Watching My 600 pound life- lymphedema

I will admit I am obsessed with My 600 pound life. The one thing that sticks out to me is that most people have lymphedema. I guess I did not realize how often it is associated with obesity. THIS article states:

Patients at risk for obesity-induced lymphedema should be counseled that they need to seek weight-loss interventions before their BMI reaches 50, a threshold where irreversible lower extremity lymphedema may occur.

Wow. My highest BMI was 53. I am so thankful I did not develop lymphedema. I think more people need to know about this risk.

Very interesting article. The lady's legs LOOK smaller, but I guess, health wise, they are NOT in any better shape. They look terribly painful - especially the ankle regions

Mercifully, for some reason, Gina, LE swelling does NOT usually cause pain. Else we LEers would probably be constantly wailing, moaning and/or screaming. If anything, the swollen tissues are somewhat numbed by the excess of lymphatic fluid present in them. When the swelling has reduced down, e.g. through pumps, compression wraps or drainage massage treatment, the numbness disappears and we have normal feeling again in those tissues. Go figure. As to the system not being improved, that's correct. The damage to the lymphatic system remains and is permanent, even following major weight loss.

I feel like I dodged a big bullet! My BMI was over 65 for a long time...

Thank you for sharing that article, my highest BMI was 43, but I had no idea how close I was to the threshold. I always thought of lymphedema as something that only affected 500 or 600 pound individuals, but people should know that you can easily develop it at 300 or 400 pounds! Additionally, people who are * just * in the 200's also develop serious health issues (let's talk about back and joint pain, shall we?). Our perception of what is an acceptable weight is way off.

I wonder if the lack of mobility plus genetics is a factor that is bigger than just plain obesity?

Watching some people who were rather bi, but who were still moving around, doing something, walking, bending, etc, decreased their chances of getting lymphedema. Sure it looked that way.

Some people reported gaining a lot of weight after having am accident and became immobile. Lymphedema - stagnation of lymph liquids. That seams to contribute to the condition. No?

Oh I 100% think so. If you compare the mobile vs immobile patients on My 600 Pound Life, it is crazy. Even when someone may weigh less than others, if that person is immobile, they always seem to have a lower quality of life and more severe health issues. I think that also leads credence to Dr. Now and how he always talks about "If XXXXXX gains more weight, they will soon become immobile and their health will deteriorate rapidly." Immobility in a lot of cases makes the situations dire I think.

i totally agree with you. my lymphedema didn't start until i had a car wreck 12 yrs ago and had to have 7 hip surgeries. i was obese then but being immobile just made it harder to get the weight off. 10 months ago i had a real understanding surgeon that was willing to do the RNY even though i was in a wheel chair. so far i have lost 150 lbs. i mean for me i have tons more freedom, can get out alot more, use a walker etc now.

Congratulations on your progress. It gets better.

Loved your: "Our perception of what is an acceptable weight is way off."

That is a kind way to say "We were f&*#ing blind to the damage excess weight was inflicting on our bodies."