Lipedema occurs mostly in women, mostly in times of hormonal change, with increasing risk as time goes by (so for example, puberty yields a lower risk than pregnancy, which yields a lower risk than menopause).

Its name literally means “fat swelling”, and can easily be mistaken for obesity or, in its earlier stages, just pain old cellulite.

Cellulite, by the way, is completely harmless and is also not, per se, an indicator of bad health. But if you have it and don’t like it, you can reduce it:

Keep Cellulite At Bay

Obesity is more of a complex matter, and one that we’ve covered here:

Shedding Some Obesity Myths

Lipedema is actively harmful

Lipedema can become a big problem, because lifestyle change does not reduce lipedema fat, the fat is painful, can lead to obesity if one was not already obese, causes gait and joint abnormalities, causes fatigue, can lead to lymphedema (beyond the scope of today’s article—perhaps another time!) and very much psychosocial distress.

Like many conditions that mostly affect women, the science is… Well, here’s a recent example review that was conducted and published:

Lipedema: What we don’t know

Fun fact: in Romanian there is an expression “one eye is laughing; the other is crying”, and it seems appropriate here.

Spot the signs

Because it’s most readily mistaken for cellulite in first presentation, let’s look at the differences between them:

• Cellulite is characterized by dimpled, bumpy, or even skin; lipedema is the same but with swelling too.
• Cellulite is a connective tissue condition; lipedema is too (at least in part), but also involves the abnormal accumulation and deposition of fat cells, rather than just pulling some down a bit.
• Cellulite has no additional symptoms; lipedema soon also brings swollen limbs, joint pain, and/or skin that’s “spongy” and easily bruised.

What to do about it

First, get it checked out by a doctor.

If the doctor says it is just cellulite or obesity, ask them what difference(s) they are basing that on, and ask that they confirm in writing having dismissed your concerns (having this will be handy later if it turns out to be lipedema after all).

If it is lipedema, you will want to catch it early; there is no known cure, but advanced symptoms are a lot easier to keep at bay than they are to reverse once they’ve shown up.

Weight maintenance, skin care (including good hydration), and compression therapy have all been shown to help slow the progression.

If it is allowed to progress unhindered, that’s when a lot more fat accumulation and joint pain is likely to occur. Liposuction and surgery are options, but even they are only a temporary solution, and are obviously not fun things to have to go through.

Prevention is, as ever, much better than cure treatment ← _{^{because there is no known cure}}

One last thing

Lipedema’s main risk factor is genetic. The bad news is, there’s not much that can be done about that for now, but the good news is, you can at least get the heads-up about whether you are at increased risk or not, and be especially vigilant if you’re in the increased risk group. See also:

One Test, Many Warnings: The Real Benefit Of Genetic Testing

Take care!

Peripheral neuropathy (and what can be done about it)

Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage, usually of the extremities. It can be caused by such things as:

• Diabetes
• Alcoholism
• Infection
• Injury

The manifestations can be different:

• In the case of diabetes, it’s also called diabetic neuropathy, and almost always affects the feet first.
• In the case of alcoholism, it is more generalized, but tends towards affecting the extremities first.
• In the case of infection, a lot depends on the nature of the infection and the body’s response.
• In the case of injury, it’ll naturally be the injured part, or a little “downstream” of the injured part.
  • This could be the case of a single traumatic injury (e.g. hand got trapped in a slammed door)

This could be the case of a repetitive injury (carpal tunnel syndrome is a kind of peripheral neuropathy, and is usually caused by consistent misalignment of the carpal tunnel, the aperture through which a bundle of nerves make their way from the forearm to the hand)

Prevention is better than cure

If you already have peripheral neuropathy, don’t worry, we’ll get to that. But, if you can, prevention is better than cure. This means:

• Diabetes: if you can, avoid. This may seem like no-brainer advice, but it’s often something people don’t think about until hitting a pre-diabetic stage. Obviously, if you are Type 1 Diabetic, you don’t have this luxury. But in any case, whatever your current status, take care of your blood sugars as best you can, so that your blood can take care of you (and your nerves) in turn. You might want to check out our previous main feature about this:
  • 10 Ways To Balance Your Blood sugars
• Alcoholism: obviously avoid, if you can. You might like this previous edition of 10almonds addressing this:
  • Rethinking Drinking: How To Reduce Or Quit Alcohol
• Infection: this is so varied that one-liner advice is really just “try to look after your immune health”.
  • We’ll do a main feature on this soon!
• Injury: obviously, try to be careful. But that goes for the more insidious version too! For example, if you spend a lot of time at your computer, consider an ergonomic mouse and keyboard.
  • There are many kinds available, so read reviews, but here’s an example product on Amazon

Writer’s note: as you might guess, I spend a lot of time at my computer, and a lot of that time, writing. I additionally spend a lot of time reading. I also have assorted old injuries from my more exciting life long ago. Because of this, it’s been an investment in my health to have:

A standing desk

A vertical ergonomic mouse

An ergonomic split keyboard

A Kindle*

*Far lighter and more ergonomic than paper books. Don’t get me wrong, I’m writing to you from a room that also contains about a thousand paper books and I dearly love those too, but more often than not, I read on my e-reader for comfort and ease.

If you already have peripheral neuropathy

Most advice popular on the Internet is just about pain management, but what if we want to treat the cause rather than the symptom?

Let’s look at the things commonly suggested: try ice, try heat, try acupuncture, try spicy rubs (from brand names like Tiger Balm, to home-made chilli ointments), try meditation, try a warm bath, try massage.

And, all of these are good options; do you see what they have in common?

It’s about blood flow. And that’s why they can help even in the case of peripheral neuropathy that’s not painful (it can also manifest as numbness, and/or tingling sensations).

By getting the blood flowing nicely through the affected body part, the blood can nourish the nerves and help them function correctly. This is, in effect, the opposite of what the causes of peripheral neuropathy do.

But also don’t forget: rest

• Put your feet up (literally! But we’re talking horizontal here, not elevated past the height of your heart)
• Rest that weary wrist that has carpal tunnel syndrome (again, resting it flat, so your hand position is aligned with your forearm, so the nerves between are not kinked)
• Use a brace if necessary to help the affected part stay aligned correctly
  • You can get made-for-purpose wrist and ankle braces—you can also get versions that are made for administering hot/cold therapy, too. That’s just an example product linked that we can recommend; by all means read reviews and choose for yourself, though. Try them and see what helps.

One more top tip

We did a feature not long back on lion’s mane mushroom, and it’s single most well-established, well-researched, well-evidenced, completely uncontested benefit is that it aids peripheral neurogenesis, that is to say, the regrowth and healing of the peripheral nervous system.

So you might want to check that out:

What Does Lion’s Mane Actually Do, Anyway?