Two nights with little sleep have left me glassy-eyed and breathless, so heavy from the excess fluid in my system that it’s hard to move or think. It sets me to wondering about the conundrum of the chicken or the egg: They say that lack of sleep drives up the cortisol in your system, and some speculate that cortisol and other hormones are directly instrumental in triggering the onset of lipedema (not to mention contributing to obesity as well). So did my chronic lack of sleep in recent years cause my lipedema? or is my lipedema dictating my lack of sleep? It’s probably not an either-or question but something entwined and intimately related.

Today is my “results” day (see previous post). For five days I exercised every morning, I faithfully used my vibration platform three times a day, I employed the massage gun every night for half an hour, I stuck to my eating plan (no eggs, no dairy, no gluten, no sugar), and I did try to “pound” fluids, although that was the one area in which I was less than successful. But I managed to drink three or four cups or glasses of fluid daily that I wasn’t drinking in the days before. The result to all of this was…nothing. In fact, I do believe that my swelling has increased.

I’m going today to see a Dr. Brian Evans, to whom I was referred by the squeamish dermatologist. She said that he specialized in wound care (and also runs a burn unit), and that he is a manual lymph drainage specialist, intent on reducing the excess lymph fluids in the body. I don’t know what that means—whether he does MLD massage himself, whether he specializes in wrapping to reduce swelling, or what, but in a couple of hours I’m going to find out. I’m really hoping this isn’t yet another in a long line of disappointing doctors.

I went out to breakfast yesterday for the first time in a long time; I have declined every invitation to family parties and single outings for months now, partly to avoid the possibility of Covid and partly because I couldn’t face the overwhelming amount of effort it takes to get myself cleaned up, dressed, and out of the house, and the endurance to sit through whatever the occasion. But I was so tired of my own company and my own cooking that I agreed to meet Kirsten at a favorite local breakfast spot, and ended up thoroughly enjoying a couple of hours of sitting on a sunny patio with a fountain splashing in the background and having one of our conversations that roves from books to television to politics to aliens to who-knows-what-else. I need to prioritize social occasions a little more in life and quit letting my health control the narrative.

Time to get ready to discover whether this doctor has something tangible to offer me in the quest for relief from lymphedema, lymphorrhea, and lethargy!