My Story

My fight with Lipoedema; my earliest memory...

I was 11 years old, at primary school and we were being taught about the human body. We were all weighed in front of the class. I knew I was bigger but the class gasped when I weighed 2st more than my class mates. That couldn't be right, the teacher weighed me again, with the same result. My class laughed at me and left me in tears. This set me on my journey and affected the rest of my life, limiting the belief I had in myself and others.

My school life was hard, I had illnesses. I struggled to have friends and I was bullied - this then lead on in adult life. I tried every diet but nothing worked. I saw dieticians, was accused of cheating and was judged by my family. Nothing I did worked and I was constantly stuck trying.

In 1999, I fell and injured my left leg resulting me needing a skin graft on my lower left calf. I never fully healed from that. Years later in Dec 2004, I had issues with the same leg which meant having a large skin flap repair operation resulting in secondary lymphoedema, a fluid illness which affected my legs. I ended up at St George's hospital, who put me in eight layer bandaging and I lived in class four compression for many years. My mobility was affected and I had to have many surgeries to the leg for the original wound.

I couldn't exercise, so I ended up a size-26. It was making me miserable. In 2015, I had another blow . A consultant at St George's hospital, London, diagnosed me with Lipoedema too. "It's likely you have had it all your life", he told me. The condition causes fat cells to build up in the legs and arms but in my case affected the buttocks and torso too, later leading on to diagnosis of dercums disease, fibromyalgia, ethers danlos syndrome and hypermobilty, osteoarthritis, when I had a beighton test and I was 9/9. My legs were so swollen and so were my arms, they were in agony. I had to wear a compression garments stretching over my legs up to my breastbone to help prevent swelling.

I felt constantly uncomfortable and I just wanted a normal life. But all I had was pain and misery. Looking for support, I found a charity called Talk Lipoedema online. Talk Lipoedema is an online community where women share their stories and experiences of Lipoedema, I was not alone and "talked" to so many others and we shared our problems( fast forward a few years and I am Trustee for this amazing charity.)

It dawned on me there must be ways to tackle this so I researched and researched to find solutions. I tried all sorts and eventually found a formula which worked for me. Small steps led to bigger ones. I went for manual lymphatic drainage massage with a local therapist who then tried reflexology lymphatic drainage (RLD) which up until this point had only been used on cancer patients with lymphoedema not Lipoedema. It had amazing results, so much so that I decided to train as a reflexologist and then took a further course in RLD. This lead to me realising that if you put parts of the treatments together, you treat the illness and eliminate inflammation and fluid.

I started exercise at first, short walks, going a bit further each time. I started Yoga exercises at home and then onto weight training after a Personal Trainer took me under his wing. I had tried many diets over the years and generally if there are less calories going in than going out you can lose weight, although they do not tackle the fat cells that have built up with Lipeodema. However, the Keto diet does burn natural fat cells when you reach Ketosis. The diet is high in fats and moderate protein but reduces carbs to a bare minimum. Keto does reduce the size of the fat cell eliminating fluid and inflammation build up.

Over time, the therapy, exercise , and diet lead to a huge change. I'd got down to a size-12/14. I now run my own Therapy Studio offering help to Lipeodema sufferers and also offer other holistic services. My main purpose in life is to help the lipoedema community but I also want to help those others who struggle with wellbeing and general weight and health issues.

This video interview was taken in 2018 way before I had even decided or come across Holistic practises and involving them in my routine of coping with Lipoedema, 2 years later I have a full formula. I can see in myself so much positive change in the last 2 years .

Road Map

A road map can be used to plan your journey or to show where you have been. If you are happy with where you are that's OK, if not maybe you should move on. My journey started from a bad place, I didn't feel good about myself. I was trapped, my journey at this stage was countless detours of yoyo diets and fashions to cover myself up. My diagnosis of Lipoedema started me on my real journey it lifted a burden, I was not alone and my size was not my fault. This also meant I could get treatment, compression garments were uncomfortable at the time but worked. I wanted more, so I started exercise with small steps at first Yoga and walking. I improved my diet and lost some weight. The turnaround came with the Keto diet that attacked the Lipoeodema fat by reducing the inflammation and strength and conditioning execises toned me up. I now have a fully positive mind set. My shape, health and wellbeing improved, I started to love myself and respect myself and others started to love and respect me. I was on the road to a better place. Your journey could take you along that road too!đź’‹