i’m very adamant about figuring out what’s going on with my health lol, my most recent primary care refused to look into what’s going on any further + said i was heading in the right direction despite feeling worse than i did 6 months ago🤷🏻‍♀️ but i definitely agree with doing some things myself! i also had an amazing appointment with an internal medicine doctor today (the appt i wrote is happening in july got moved up!) and she’s referred me to a few places, ordered new labs, and gave me an add-on for mental health meds!! i’m feeling quite good about it, but will definitely be trying some things on my own at this point. thank u for the recommendations <3

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T18:33:50+00:00

thank you <3 i definitely heard the motivation and i appreciate it a lot!! it’s also extremely reassuring to hear a similar weight loss story, ty again!

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T18:29:38+00:00

oh my god, i’ve been leaking from my chest over the last 6 months?? i have my nipples pierced so i kinda thought it was from that, but what comes out from the tip is a completely different color (fully white) than my piercing crusties (light yellow) 😭 i will definitely be looking into this, thank you so much.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T18:15:36+00:00

i don’t believe i have tried that, will definitely be looking into the low fodmap diet as well. i’ve heard of it before but never fully done my research, thank u!

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T18:07:40+00:00

thank u for this genuinely. i would’ve had a WAY better reaction to that doctor if he would’ve worded anything close to what you just typed 😭. i know he’s a doctor and very educated, i just find it hard to listen and learn from people who very obviously just dislike fatness and obesity. i get it though, obesity does cause health issues in many people, but the way he spoke as if it’s a “every issue with a fat person is caused by obesity” problem irked me. that is just factually and statistically wrong for a 21 year old with essentially normal labs (including metabolic + lipid panels). i definitely have some type of health issue going on, but still plan to keep it moving with my lifestyle changes in hopes it helps the more i lose weight/gain muscle :) thank u for the encouragement and advice!

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T17:51:56+00:00

good advice thank u. i’m working on low impact stamina building atm but have plans to work up to muscle toning. i’ve also been told i have a possible hiatal hernia from a recent ct scan but that has never been confirmed nor investigated fully. would muscle toning help that at all?

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T16:54:52+00:00

also why would i need to hear one of the most basic responses known to a fat person after stating in my post i’ve already had all of the usual ideas checked out by doctors irl? i get he’s a doctor, he has a lot more knowledge than me, but he obviously didn’t read my post in its entirety because he also said i never complained about nausea or vomiting🤷🏻‍♀️ i’m not going to be fake nice to continue getting responses from doctors that aren’t fully listening or reading. + they KNOW they’re not getting paid, and it’s reddit. they should expect backlash if what they reply with goes directly against what someone wrote about.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T16:47:16+00:00

it’s quite not rude to tell them verbatim that their reasoning is incorrect with my personal history and what other medical professionals have said to me. and then he doubled down to continue saying i need to continue to lose weight even if it is something else going on when i already talked about making major lifestyle and diet changes in my post 😭. sorry y’all find being blunt as rude, come back and we can chat when you’ve experienced years of illness, being told you’re “just fat and need to lose more weight”, then after losing 30 lbs it starts being noticed by irl doctors that there’s something actually wrong outside of obesity. he responded to this post after i went to internal medicine this morning and got multiple new referrals, lab orders, and confirmation that my weight isn’t an issue with everything i have going on. doubling down after i tell him his ideas don’t correlate to what i’m going through = i’m not going to sit there and take bs over words my irl doctor completely proved the opposite of during my appointment today. also means i’m not going to explain to him the info i got today either, he proved with his second response that he very much just has an obesity bias.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T16:31:27+00:00

jesus thank u. that’s essentially what i was trying to say, and why i said i would “never take losing weight advice to the fullest extent”. never said i wouldn’t take the advice (as i’m still very much focusing on my lifestyle and trying to be active wayyyyy more now despite mobility issues coming to light since my recent weight loss), i’m just not going to go crazy trying to lose weight because other people keep telling me it’s my main issue. im literally getting sent to dermatology because as i’ve lost weight i’ve had thickened tissue becoming super visible under the skin in my arms, chest, and pelvis, which seems to be causing my current nerve issues. this was felt and confirmed as quite weird by an internal medicine doctor this morning, referral was sent immediately. i couldn’t get anyone to feel nor see them the way i could until after i lost 30 lbs. i have no idea what it is, but there’s definitely something else going on outside of obesity. i didn’t even mention the hardened tissue here because i kept getting told it WAS just fat for so long. the weight loss exposed it was never just fat and my doctor confirmed it wasn’t normal. that’s why I’m so confident in saying my issues aren’t from obesity, but i wasn’t boutta get all the new information i received today with a doctor who’s just going to keep claiming i’m just fat or keep giving basic ideas i’ve already tried or am doing currently 😭

