A woman who has piled on seven stone in seven years has claimed she "cannot live like this anymore" – as she only eats one meal a day.
Stacey Dickens, from Northwich, claimed she is always in agonising pain due to an unusual health condition, which leads to abnormal fat cells building up across her body.
The 32-year-old, who suffers from Stage 3 lipoedema, has said she will never wed or have children due to the amount of pain she's in, and also admits she "hides from people" in the street to avoid them seeing her.
READ: 'Doctors said my swollen legs were just fat – but I actually had a painful condition'
“I have tried to hide myself for so long,” she told CheshireLive.
“I have been pretending I am someone else. It has got to the point where I hide from people.
"If I want to go to the supermarket, I go 20 minutes before it closes so I don’t have to see anyone – so I can hobble across the car park in peace.”
The condition, which has caused Stacey to regularly gain weight on her limbs for years, even though she sticks to a strict diet and exercise plan, has caused her to experience a lot of pain, as well as bruising and pinched nerves when she sits in a particular way for too long.
The self-employed nail technician said she eventually had to pack in her job when she was left with no choice but to take a lot of sick days due to the pain she experienced in her legs when they became "rock hard."
She added: “People think I’m ‘just fat’ or ‘just overweight’.
"I have lived off one meal a day for years trying not to put on weight but every time I weigh myself I am heavier.
“It doesn’t affect my hands and feet so my wrists are normal but then my arms aren’t.
"I get bruises just from wearing leggings – even when they aren’t tight.
“I have starved myself over the years to the point where I now need my gallbladder out.
"I don’t eat like a normal person. The thought of having three meals a day – I couldn’t do it.
"Whatever I do, whatever I eat just makes it worse.
“I’m like a little old lady. I can’t kneel on the floor because of the bruising so I know I won’t be able to have kids because I can’t be on the floor or roll around and play with them.
“I don’t want to get married or have kids because it’s going to make it worse.
"The thought of me in a wedding dress.”
The condition is said to be stimulated by hormones, and she said it started when she had a coil fitted in her 20s.
Even though she realised pretty rapidly that the hormonal shift was impacting her legs, and she went onto have the contraceptive device removed, she said she thinks the "damage was already done."
“It tends to run in families and my nana had it,” she said.
“She didn’t walk for the last 35 years of her life.
“This has consumed my life for the past six years – it has taken the best years of my life.
"I just don’t go out anymore. I can’t live like this anymore.”
She said she was piling on "two to three pounds a week" in her 20s, so she quickly turned to a shake diet in hope it would help, and consumed only three milkshakes a day for three years.
Desperate to find a solution, she went to the doctors, but was repeatedly told that all she needed was an improved diet and to up her exercise.
She became so fed up that she eventually took her mum to the GP with her, who took note of Stacey’s declining wellbeing, and agreed to look through her MyFitnessPal notes to see if they could think of anything else that would help.
“She said I couldn’t be doing any more to help myself,” she said.
“It got to the point before the heatwave where I could get in the bath and there would be space around me.
"But I would get so swollen I couldn’t get out. I had to get my boyfriend to get me out, it was humiliating.”
When Stacey was eventually given a diagnosis, she was referred to a surgeon who told her the treatment she required was not available on the NHS.
Now, as time is ticking, Stacey is desperate to try and self-fund operations before the condition spreads to her lymphatic system.
She will need to need to travel to Madrid to be able to have the treatment.
If she doesn't undergo the procedure, it's said the condition will worsen until she's unable to move around normally.
At the moment Stacey said she is already prevented from bending her legs, and they "look and feel like they will burst".
“I am not ready to admit defeat yet,” she said.
“Literally everyday life is a struggle currently, even getting around the house.
“The thought of being in a wheelchair before I’m 40 isn’t how I thought I’d spend my life. Without surgery, this is the way it’s heading.
“I feel like I have got someone else’s body now, it has completely taken over my life. I don’t want to live like this anymore.”
The operations alone are going to set Stacey back around £25,000, and she'd like to buy a machine to help drain her lymphatic system.
This will help her to keep on top of the condition once the surgery has been carried out.
“The fat can’t be metabolised,” she said.
“It’s just there and the only way to have it sorted is to have it removed.”
Stacey said she just "can’t hide anymore’", which is why she opened up about her condition on social media.
She said she's received many "cruel" comments over the years about her weight, but she's no longer afraid to speak openly about her condition.
To donate to Stacey’s fundraiser visit her GoFundMe page.
READ NEXT:
Here's why boobs can have a second growth spurt in your late 20s
How to cut alcohol consumption risks without having to quit completely
Carpal tunnel syndrome main causes – does masturbating make it worse?
Source: Read Full Article