Lori's Story and What is Lipedema - Episode 1

Welcome to the debut episode of the Spotlight Lipedema Podcast. I can't describe how excited I am to get this podcast finally started. It has been long in the making. I've been rolling ideas around in my head for well over a year, but finally got things together, and with the help of my wonderful producer Chris Duckett, was able to get this episode done and the podcast officially launched. Hopefully, this is just the first of many, many more to come.

On this episode I'm going to give a quick introduction to lipedema for any listeners that may be unfamiliar with it or who've been recently diagnosed. That will be just a baseline for what will become my story - how I have dealt with being fat for most of my life, and how I came to be diagnosed. How I'm living with lipedema will be saved for future episodes. Also in future episodes, we'll get into more detail about lipedema and hear the stories of people with different stages and types lipedema and at different ages. I think you'll find that we have lots of similarities in our stories, but what we can really learn from is how our experiences have varied.

Like everyone diagnosed with lipedema, I've had to learn a lot about what it is, what it isn't, and how to deal with it. I encourage everyone to visit the following websites that have been so helpful to me.

Treatment, Research & Education of Adipose Tissue Program at The University of Arizona Health Sciences: https://treat.medicine.arizona.edu/

The Lipedema Foundation: https://www.lipedema.org/about-lipedema

Fat Disorders Resource Society: https://www.fatdisorders.org/lipedema

The Lipedema Project: https://lipedemaproject.org/

Lipedema Simplified: https://lipedema-simplified.org/

Special thanks to the wonderful people who have been so supportive to me as I started my lipedema journey - Abbi Bliss, Maureen McBeth, Joni Donlon, Kate Megonnell, Barb Steinberg, Carol Zisfein, Helen Luqman, Emilza Ordonez, Susan McVey, Mary Pellnitz, Raina Singh, Wednesday Vail, Miriam Aladdin, Dr. David Song, Kimberly Miller, Myrna Marcellin, Dr. Nadiv Shapira, Dr. Janna Latchchinina, Catherine Seo, Leslyn Keith, Mende Staggs, and Raeannn Sparks - and of course all the wonderful people on Dr. Song's team at Georgetown University Hospital and on 7 Bles.

This episode is dedicated to the strong women in my life who now guide me from Heaven - Julia "Judy" Pellnitz, Catherine "Kitty" Spaluzzi, Anna Commesso and my spirit sister Jackie Conti Antretter. I love and miss you all.

Producer: Chris Duckett - https://www.duckettproductionservices.com/

Intro Music "Walk in the Park,"
Bumper Music "Folk Bed" and
Closing Music "In the Field" all courtesy of Jason Shaw at Audionautix - https://audionautix.com/index.php