I think I should clarify my statements about weight loss surgery since I've gotten a lot of comments about it. Do I think Anna is a good candidate for weight loss surgery right NOW? Absolutely not. She is clearly in denial. I think it would have been a great idea before she went down this path of "mystery genes." And any bariatric surgery program worth its salt would require therapy and evidence that a patient is ready for it. But that's just my nonprofessional opinion :) Sadly, I think it may be too late now.

Anna’s favourite subject: herself

i really would love to see these supposed medical anomalies in a clinical setting with a controlled calorie intake

As a fellow German, I'm sure Dr. Bertsch wasn't trying to insult you. He clearly was very impressed by your work and was probably just trying to help you be viewed as more professional. In our often quite blunt and direct honesty lmao.

Super rare obesity gene? Don’t let Amberlynn hear about this!

Anna’s story about the cheeseburger says it all. She needs extensive therapy to deal with her life-long ed.

“People just think I eat all the time”, “Often I have to remind myself to eat” while also “This is my snack basket. This is only SOME of my snacks. Snacking is really important to me.”  Yeah, okay Anna 👍🏼

To me, the most suspicious thing about Dr. Herbst is the fact that her most special, unique, rare patient with one-in-a-million symptoms happens to be a social media influencer with millions of followers across multiple platforms. It's incredible that run-of-the-mill people without a big audience haven't had these magic genes or scar buildup or whatever.

The saddest part for me is that she literally got to the point where she accepted that she needed to lose weight to feel better but somehow she veered back off into lala land again.

“Anna is terminally unique” took me out so real 😭 why am I shocked she can’t even get the word apoptosis correct on her own medical podcast

Her stories are so inconsistent. She talks about only having boring healthy food at home and being active, but she said the doctor wanted her to lose weight at 8. Her reaction to the cheeseburger at her friends house shows how much she loved food. She changes her stories to fit whatever point she's trying to make in the moment

It always baffles me when people bring up underweight elderly people with low muscle mass, who have wasted away due to illness or injury, as some sort of "gotcha." Like, no one is arguing that being weak and frail is good for your health. That has nothing to do with a 25-year-old with a BMI of 45. I'm not a doctor (mandatory disclaimer) but from my understanding, having adequate muscle mass FOR YOUR SIZE is a big factor in how well a person recovers after an injury, because it determines how easily you can move around. An obese patient will generally have more muscle than someone who is underweight, but if they are carrying too much extra fat on them, it's not going to help them as much as if they were lean and muscular, because they're still going to struggle to move.

„I‘ve never had a problem with binging/over-eating“

deep deep sigh Anna…

As someone who loves whimsy and works in medicine, you're right. There is limited room for whimsy. Luckily, I now work with pediatric patients, and I feel whimsy is a prerequisite. 😂

Honestly, hearing her talk about a cheese burger sounds like someone talking about... substances.

I find it really hard to believe that she was told that she doesn't need a pap smear because "she's just fat". A pap smear is recommended when you become sexually active, and heavily recommended when after you turn 25. A pap smear isn't done when you think something is wrong with you, its preventative care so if you do have cancer you can catch it before you have symptoms. It's much more likely that she could have been told that they didn't have equipment to accommodate someone her size and then could have gone into a spiel about weight loss and risk factors. But to be straight up told that she doesn't need a pap smear is hard to believe, if anything it be even more recommended for some one of her size because you're more likely to get cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer when you're obese.

As an internal medicine resident it's so funny to me that the cohost is an orthopedic surgeon. It's literally a running joke that orthopedic surgeons don't know anything about medicine. If there's anything wrong with their patient aside from their broken bones, they're calling my boss to fix it lol

I do not think bariatric surgery would be good for her: she does not even acknowledges that she overeats. This can be very dangerous.

In reference to Dr Nance giving out info on things outside of her training; my father is a Neurosurgeon; to become a Neurosurgeon, u become a MD 1st. When asked questions outside of his practice, my father is famous for saying that he can't give much info on a practice that is not his...so when I see a Dr giving advice on EVERYTHING, I take it with a grain of salt

Me thinks Anna does not know what a "major" surgery is.