Will weight loss get rid of my Lymphedema?

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SoaringOccamy
SoaringOccamy Posts: 57 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
At my heaviest I was around 509lbs and I developed Lymphedema (swelling) in my legs from the excess weight. I have lost about 90lbs over the last few years, a little over 40 of those since January, but the swelling has improved some, but not all that much.

My question mainly goes out to people who had been morbidly Obese, but who have lost a substantial amount of weight:
Did your weight loss/exercise eventually make your legs stop swelling, or did you have to pursue other treatment for it?

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    Calling @estherdragonbat.
  • jlynnm70
    jlynnm70 Posts: 460 Member
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    My mom has lymphedema in her arm (resulted from Cancer Treatments) - no matter what her weight is - up/down (not morbidly obese) - it NEVER goes away. She has tried EVERY treatment possible and even some experimental ones - nothing has helped. I wish you the best!
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
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    You have my sympathy.
    I have watched a few episodes of “My 600 Pound Life”, and quite a few of the people have this. It looks very painful. A couple of the people have had surgical removal of parts of their lymphodema after successfully losing weight after weight loss surgery. Since this is only a year in their lives, I don’t really know what happens to them after the year. It seems that at least a couple of the people, who didn’t have very extreme issues with it, the swelling did recede. I hope this is true for you as well. Best of luck!
  • New_Heavens_Earth
    New_Heavens_Earth Posts: 610 Member
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    My mother in law is thin but still has lymphedema of her leg. She at some point will have surgery due to an area which keeps getting MRSA.

    For you, maybe if fatty tissue is involved it might go down some. I'm sorry it is a very difficult condition.
  • cqbkaju
    cqbkaju Posts: 1,011 Member
    edited April 2019
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    All you can probably do is get down to a reasonable weight and make the necessary lifestyle changes to improve your health.
    Then hope for the best.

    At least you would not be house-bound any longer as a start.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
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    Nope... sorry
  • annstuart11
    annstuart11 Posts: 1 Member
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    Hi there, I'm a qualified RLD (reflexology Lymph Drainage) and have seen amazing results working with clients. You may if heard of lymph drainage? If not take. Look at

    https://www.reflexologylymphdrainage.co.uk/rld-training.html

    It depends what is causing your lymphatics to be out of kilter.

    Good luck.

  • Hilogirl2018
    Hilogirl2018 Posts: 687 Member
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    There's a specialist in Tucson, AZ who is a leading lymphedema researcher you may want to look up. She may not be taking on new patients, but her office may be able to help with a referral list: http://www.lipomadoc.org/

    Good luck, I've heard this is a very painful disorder.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    edited April 2019
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    Info on lymphoedema from an evidence-based site (Australasian Lymphology Association):

    https://www.lymphoedema.org.au/about-lymphoedema/what-is-lymphoedema/

    It might help to read the stories at the bottom of the link too.
  • SoaringOccamy
    SoaringOccamy Posts: 57 Member
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    missysippy930 wrote: »
    You have my sympathy.
    I have watched a few episodes of “My 600 Pound Life”, and quite a few of the people have this. It looks very painful. A couple of the people have had surgical removal of parts of their lymphodema after successfully losing weight after weight loss surgery. Since this is only a year in their lives, I don’t really know what happens to them after the year. It seems that at least a couple of the people, who didn’t have very extreme issues with it, the swelling did recede. I hope this is true for you as well. Best of luck!

    Thanks so much. Luckily mine isn't as severe as a lot of the ones I have seen on My 600lb Life. The ones I have seen get surgery are usually the ones where it was so severe it was hanging in a tumor-like mass. For mine it has mostly been concentrated directly around my lower legs. I guess at this point I will cross my fingers and hope for continued slow reducing since I am still in the process of my weight-loss. If that doesn't work I suppose it will be time to really have an in-depth talk with my doctor.

  • SoaringOccamy
    SoaringOccamy Posts: 57 Member
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    Hilogirl2018 wrote: »
    There's a specialist in Tucson, AZ who is a leading lymphedema researcher you may want to look up. She may not be taking on new patients, but her office may be able to help with a referral list: http://www.lipomadoc.org/

    Good luck, I've heard this is a very painful disorder.

    Thanks very much for that link! I notice that Liposuction is one of the potential treatment methods for Lymphedema. I have seen full-on surgery used to remove large swollen masses, but this is news to me. Because mine is more concentrated directly around my leg I didn't think there was probably any chance of surgery if it didn't recede on its own. Perhaps if it doesn't resolve itself to the point where I can get compression socks on over the course of my weight-loss I will start doing some research into that to help me along the way.

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