Making November the Month of Getting a Legit Lipedema Diagnosis
And a little about persimmons!
Lipedema women in the U.S. (and around the world) are frustrated because they can’t get a diagnosis into their medical charts. Getting diagnosed with Lipedema is difficult because most medical professionals aren’t aware of this condition. It doesn’t help that Lipedema is often confused with lymphedema (swelling) and hyperlipidemia (a cardiac issue).
With only a handful of diagnosing clinicians in the country, even if we find an expert in Lipedema diagnosis, it may take months to get an appointment.
Diagnosis is also challenging because Lipedema doesn’t have its own diagnosis code. Instead, we have to pirate the ICD-10 diagnosis code for unspecified Edema: R60.9.
We won’t have our own ICD-10 code until Medicare recognizes Lipedema as a separate disease and provides coverage.
ICD-10 code R60. 9 for Edema, unspecified is a medical classification listed by WHO under the range - Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified .
Regardless of these challenges, we still need a diagnosis and an ICD-10 code for treatment. So, this month, I am deep-diving into how to get a diagnosis into your medical chart.
I’ll write articles related to diagnosis, have a weekly Q&A, and send out resources as I find them.
I will also finalize and offer my Diagnosis workshop during November, along with working that information into an e-book. Since I’ve never published an e-book, I won’t complete this until after November! But I’ll be writing the body of it this month.
For any of you who are looking to get a diagnosis, I consult privately with women to come up with a diagnosis plan. I can go ahead and accomplish this with you in just 25 minutes. And the cost is $40. Seriously, we can devise a strategy to get you going toward getting a diagnosis in this short amount of time and for very little $$. If you want to consult with me, here’s my appointment calendar.
Get Diagnosed-consult with Michelle Jaqua
I will help you develop a decent strategy for getting a diagnosis into your chart.
Persimmons! A Magical Fruit
We see these beautiful orange fruits on naked trees in the Pacific Northwest this time of year. I don’t have a persimmon tree, but I’ve been happy to offload fruit from others if they have extra.
So, earlier this week, we were at my sis-in-law’s a few days ago, and they have a huge persimmon tree with loads of fruit. I’ve lost contact with my old persimmon supplier (an acquaintance from an art group). So, we were quick to jump on bringing home a bucket of persimmons.
Persimmons are the national fruit of Japan, and they grow well here where I live. They have a light, delicate taste, with a more waxy, harder skin; I always peel the skin off and eat the soft inside. I usually use them for jam, eat them raw, or use them in recipes, depending on my motivation.
I decided to do a little investigative search on persimmons because that’s what I love to do. Here’s what I found about this underrecognized fruit:
Persimmons ripen off the vine like bananas, avocados, tomatoes, and
High in potassium, manganese, and vitamins A, C, and B.
Contain beneficial plant compounds like tannins and flavonoids.
Reduce inflammation—great for an anti-inflammatory diet.
Used medicinally in Asian countries, including Korea, Japan, and China.
Promote heart health.
Support healthy vision
Keep your digestive system healthy.Â
Hopefully, this won’t deter you from trying persimmons. They are delicious and healthy and can be an added fruit to your meals.
Here’s a video on how to eat persimmons:
We have the non-astringent or Fuyu persimmons. I can’t wait for them to ripen a bit more and be ready to eat!
There are astringent and non-astringent persimmons. The astringent ones have warnings for preparing, eating, and toxic pairings of other foods:
Here’s a little video about persimmons and the warnings if you’re interested!
Hopefully, this won’t deter you from trying persimmons. They are delicious and healthy and can be an added variety of fruit to your diet.
Let me know if you have had this fruit before and what you think!
For this month, I will have an additional
Thank you for reading Lipedema and Me. Without you, I wouldn’t be doing this!
Find Lipedema and Me on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Medium!
Take Care,
Michelle