lipedema
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Myopia
Myopia is the “fancy” word for nearsightedness, a condition in which close-up objects are clear, but things that are farther away appear blurry. Tonight I have been ruminating on the other, less flattering, metaphorical meaning of the word, which is “lack of imagination, foresight, or intellectual insight,” as exhibited by my current lot of doctors. Hell,… Continue reading
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Holy plot twist, Batman!
I can hardly believe it’s been eight days since that last post, or what has happened in that time. Turns out I was correct to be concerned about not ridding myself of copious amounts of fluid; after two one-hour sessions per day with the Lympha Press on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week, I… Continue reading
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Magic beans…
Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m., my Lympha Press package arrived via UPS. I wanted to wait until I was clear-headed and in daylight to read the directions and figure out how to set it up, so I got up yesterday and unboxed everything. There was a lot of paperwork that I fortunately don’t have to… Continue reading
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(Lack of) initiative
I was watching TV last night, and a commercial came on—one of those Big Pharma pitches for some medication that would miraculously clear up whatever persistent condition from which you are suffering—and something about it struck hard. This was the one where the lady has thyroid eye disease and has lived for most of her… Continue reading
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I’m up…
I came across this meme recently on Facebook and immediately saved it for myself. Although I am not Norwegian, I completely agree with their sometimes low standard for daily check-ins: Things have transpired, some good, some bad, some that just are, since I last posted. The visiting physical therapist with whom I had a conversation… Continue reading
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Maintenance
I have been somewhat sporadically binging episodes of the TV show Elementary, starring Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock and Lucy Liu as Watson. As all Holmes fans are aware, the man was a drug addict, but in the contemporary version he has become sober and is maintaining his sobriety, first through rehab, then with the… Continue reading
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A mixed bag
These home health care services from Medicare have been a mixed bag of bandages, advice (good and bad), and more weird requirements. I have a nurse visiting every other day, who photographs whatever open wounds I have (several are finally healing up, despite still being horribly swollen) and then bandages and wraps my right leg,… Continue reading
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Experiments, long overdue
I lately, finally, made the decision to put my health first (and get over being angry about it). I went back to see what seems to be the sole doctor on the West Coast who knows what lipedema is and also specializes in the treatment of lymphedema, and when she discovered I had, yet again,… Continue reading
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The indignities we endure
Today I had an appointment with a new doctor, and it went about like they all do. This doctor was a dermatologist, and I was going for multiple reasons, the first one being that my primary doctor wanted someone with more experience to look at the skin on my very swollen lower legs and the… Continue reading
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Unmeeting Wishes
Lipedema is a loose connective tissue (fat) disorder that occurs almost exclusively in women (about 11 percent of them) and is triggered by hormonal changes. It is a chronic medical condition characterized by a systemic buildup of pockets of adipose tissue (fat) in the legs and arms. It may be accompanied by an unusual texture within… Continue reading
About Me
I started this blog to talk about a genetic, fibrotic fat-storing (some say autoimmune) condition called Lipoedema, which is something I began to experience in my 60s, although some see early onset at puberty, or post-pregnancy, or at menopause. The other “L” condition from which I suffer is Lymphedema, as a common secondary effect of the fibrosis that blocks lymphatic drainage. Despite the fact that one in 11 women suffer from lipoedema, most doctors have never heard of it, so on top of the pain and embarrassment of this extremely obvious malady, millions of us are out there being fat-shamed for a condition that isn’t contingent on diet or exercise for its growth. This blog was intended to share my reactions.
I have, however, reserved the right to discuss “other stuff” here and, increasingly, since January 20th, 2025, that is politics, because what else, after all, are we legitimately obsessed with in this age of fascism in these United States of America? So while the “theme” of this blog may be confusing, it is my blog, where I can talk about whatever I wish. You are not constrained to read the parts you don’t like. But I feel compelled to write about them.
MEdoubleLL 