As many of you know I have been diagnosed with lipedema. I was all set to have my first surgery on August 23, 2022….but life had other plans. Let me give you a little update as to what happened and what I am doing now. Lipedema Having lipedema has been really physically and mentally hard for me. I constantly feel so uncomfortable and full of fluid, my body hurts and I just keep gaining more and more weight…pretty rapidly. On top of that, my mental health has not been great. Dealing with this, the side effects of this, and the pain from this, has been really hard for me. I just don’t have lipedema in my legs I have it all over my body and it’s pretty severe. Surgery does not make it go away, but it can drastically help, and my body needs help. So, I was all set and ready to go with surgery number one. If you want to read more about my diagnosis or planned surgery click HERE Surgery was canceled A few days before surgery I received a call from the surgeon’s office telling me my surgery has to be canceled. To say I was heartbroken is an understatement.
For those of you who don’t know, I have been diagnosed with lipedema and I am getting ready to have my first surgery. If you want to read more about getting this diagnosis, click HERE. What is lipedema? Lipedema is when fat is distributed in an irregular way beneath the skin. As the condition progresses, fat continues to build up and your body becomes heavier and heavier. Over time fat cells block the lymphatic system and cause fluid build-up. My symptoms I have been struggling with fluid retention, swelling, and mostly leg pain but also hip, arm, and back pain. My body feels very heavy and sluggish. My legs are very hard and firm and I have some cuffing at my ankles. I have some banding around my arms at the elbow. If I don’t keep this area at my elbows dry it can cause the skin to split open. This happens because the skin is not strong healthy skin because of the constant moisture in the area. It is painful to walk, I feel shortness of breath and my body does not feel right. I have been overweight all of my life and
Eating disorder diagnosis I have talked about this a lot but for those of you who don’t know, I have been diagnosed with a binge eating disorder. I struggle with emotional eating, eating to cope with emotions, and really struggle with this all-or-nothing mentality. On my YouTube, there is a video talking all about this all-or-nothing mentality if you want to watch you can watch HERE. I also have a few YouTube videos in a playlist specifically about my Binge Eating Disorder that you can watch HERE. Therapy sessions I have been seeing an eating disorder therapist and she has really been helping me with overcoming this eating disorder and having a healthier relationship with food and with my body. I have been on some sort of diet since I was a young child and have these “rules” about food engrained in me so deep that it’s hard to overcome them. But I am working on them. This takes a lot of time, patience, and work to overcome this way of thinking and eating. Binge eating disorder Binge eating disorder has such a stigma around it, especially when you reside in a larger body. People, even doctors, can
Weight Gain I have been medically misdiagnosed…FOR YEARS. I have been struggling with fluid retention and swelling for years as well as gaining weight. Before we jump into this post, I want to make it very clear that I take full responsibility for gaining any weight. Even if medically something is wrong, I know weight gain is something I am struggling with and in no way am I blaming anyone or anything for that. Now, with that being said, there is no way to tell how much I have gained from just weight gain and how much my body gained from what is going on with my body. We will get into that later in this post. I will link a post HERE if you want to read more about the fluid and swelling issues I have been having. I felt something was wrong I have felt something was wrong with my body for a long time. I was rapidly gaining weight, felt my body become more swollen by the day and the way my body looked…I just felt something was not quite right. This did not feel like normal weight gain. My body did not