After spending over 15 years trying to understand why I couldn’t lose weight on my legs with diet and exercise, a medical diagnosis revealed the cause
I think I was about 14 when I started comparing my body to those of other women. At 5'7" and 127 lbs, my body looked like that of most skinny girls, but only from the waist up. My legs, however, looked like they belonged to someone else — someone twice my weight.
For years, I made an effort not to care, while trying a little bit of everything to lose weight. I visited countless doctors, who could only tell me to exercise more, and one of them even misdiagnosed me with varicose veins(!). At one point I was spending 2…
Tudo o que você precisa saber sobre a cirurgia: quanto custa, quais são os métodos, como é a recuperação, e mais
Em janeiro, eu fiz a lipoaspiração nas pernas para tratar lipedema, um transtorno do tecido adiposo que causa um crescimento desproporcional das células de gordura nos membros inferiores e, às vezes, superiores.
No lipedema, as células de gordura são doentes, e não respondem à dieta ou exercício. Em geral, elas tendem a ficar maiores com o tempo, criando fibrose, o que causa dor, e podem dificultar a mobilidade da paciente. Por isso, o único jeito de remover a gordura é a lipo.
Leia mais sobre o lipedema aqui
Eu fiz minha cirurgia com o Dr. Michael Schwartz na Califórnia, nos…
Por que continuamos a escutar “coma menos e faça mais exercícios” da mídia, nossos médicos, e até mesmo de amigos e família, quando comer demais nem sempre é o vilão?
Dê uma boa olhada na foto acima.
Agora, deixa eu te fazer uma pergunta…
Por que você acha que a mulher da foto está com sobrepeso?
Imagino que você vai dizer algo como “ela come demais e é sedentária.” Ou, pelo menos, isso é o que a maior parte da população diria.
Mas e se essa não for a resposta? E se alguma outra coisa está causando o ganho de peso dela, e ela não faz nem ideia?
Foi isso o que aconteceu comigo.
Ano passado, descobri que eu tenho lipedema, uma doença do tecido conjuntivo na qual as células…
Why do we keep hearing “exercise more, eat less” from the media, our doctors, and even our friends and families, when overeating is not always the culprit?
Take a good look at the picture above.
Now, let me ask you a question:
Why do you think this woman is overweight?
I believe you’ll probably say something like: “she eats too much and she doesn’t exercise enough.” Or, at least, that’s what the majority of the population would say.
But what if that’s not the answer? What if something else is causing her to gain weight, and she has no idea?
That’s what happened to me.
Last year, I found out I have lipedema, a connective tissue disorder in which fat cells grow disproportionally on legs and arms…
Everything you need to know about the surgery: what are the costs, insurance coverage, recovery, methods, and more
Last January, I went through a leg liposuction procedure to treat lipedema, a fat disorder that causes an enlargement of the fat cells primarily on legs and arms. Because these are diseased fat cells, they don’t respond to diet or exercise, and only get bigger with time, creating fibrosis, causing pain, and even disability. The only way to remove this fat and ensure these cells don’t get any bigger is through liposuction.
You can read more about lipedema here.
In this article, I’ll detail my experience with the surgery, starting with the day before surgery. …
Step by step for submitting pre-authorization and reimbursement claim to your health insurance provider in the United States
Other articles in this series
Should I have liposuction for lipedema?
How to choose the right plastic surgeon?
How to prepare for liposuction?
When I was diagnosed with lipedema, one of the first things my vascular doctor told me was that the only way to treat the disease effectively was liposuction, but he immediately cautioned me: “But insurance doesn’t cover it.” And he was right, most insurance companies and plans don’t cover the surgery because they still see it as either cosmetic or experimental.
However, a few insurance companies in the United States, mainly Anthem and Aetna, have been covering…
Tips I learned when getting ready for my surgery. What to buy and to do to have a good and speedy recovery
Other articles in this series
Should I have liposuction for lipedema?
How to choose the right plastic surgeon?
How to get lipedema surgery covered by health insurance
In this series of articles, I’m writing about my own experience with liposuction for lipedema. Some, or most, of these tips should also apply for regular liposuction.
Once you’ve made the decision to have liposuction (click here for my tips on how to know if you’re making the right choice), and you’ve chosen the right surgeon (click here to read my tips on how to choose a surgeon), it’s time to prepare for…
The mistakes I made when choosing my lipedema surgeon; the questions I should’ve asked and what I’d have done differently
Other articles in this series
Should I have liposuction for lipedema?
How to get lipedema surgery covered by health insurance
How to prepare for liposuction?
It goes without saying that when considering any type of surgery, one should make sure to choose a good surgeon. For plastic surgery, you need to be extra careful. In the United States, the laws around plastic surgery are very loose–the doctors are free to do advertising and to showcase before and after pictures, for example, something that is actually forbidden in some countries. …
What you should consider before deciding on having surgery
Other articles in this series
How to choose the right plastic surgeon?
How to prepare for liposuction?
How to get lipedema surgery covered by health insurance
Last year, I wrote an article here on Medium about getting diagnosed with lipedema (or lipoedema), a disease that’s also known as “painful fat syndrome,” a relatively unknown fat disorder. Even though most people have never heard of lipedema, including doctors, the disease is far from being rare. Actually, lipedema is estimated to affect around 11% of the female population, but most patients have no idea they have a disease. …
Após passar mais de 15 anos tentando entender porque minhas pernas não emagreciam com dieta e exercícios, um diagnóstico médico revelou a causa
Acho que tinha uns 14 anos quando comecei a comparar meu corpo com o de outras mulheres. Com quase 1,70m e 58kg, meu corpo era parecido com o da maioria das meninas consideradas magras, mas só da cintura pra cima. Minhas pernas, porém, pareciam que pertenciam à outra pessoa — alguém com o dobro do meu peso.
Nunca encanei muito, mas tentei um pouco de tudo para emagrecer. Visitei inúmeros médicos, que só sabiam me falar para fazer mais exercícios, e um até me diagnosticou erroneamente com varizes(!). Cheguei a passar 2 horas na academia quase todo dia e a…
Lipedema Journal
Spreading awareness about lipedema.
