Paging Richard Simmons to the ER STAT! There is a patient there that desperately needs to start “Sweating to the Oldies”!

A patient was referred to the hospital through the ER because his weight was out of control and needed to be evaluated by the bariatric surgeons (those who do gastric bypass, etc) . This is not an uncommon case as my hospital does tons of them. The sad thing was that he was 310 pounds and….TEN YEARS OLD!

He literally looked like a little Michelin Man! He was so obese he could not see his feet and had trouble walking. Amazingly his blood sugar was still normal - I guess his pediatrician felt nothing more could be done and that he needed to be admitted for morbid obesity. Now, the kid did not get a gastric bypass - yet. But if he does not lose some weight damn quick he will be in for one I am sure. And he will likely develop hypertension and diabetes in short order as well. And guess what, his parents were morbidly obese as well and I think were a little shocked to see his pediatrician getting so worked up about his weight.

Again, paging Richard Simmons!