During a recent medical appointment, a seemingly throw away
comment made by my practitioner regarding how I discovered I might have Lipedema, exposed a dark spot in the current culture in the medical profession. While I explained there is a lot of good
information available on the internet, he responded dismissively …. “Oh, so you
googled it then”
That comment then triggered a memory of seeing a post from a
doctor friend of mine of a picture of a coffee mug that said:
“Please do not confuse your Google search with my medical
degree.”
Actually I didn’t “google it”. Yes I discovered there was
such a thing as Lipedema through the internet – but not in the way he was
insinuating. I didn’t just google my
symptoms and then decide I knew better than the entire medical profession. Even
if I had – I have 39 years of experience regarding my symptoms, conditions,
bodily functions – 15 minutes and 3-4 questions don’t make you an expert on me –
regardless of your degree.
(I got the above image from a fabulous blog post from badlymeattitude.com - you can read the full article HERE )
I was running out of options after 34 years of attempting
every diet on the planet and exercising regularly despite being in
extraordinary pain when doing so. Still – no – weight loss. In fact I was
gaining rapidly, without having a lifestyle or eating habits that supported
such gains. I thought I was losing my
mind – and I was spiralling into depression and self-loathing. I was trying to
engage through the online community of body positive bloggers – searching for
some way of still finding some sense of value – despite being the antithesis of
what society regards as valuable. On a plus size blog I found a link to a movie
– a documentary by a lady called Catherine Seo. It was called The Disease They Call Fat – Lipedema. When I watched it – wow, did it resonate with me – and there
were a whole bunch of women interviewed in the documentary that were battling
the same weight gain in specific area issues as me. I had an answer. It is with
this knowledge that I contacted a new GP and asked if they were willing to work
with me to try and get a handle on this condition that was ruining my quality
of life. Thankfully there are some open minded doctors out there – and we were
able to make some progress with diagnosis and start heading towards becoming equipped
with self help tools to manage my condition personally regardless of how little
help is offered through the public medical system.
It’s ironic that medical professionals frown upon Lipedema patients’
googling their condition – when most Lipedema patients would be over the moon
if anyone one treating them would take the time to google it. The information
is there – it’s backed by experienced, well respected doctors. Lots of the
information is free and there is specialized courses available to medical
practitioners that cover Lipedema, from a bio medical perspective. I don’t believe that doctors and specialists
now have the luxury of brushing off Lipedema sufferers, because the condition
is rare. Every day, more and more credible information is available about the
condition. It’s fair to say that the persistant ignorance within the medical profession regarding Lipedema is now a matter of choice, rather than a lack of
available credible information.
Here is a good place to start Lipedema Education
