Lipedema is a condition that affects a number of people, almost exclusively women. Unfortunately, it is a condition that largely goes unnoticed or misdiagnosed. A lot of individuals who suffer from the condition are regarded as simply being overweight. In fact, it can get so bad that these individuals might be targeted, with people fat shaming them, telling them that they need to eat less and exercise more.
The truth of the matter is that diet and exercise really helps someone who is suffering from the condition. Below, you can find out more information about the condition itself as well as learn about 10 celebrities who have been suffering from it for years.
What Should You Know About Lipedema?
Unfortunately, the first thing that you should know about the condition is that medical professionals don’t know as much about it as they wish they did. Some people believe that the condition is genetic, as there has been some evidence to suggest that it is passed down through families. As previously mentioned, the only people who are affected are almost always women.
While it isn’t believed to be impossible for men to become affected by the disease, it is exceedingly rare. Furthermore, there seems to be some type of correlation between changes in hormones and the development of the condition. As a matter of fact, a lot of people don’t begin to experience symptoms of the condition until they hit puberty.
Up until then, their bodies may be completely normal. These individuals may even be exceptionally thin, only to have their bodies completely betray them almost the very moment they hit puberty.
In other cases, person is capable of going through puberty without any known problems whatsoever, but then as they get pregnant or they go through menopause, the condition rears its head. It can make it very difficult to deal with things from both a physical and emotional perspective. It’s made even worse by the fact that diet and exercise don’t typically help with the issue.
It’s also worth noting that while this condition almost always affects the lower portion of the body, it also has a habit of allowing fat to accumulate in the upper arms. This does not happen to every individual who suffers from it, but it can be a symptom that shows up from time to time.
It’s Not Always About Excessive Weight
As previously mentioned, people have a tendency to believe that this particular condition is about nothing more than gaining too much weight. The truth is, it really doesn’t have that much to do with excessive weight at all. In fact, people can suffer from the condition who aren’t technically overweight.
While it certainly does become more pronounced in someone who is obese, obesity is not always something that is involved. As a matter of fact, a lot of people who suffer from this condition don’t suffer from obesity or any of the other health concerns that are typically associated with it, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
Potential Complications
It’s important for anyone who thinks they might be suffering from lipedema to get checked out. If it’s not treated in a timely manner, it can lead to a number of other complications which can be far more severe. For starters, it usually becomes quite painful as pockets of fat cells are distributed beneath the skin.
In addition, those fat cells can also block lymph nodes from performing as they normally would, causing a backup of fluid inside the body. This in turn can lead to an increased number of infections along with generally poor health. It also means that any wounds that do occur are likely to be slower to heal. In some severe cases, the condition can make it difficult to walk.
Proper treatment can often slow the progression of the disease and delay or even prevent these secondary complications from occurring. Below is a list of 10 celebrities who suffer from the condition. While you might recognize some of these names more than others, it’s important to remember that it is possible to lead a full life, even with lipedema.
That’s especially true if you seek out medical treatment early on and you remain under the care of a doctor who can monitor the disease and mitigate complications that could occur because of it.
1. Kathy Bates
She has been in countless numbers of projects over her long and storied career. She’s also a two-time cancer survivor. Most people who have seen her on the big screen know that has apparently struggled with her weight over the years.
The thing that a lot of her fans don’t know is that her weight issues are largely due to lipedema. This is something that can easily be seen in some of her work, as there have been times when she lost a rather significant amount of weight, yet she was still heavy in the lower part of her body.
2. Wendy Williams
Williams is a notable radio talk show host and television personality who has also struggled with her weight for the majority of her adult life. As she has gotten older, it has become more and more difficult for her to maintain a healthy weight, especially with regard to her lower body. As such, she has struggled with excess weight in her buttocks and legs, in addition to struggling with some extra weight around her hips. She’s also one of the few individuals who has been fairly vocal about her condition, always being ready to talk about it and bringing awareness to it as opposed to trying to act like it doesn’t exist.
3. Mischa Barton
Barton has been starring in movies for some time. In some cases, they are feature-length films and in other cases, they’re made-for-television movies. However, she’s been acting in one capacity or another for quite some time now. Over the years, her weight has fluctuated a great deal. There are times when you might see her two or even three sizes smaller than you will at other times. In addition, her weight has a tendency to jump back and forth between her being heavier and lighter.
