 LIPEDEMA is one of the most insidious and least diagnosed diseases in America. An estimated 6 to 12 million American women, not including untold men and children, are presently undiagnosed. Lipedema sufferers seek medical attention as early as onset of puberty yet find no healthcare professional trained to recognize their symptomatology. Obesity, fibromyalgia, and arthritis are common c0-diagnoses of lipedema.
LIPEDEMA people, known as the lipese (as opposed to the obese), are ignored when they claim they eat very little and exercise a lot. Doctors prescribe water retention meds, diets, exercise programs, knee replacements, lap band and bypass surgery, all of which are significantly contraindicated treatments for lipedema. By the time lipedema is diagnosed, it is often end stage, meaning the lipese's lymphatic system has been compromised and the joints, especially knee joints, are permanently damaged. Also, wrong medical treatments administered over several decades have caused the lipese much psychological and physical harm. Because most doctors know nothing about lipedema, they blame the end stage lipese's condition on addictive non-compliance of food intake. One out of every ten fat people you know has untreated lipedema and lives in shame and often isolation for a condition caused by his or her genetic history.
LIPEDEMA is a genetic fat suit caused by inflammation of the adipose glandular system. Lipedema, more rightly called lipiditis, causes the lipese's body to store unmetabolized carbohydrates as fat in the legs and ankles, thighs, lower belly, and buttocks. People with lipedema are often a few sizes smaller above the waist and have thin arms and face in early stage, regardless of their weight or size. The disproportion of weight between top and bottom or belly and arms should alert professionals that lipedema maybe present. No one who is oddly oversized in one or more areas of the body should be considered obese. Adipose in these accumulated areas will never be lost by diet or exercise. Traditional medical approaches will only create an anorexic underneath a lipedema fat suit.
LIPEDEMA strikes at puberty, birthing of children, birth control, female surgeries, and menopause causing female hormones or thyroid malfunction to deposit more unused carbohydrates anywhere it can. In other words, every reproductive milestone in a lipese female's life may cause weight spikes and the reshaping of her body to accommodate increased fat. Once thought to be a female disease, professionals now know that both men and women have lipedema. Without clinical research, we cannot know if lipedema is inherited from one or both parents. We cannot even argue imperically that lipedema is genetic as no research has specifically targeted the lipese. Because so much research has been done on obesity, we can, however, make some logical assumptions that unchecked lipedema is a very serious and progressive disease apart from culturally unacceptable overweight. Perhaps, one could lose weight, but, a lipese will not lose his/er lipedema.
LIPEDEMA sufferers often become anorexic and malnutritioned by losing too much of their essential body weight trying to lose weight, or they give up, eat, and end up weighing 400 pounds. Lipedema is individual to each lipese, ranging from symmetrical slight cankles to huge lower bodies. People who are thin can also have lipedema. This insidious, progressive, seldom-diagnosed disease causes immobility, secondary illness, social isolation, and loss of self worth if not detected early. Many, many lipese end up in wheel chairs, or use canes, regardless of their weight. Tragically, it is already known in Germany that minor liposuction of inner thigh "pads" at an early age would prevent years of immobility in a lipese's later years while most American doctors have never heard of lipedema.
LIPEDEMA was first recognized in 1941 by Mayo Clinic. Since then lipedema has become well-known, treated, and researched in Europe. At present, necessary lipo surgeries are performed in England and Germany. England has now accepted it into its National Health Services (NHS) as a legitimate disease. In the United States, however, few doctors treat lipedema. Those who do, treat it as a lymphatic disease, which cannot be known at this time. New York is the only state to designate funds to research all lymphatic disease including lipedema. The key to defeating lipedema is educating the medical professionals in our communities. Unfortunately the lipese community has found little advocacy or support from the medical profession.
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Lipedema. fat, fat cells, Lipedema lymphoedema, lymphoedema fat legs, maggie McCarey |
