If you have struggled with your weight for your entire adult life while eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly and have never been successful with weight loss, if your body is disproportionately larger on the bottom than on the top, if your legs are in pain and bruise extremely easily for seemingly no reason, if you feel small lumps under your skin instead of normal fat, then this DVD about Lipedema is definitely one that you should see!
Not everybody is fat from overeating and being sedentary. There is a disease called Lipedema which was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic in the 1940's, and if left untreated, can cause your lymphatic system to malfunction and quite possibly lead to immobility. For reasons unknown, the medical profession in the US, with rare exception, chose not to include it, or much about the lymphatic system at all, in medical school curriculum, so it remained relatively unknown in the US until the movie producer (while receiving treatment for her own lymphatic issues) stumbled upon a mention of it in a book by a German author and expert on lymphatics. She was amazed that she had never heard of Lipedema before and started a web page as a way to collect and disseminate information. The more she learned, the more she wanted to share her knowledge with women who were suffering just like she was. Wanting to make more of an impact and reach more people, she began interviewing experts from around the world, including the US, for this documentary.
As a sufferer of Lipedema, this DVD provided me with an amazing amount of great information that is useful to me every day, including, but not limited to, doctors from different parts of the world who have been dealing with Lipedema for decades discussing symptoms and diagnosing patients, interviews with sufferers such as myself who have found ways to mitigate their symptoms via conservative methods, as well as lymph sparing liposuction, DVD extras that gave me insight on how to discuss this disease with my PCP in ways she would be open to hearing, and how to explain what it is to family members who have watched me eat well and exercise for years and are as frustrated for me as I am.
This DVD is an invaluable resource to both patients and doctors alike. I purchased two of the DVD's to pass on to a few doctors whom I have met along my journey in hopes they will come away with an understanding that they have more patients suffering from this than they believe they do. Education is our only tool against misdiagnosis and education starts with this DVD.
