Surgery Isn't the Most Important Part of Lipedema Treatment
Here's what IS most important
Please note all information I provide is for education and discussion only. I’m not a medical doctor, and this is not medical advice. For further information, please read my medical disclaimer. Thank you!
Hi L&M Community,
Surgery is an extremely important and underutilized treatment when we can no longer manage our symptoms with conservative care.
Since surgery is the most inaccessible form of treatment and since I specialize in medical insurance, I focus a lot on how we can get liposuction surgery and get it covered through our health plans.
However, I've learned conservative treatment is vital to us and something we must continue to manage our lipedema, both before and after surgery.
Even surgery won’t be very successful if you aren’t familiar with conservative care. It’s the reason I made this TikTok Video:
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What is Conservative Therapy?
Many factors make up conservative care. There is a balance of managing inflammation, reducing pain and fat mass, and maintaining mobility. I’ll list them below without going into a ton of definitions about them.
Exercise: All around, exercise provides so many benefits for us. it can help reduce the risk factors of obesity. and second, it can increase fluid drainage from the limb by the muscle pump system and increase the activity of the venous system.
Compression Therapy: Wearing some form of medical grade hose and using compression equipment (such as a sequential compression pump) keeps the lymphatic system moving, decreasing swelling.
Proper diet: I hate to call this “diet” because it is more of a lifestyle, similar to if you were a diabetic and managed what kind of foods you consume to manage blood sugars. Overall, women with Lipedema have found specific diets respond better than others for symptom management: Anti-inflammatory diet, keto, high protein, low carb, and sugar-free diets all have some place helping manage our symptoms. I AM NOT A DIETICIAN. I’m probably the worst person to give diet advice. I recommend looking into your health insurance and seeing if you have any benefits for a dietician assessment or classes offered. Changing what you place in your body will greatly impact your Lipedema.
Manual Lymphatic Drainage: Learning to give yourself a lymphatic massage and/or regular visits to massage therapy for MLD will help keep lymphedema under control.
These are a few ways you can use conservative therapy to maintain your Lipedema.
Because Conservative Therapy is so important, I’ll send an email every Friday about Lipedema and conservative care. It’ll include all kinds of exciting information about Lipedema care. As I learn more, I’ll share them with you.
You can also find me on social media!
Schedule a phone session with me to talk about how to get your surgery approved through your insurance.