If you haven't read "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz, you ought to...especially if you have problems with physicians. Also, if you smoke, are overweight, drink alcohol, haven't    ALWAYS taken all your medicines or any other "sin" - that is, a "sin" according to the gospel of Doctor X.

Seriously, one of the Four Agreements is "Don't take things personally". This could not apply more aptly than to us doctors. You have to develop a thick skin and a logical mind. Not everything that a doctor asks or says has been fabricated solely for you. The doctor's world does not revolve solely around you. I know that that's very hard to believe or feel when you're sitting there freezing and the doctor is staring over their glasses at you. You think (and understandably so since you're so vulnerable) that they have just created that question because you're in the room and they've seen something THEY DON'T LIKE about you. So, you think they are pointing this particular query at you and no one else has ever been asked that. 

My major response to that is that you shouldn't give doctors that much credit for creativity. We learn very early on the specific questions we're supposed to ask EVERYONE. And I would bet you $100 that the question you're wanting to crawl under the exam table in response to (but the darn table has drawers so you can't crawl under it) has been asked of almost every other patient that has sat in that chair.

So, if you're already self-conscious about your weight, don't think that they are already attacking you if they ask if you've gained or lost weight recently - that is not meant to laugh at you or humiliate you. There are conditions that affect people's weight - both up and down and this is a very common question. Same goes for them weighing you although I go into that a bit in the book.

Just answer the question without trying to figure out what they are thinking or insinuating or accusing or anything else horrible. Save that thought for the very end and see how the "here's what's wrong with you" part of your visit goes. But, if you're already upset because you think they've pre-judged you, then you're going to go into the "here's what's wrong with you" section with a chip on your shoulder and possibly not even hear everything you're told.