Hi Friends!
Here’s a bit of news for all of us to take to heart: Chronic stress is terrible for all humans. But for women with lipedema, stress can be a cause of rapid growth of our painful fat tissue, according to a published paper by Donald W. Buck, and the famous lipedema Doctor, Dr. Karen L. Herbst.
There’s a fantastic video on YouTube that shows the correlation between stress and lipedema, with subject matter expert Kathleen Lisson, who wrote the Lipedema Treatment Guide. Her video discusses the correlation of stress and lipedema growth and she shares studies that show gradual progression in patients with normal stress levels. However the studies also showed an exacerbation of lipedema growth correlated to specific very stressful situations. It is very important to control stress as a lipedema patient to slow the progression and avoid big growth due to stress.
This is from me now for a second, one of the best things I ever did was change a source of years-long chronic stress. I retired from a high level job that was having a seriously negative impact on my physical and mental health and pursued something less stressful. So my personal advisement is if you are suffering from chronic stress, eliminate it or reduce it. Find a different job, find time away from toxic people (if you can’t get away from them permanently), and find some therapy professionally or in the form of a support group or good friend.
Back to the recommendations from Kathleen. Some suggestions for us to consider and discuss with care providers are:
– physical activity, exercise, swimming or yoga
– mediation
– laughing
– socializing with others
– being with people with like conditions
– spending time with pets
– gratitude journaling
– taking baths with essential oils or epsom salts
– intentionally practicing sympathetic joy for others when good things happen: I wish your happiness continues, I wish your happiness stays with you, I wish your happiness grows
Lastly, catching ourselves and stopping negative self-talk is very important. Don’t put up with your own self saying bad things you would never allow another person to say to you!
What has worked for you and what will you try? Small steps to stress reduction can have an overall benefit to our health, and potentially stop flaring up our lipedema. Until next time, I wish your health continues to improve. So, sit back, RELAX, and enjoy the video!
Source:
Buck DW 2nd, Herbst KL. Lipedema: A Relatively Common Disease with Extremely Common Misconceptions. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2016 Sep 28;4(9):e1043. doi: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000001043. PMID: 27757353; PMCID: PMC5055019.
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