The thing that indicates that she suffers from this particular condition is that regardless of how heavy or light she has been throughout her career, the overwhelming majority of her weight has been carried in the lower part of her body. Even when she’s been at her lightest, she still carried a significantly larger proportion of her weight from the belly button down. As is so frequently the case with this condition, her ankles and feet are unaffected. In her particular case, even her calves are largely unaffected. The majority of the weight distribution is from her hips down to her knees.
4. Nelly Furtado
This popular singer has struggled with her weight for a number of years. In fact, she’s often been criticized for her weight, as she has a tendency to be very thin in her upper and mid-torso, yet carry a great deal of weight in her lower torso around her hips. She also carries a lot of weight in her buttocks and in the upper portions of her legs.
For many years, she was openly criticized for that as if it were her fault. She is also much like Williams in the sense that she’s more than willing to talk about the struggles that she has had with the condition as opposed to not talking about it at all or speaking about it as if it were a traditional weight problem.
It is very important to distinguish between the two, as people who suffer from this condition can exercise and diet in the extreme, yet their body doesn’t typically respond in the same way that it would if it were merely about traditional weight gain.
5. Alicia Keys
She is known for her ability to play the piano and create some of the most poignant songs of our time, yet she has also been openly criticized for her weight a number of times. It’s unfortunate that anyone has to be criticized for their weight, yet that is precisely what happens to so many individuals. Despite her immense level of talent and her ability to captivate an audience, she has been the target of many comments about her weight over the years.
6. Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Alley has been in television for as long as a lot of people can remember. Throughout that time, she has gone from being as thin as size four to being much heavier, often to the point of feeling uncomfortable in her own skin. Unfortunately, she’s also been the subject of a number of less-than-flattering comments from various individuals and professionals in television alike. Like many people who suffer from this condition, she has gone on numerous diets in an attempt to get a handle on her weight, often losing weight and then gaining it right back. It’s been a genuine struggle for her, something that she has been willing to talk about to a certain extent.
While there have been plenty of people that have participated in what is often referred to as fat shaming where Kylie Jenner is concerned, there are actually very few people that realize that she’s suffering from this condition. Unfortunately, people have referred to her as fat, even when she isn’t. She does suffer from the condition, but in her case, it’s not as severe as many of the other people on this list, at least not yet. That said, people still give her a hard time because she’s not a size zero. That is especially true because even though she’s quite slim throughout her upper body, she does carry the majority of weight in her lower body, even though it’s not excessive.
8. Shaughna Phillips
Phillips is a reality television star that has openly struggled with the condition. As a matter of fact, she’s been more vocal about suffering from this condition than a lot of other people because she is more willing to talk about her struggles with trying to get her weight under control, only to have it explode once again. She’s also talked about how difficult it is for her to lose weight in her lower body as well as how painful it can be to hear the comments of others when people just don’t understand.
9. Rebel Wilson
Wilson is another actress that has experienced problems with her weight throughout a good portion of her life. Anyone who is paying attention will notice that the majority of her weight is also carried in the lower portion of her body. More recently, she has been making a concentrated attempt to lose a significant amount of weight, something that she is accomplishing successfully. However, she has also spoken out about how difficult her journey has been because her body is predisposed to hold onto the weight in the lower portion of her anatomy as opposed to allowing her to lose the weight as easily as she probably could if she didn’t suffer from the condition.
10. Mariah Carey
Like many of the other people on this list, people have been fat shaming Mariah Carey for a number of years. She’s an absolute powerhouse behind the microphone, but that hasn’t stopped people from being harsh when it comes to commenting on her weight.
While it was something that she struggled with from an emotional standpoint for some time, she’s recently become more accepting of her body, caring less what other people think and focusing more on simply being as happy and healthy as possible. By learning about this disease and gaining a better understanding of what it entails, you might start to feel less alone if you are suffering from symptoms of it yourself.
That’s especially true when you see that other individuals who have achieved a great deal in their lives also suffer from it. Hopefully, you will see that it doesn’t have to stop you from achieving your dreams. It’s merely a road block that you have to find a way around. Fortunately, that can largely be accomplished by getting diagnosed and successfully treated so that the signs and symptoms of the disease can be mitigated.
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