Back at the Sanctuary

Hello everyone,

I am now back at the Sanctuary seeing clients again after very intense surgery in the Gold Coast.

So it's time to share with you about my surgery and journey with "Lippy" Lipoedema.

Far back from when I can remember being in my 20's, I always thought there was something wrong with my body when I received any type of massage. The first thing was the pain! especially on my arms and legs so the therapists would use a 'firmer pressure' because I had little pea like structures under my skin and so I believed that with constant massage the pain and 'peas' would go away but they never did so in the end I avoided being massaged or touched firmly at all because the pain was too intense.

I spoke to doctors about the pain and searched down many avenues for answers. In my late 20's I had my first child and after he was born 'these painful bits' became worse. I also noticed that although I was still really slim, my hips and thighs were much bigger now in proportion to the rest of my body so I had the tiny waist with the bigger legs and I also bruised really easily.

Over the years this grew worse and I went down many rabbit holes of researching multiple healing modalities to no avail.

Then just before my bladder mesh was removed in 2019 a dear friend and former student 'Brooke' told me one day about Lipoedema and I thought 'Oh my Gosh! that is exactly my symptoms' so I sought a Doctor who specialised in Lipoedema and as it turned out I had a positive diagnoses.

The first thing I did was 'try' to wear compression garments. I say try because believe me, they are the last thing you want to be in especially on a hot summer's day.

So I was on and off with the garments. I had MLD (manual lymph drainage) which helped but the symptoms always came back by the end of the day. I tried compression suits, saunas, anything that I thought might help. Then in 2020 I had my bladder mesh removed and from there on in I started to gain weight, become tired, my legs were always swollen and wearing a blood pressure cuff was absolutely excruciating! Little did I know, I was in the final (stage 4) of Lipoedema in my arms and tummy and stage 3 in my legs.

Lipoedema is a chronic condition that some women and extremely rarely men are born with and the stages lay dormant until activated by big life events like puberty, child birth, surgery, trauma and menopause which leads experts to believe that the condition may occur due to changes in hormones.

Lipoedema is a painful and abnormal accumulation of fat cells in the hips, thighs, buttocks legs and sometimes arms and tummy. This fat continues to worsen and the "fat cannot be exercised or dieted away" no matter how well a person may eat or exercise.

It is estimated that 1 in 10 women suffer with Lipoedema and the condition is poorly understood and often misdiagnosed as obesity, lymphedema and even Fibromyalgia. Having Lipoedema can affect a persons self esteem, self-worth and cause psychological damage from not being diagnosed properly not to mention the physical pain and limitation on the body as the fat cells grow.

There are conservative treatments, however for myself I chose surgery and have had the Lipoedema removed from my arms and stomach. By surgically removing the Lipoedema, it means that the diseased tissue will not return, there will be more mobility and no more painful inflammation.

It's early days for me but already I can see the results and are absolutely thrilled. So much diseased fat has been removed and I already feel lighter, brighter and freer.

I have so many people to thank who have supported me on this journey, yourselves for one, my family especially Brad and my father who funded this for me. My teacher and mentor A, my dear friends, Collette who looked after my dogs, Brooke and my amazing Paul and Dr Chris Lekich Lipoedema Surgical Solution - Dr Chris Lekich my surgeon at Miami Private Hospital on the Gold Coast.

Dr Lekich and his staff went above and beyond to look after me with so much compassion that I was blown away by the level of professionalism they showed. With such a highly skilled surgeon with so much experience and so much compassion you can't go wrong.

So if anyone thinks they may have Lipoedema please reach out to Dr Lekich here Lipoedema Surgical Solution - Dr Chris Lekich or visit their website lipoedemasurgicalsolution.com

In the meantime, thank you for reading my story and please share the word because little is known about this disease out in the community.

With much love,

Cx