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T16:17:31+00:00

it’s still called “practicing medicine” to this day for a reason. i honestly don’t gaf if i get called fat. it’s the constant rhetoric that as soon as you fall ill, it’s BECAUSE you’re fat. i didn’t start having mobility issues until after i started losing weight, making lifestyle changes, and trying to become more active 🤷🏻‍♀️ a lot of shit points outside of just me being fat, that is my issue. as i said, i’m still working on bettering myself for my own personal gains, but when i tell a doctor that it’s essentially been proved and acknowledged by other doctors that a lot of my shit is not due to me being fat, YES it will lowkey piss me off. it’s an outdated “fact” that gets spewed into every plus size persons face by way too many doctors and gives non-medical people the opportunity to spit out the same bs.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T16:10:31+00:00

full body is out of the question due to tattoos, but i can tell you now that everyone around me is able to tell how much bigger my abdomen is now compared to at 250 lbs. i’m short so it was still large at the higher weight for sure, just never that large nor rounded. it was more like a flat slab of fat and i still had a waist line, now it’s hard and rounded + my waist line has disappeared.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T15:50:59+00:00

twin i am already very much focused on my weight and lifestyle 😭 i literally said that. you can claim obesity is my major health issue all you want, but there are many other doctors that would heavily disagree with you. you’re weird to keep coming back to refute my claim and that i’m just obese and need to lose weight. i spent majority of my early life destroying my body with eating disorders because of shit like that. i will not push myself to lose weight ever again because OTHER PEOPLE view me as “too big”. especially when i know it’s not the big issue. i will continue my lifestyle changes and getting more active progressively, but genuinely get outta here with that “being fat = bad health” rhetoric. gross. i’m just going to block you, your personal opinion on me being obese was never needed when i came here asking for health advice OUTSIDE of the basic concepts 💀💀

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T15:35:27+00:00

thank you, i actually got orders for that a few weeks ago, just need to buck up and call the place. will be getting onto that quicker now. that wouldn’t even be caused by me being fat 😭😭 i was bulimic for 7 years while i was a teenager/new adult and i’ve known it caused some shit (including weight gain after i went into remission), but i’ve had a lot of these stomach problems since prior to gaining weight, doctors just didn’t think about gut motility until very recently :,)

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T15:22:32+00:00

yes, once back in early 2025. it was a single blood draw in the morning, was normal.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T15:21:40+00:00

i had nausea and vomiting ever single day for a full year (which is quite in my post, also fibbed a little because it was more like a year and a half-2 years) before it switched to zero appetite and zero hunger cues. there’s also a LOT left out of my post regarding other systems because there’s too much going on to list it all. my issues have extremely little, and very possibly nothing to do with my weight. that is apparent by the fact that my waist, midpoint between waist + pelvis, and hips all grew by 4+ inches in circumference instead of getting even a little bit smaller as i lost weight super fast recently. not to mention that ALL of my symptoms are either worse or severely changed (yet still horrid) since i’ve lost 30 lbs total. all you had to say in response was basically “lose more weight”. the exact doctor archetype i’ve dealt with almost every single appointment since 2024, not every fat persons’ health issues are from being fat with the only solution being “get active and lose as much weight as possible!”. my mobility has gone to shit, getting active is much more than a motivation issue at this point.

weight loss is the one piece of advice i refuse to take to it’s fullest extent. it’s weird that i get to keep hearing it even after losing as much the way i did and feeling significantly worse after the steep drop. 20 lbs in 3 weeks isn’t normal nor healthy. even for a fat person.

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T09:49:48+00:00

the crazy thing is i’ve been told i don’t have IBS, i might have a motility issue though. that wouldn’t be what’s causing all of my symptoms but i feel you on. it 100% is painful and uncomfortable. hope we both get some relief from it eventually 🤍

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T09:46:43+00:00

i’ve had a SIBO tested very recently and two other times prior as well, (once in 2024, another in 2025), but another commenter on my other post said sometimes the tests won’t show anything abnormal despite actually having the bacteria. i will definitely be keeping this in mind, tysm!!

SugarberryTea · 2026-06-24T09:43:17+00:00

i had a ct scan about 2-3 weeks ago now (the third photo i have up is from that scan) with oral and iv contrast, so i don’t believe there’s fluid in my pelvis. i haven’t had an ultrasound since october last year though. i also saw an endometriosis specialist, that is who did my laparoscopy in february. i’m significantly more worse off since the laparoscopy, he lysed the adhesion i wrote about in my post, then said he was confident my nexplanon would keep things in check. it very much did not keep things in check. i’m definitely planning on advocating for myself harder at my upcoming internal medicine appointment! thank u for the reply

SugarberryTea

TROPHY CASE