All year long, I’ve been bragging about my lab results. (In case you missed it, I scored biological age 29.2 and a near-perfect report card from my Metabolomix toxin panel that were both drawn late Spring.) So you can imagine my disbelief when I experienced what I would call an immune flare for seemingly no reason other than a fabulous vacation, my birthday trip to Paris. I’ve shared a couple of posts here and on Instagram about my sinuses and what I’ve been doing to figure out this phantom inflammation and swelling. The light bulb started to go off when my legs started to swell up in the most frightfully familiar way. 😵
Lipedema 101
If you’re unfamiliar with Lipedema, welcome to the club. It’s one of the most complex and least understood conditions that apparently is pretty common in women, especially, and affects the connective tissue, turning regular layers of subcutaneous fat and fascia into a fibrotic nightmare. This can look like lumps under the skin, incredibly painful nodules, edema, and other issues that, over time, if unaddressed, can impede mobility. It’s characterized by rapid onset, especially with hormonal swings. It’s incredibly resistant to diet and exercise. Yep, I was doing all the right things all the time, and nothing was budging. In fact, it continued to escalate until I started Tirzepatide. And usually presents disproportionately in the lower half, with much larger legs compared to the waist and upper body, although some people do get it in their arms and even stomach. What fun!
The crazy part about Lipedema is that it can come seemingly out of nowhere and hit like a ton of bricks. In years past, it was nothing for me to fluctuate, at any given month, depending on my cycle, over 10 lbs., sometimes closer to 20. But I truly believed that after having a hysterectomy, I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this anymore. In fact, that was part of the deciding factor in moving forward into that aggressive treatment because I had just struggled through the Lipedema removal on my legs. I knew that it was just a matter of time before it came right back unless I got my estrogen imbalance under wraps once and for all.
Getting help, fast
So you can imagine that over the past few weeks, when I looked in the mirror at the end of the day, I truly felt my heart sink when I started seeing all of the dimpling. Not to mention the feeling of walking around on a ton of bricks at the end of the day, whether I be sitting, standing, active, or not.
I knew that I needed help, and I knew that I needed it fast.
I started by running some basic labs for myself. Hormones looked good, still stable, still running on the low side, which seems to keep me otherwise pretty happy. My sinus rabbit hole led me to allergy testing. More on that later. But truly, nothing remarkable was standing out, certainly nothing that I didn’t already see or know or feel.
What the ultrasound showed
I started out this week with a consult with a local specialist here in New Orleans. What are the odds? One of the few clinics in the U.S. that has this level of specialty. They even work with genetics, so I dove straight into the deep end. Right away, after inspecting my legs and a brief consult about my history and current presentation, they actually wheeled in an ultrasound machine to take a look at the tissue and fascia on my thighs.
I’ll be damned if it wasn’t pretty freaking wrecked. The medical director came in to assess severity, along with my scheduled practitioner, and offered up a couple of paths forward, one including going in with a pretty invasive option to essentially break through the scar-tissue-like fascia in order for it to allow better drainage of the lymph and inflamed fluid that was sitting heavily on the surface of the fascia.
Why this week hit so hard
Depending on severity, one of the only surefire ways to truly get rid of this fibrotic tissue is through special liposuction-type removal. In the summer of 2024 I did just that under the care of the Vanderbilt vascular team and also treated myself (lol) to a medial thigh lift, because after losing over 150 lbs., really close to 200 lbs., counting the Lipedema, I had tons of loose skin, and it was super uncomfortable, beyond just vanity metrics.
That surgery was one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through in my life thus far. Nothing can really prepare you for seeing your body in that kind of a state. It still haunts me, and I have to admit this week has been pretty badly triggering.
Two treatments in two days
So, despite feeling like I am on the verge of a spiral, I agreed to move forward with the needling treatment (Hydrofascia Release, also known as prolotherapy), because I’ll be damned if we’re going down this road again the rocky way. The team was so kind to work me in the same afternoon. I might have begged a little, and they also suggested another radiofrequency treatment called TECAR, which I went back for the following day.
The fascial release was pretty brutal. They told me it was comparable to dry needling, which I haven’t had, but I’m pretty sure that uses acupuncture needles, which these were nowhere near the size of. Y’all know by now that I do injections nearly every damn day, but these needles were a little nauseating to look at.
The procedure consisted of the doctors using the ultrasound to identify some of the worst patches in the fascia and going in to inject those areas with some glucose-type solution (to essentially soften and poke holes in there so that the fluid could drain off of my legs). They made about 9 or 10 injections on each inner thigh, and it’s been a long week of weird, sore, bruised legs that just make me feel like, ugh. Depending on how I respond, they are suggesting repeated treatments every few weeks for as long as I need it, or as much as I can budget. I’m planning my next round tentatively in two weeks.
An unexpected surprise 🌈
As I lay there focused on deep breathing through the pain of the needles, I look up to see a GIANT RAINBOW outside the treatment room window ❤️🩹 I mean literally, framing perfectly behind the ultrasound machine, the most beautiful reassurance that I was going to be ok. I’m still choked up about it, 3 days later 🥹
God’s got me through this, as much as I want to feel upset about it.
The next day I went in for TECAR, and thankfully it was actually quite relaxing. They compared this one to a hot stone massage, and that was much closer than their dry needling comparison. This one is basically just a warm wand that they run over the areas to soften the adhesions and promote drainage. This is one that I’d be doing twice a week, except for the fact that it is insanely expensive, tbh.
I’m taking it all in, processing the emotions around it, and looking forward to seeing how this goes over the next few weeks, alongside a couple of protocol changes, pending lab results. Details below:
