Cost versus balance

When you are diagnosed with lymphoedema or lipoedema, the realisation of what is required to self-manage can feel overwhelming. Suddenly, you are faced with a whole new way of living, and it often comes down to this question:

How do I balance what is needed with what I can afford, financially, emotionally, and physically?

I remember so clearly when I was first diagnosed. I was determined, almost desperate, to “reverse” what was happening to my body. I looked at it as something I could fix if I worked hard enough. What I hadn’t realised was that what I thought was slow weight gain was in fact my lymphatic system struggling, silently, for years. By the time I finally had an answer, decades had passed.

If you are living with lymphatic dysfunction, you will probably understand what I mean as I share my thoughts on this.

The Cost

The first cost we often face is access to support and care. Depending on where you live, it can be very difficult to find a fully qualified and registered lymphoedema therapist. In New Zealand, for example, there might be only one therapist per region within the national hospital/health service, with strict criteria about who can access services. If you have primary lymphoedema, you may not qualify at all. That means many people go without even an initial assessment. This is not okay, not on any level.

Turning to private therapy is often the only option, but the costs quickly add up. A single session may be $90–$120 or more, and not every therapist provides a full assessment or offers Complete Decongestive Therapy (CDT). Then there are the ongoing costs of compression: a full set of garments from toe to bust can cost $1,000, and they only last about six months. Add wraps, night garments, and replacements, and it soon becomes daunting.

Home devices like MediRent or LymphaPress can be life-changing, but they cost between $3,000–$5,500. For many, that is simply out of reach.

And surgery , while it can be an option for some, begins around $7,000 and upwards to 40,000, this is never a cure, but another tool in self management and may not be a viable option, still requiring lifelong self-management and compliance around lifestyle choices.

When you are first confronted with these realities, it can feel daunting. You want to do everything possible for your health, but the costs feel impossible.

The Emotional Weight

The costs aren’t only financial. There is an invisible cost too, one that touches our hearts and our sense of self.

• The healthcare journey. Too often, we are told by doctors that this is a weight issue: eat less, exercise more, cut calories, this is your fault, We walk away feeling unseen, judged, and exhausted from trying to explain. To fight to be heard takes energy we often don’t have.

• How we see ourselves. Living in a world obsessed with “perfect bodies” can be painful. Social media has helped by raising awareness, but it can also leave us comparing, doubting, and questioning ourselves. What works for one person may not work for another, and that can feel heavy.

• The judgement of others. Sometimes the hardest part is that friends or family don’t understand. They doubt our words because they don’t know what lymphatic dysfunction really is. That misunderstanding can leave us isolated, carrying this weight alone, we feel disfigured, one limb maybe significantly larger than another, full body lymphoedema and lipoedema is deemed as overweight.

  
  

These emotional costs are every bit as real as the financial ones. They can drain our spirit and make us question our strength.

Finding Balance

Over time, I began to realise that I couldn’t do everything. I couldn’t afford it all and I decided I didn’t need to. What I needed was balance and a quality of life with all that I had envisioned that to be.

I started exploring different options within my means:

• I saw lymphoedema therapists when I could.

• I bought multi-layered bandaging, mobiderm and compression garments.

• I tried vibration plates, rebounders, grounding mats, dry brushing, castor oil wraps, cold water immersion.

• I explored the importance of nutrition, intermittent fasting, detoxing by juicing, deep diaphragmatic breathing, Self lymphatic drainage (The BIG 6/7)

• I realised the importance of sleep and rest, which are two very different things

• I worked on calming myself, recognised how stress impacted my body, emotionally, mentally, placing importance on what made me feel good, what bought me joy, finding gratitude in the small things and enjoying relishing the bigger dreams I have for my future.

• I looked for simple daily ways to calm my lymphatic load and reduce swelling.

  
  

Not everything worked the same way. Some things helped, some didn’t. But little by little, I found my own rhythm. These small steps didn’t just help my body, they gave me back a sense of control, a way to cope with full-body lymphoedema while still choosing to live my life.

There is a fine line we all walk, between overwhelm, balance and calm. I’ve stood in both places many times, and I know I’ll visit them again. But what I’ve learned is this: balance doesn’t mean doing everything. It means finding what works for you, in your life, with what you have.

My Heart as a Health Coach

Even as a health coach, I still get daunted. I see the costs, I hear and see the constant noise, the endless choices, and I feel it too. But my heart knows this:

• My role is not to tell you what to do, health coaches do not prescribe, diagnose or advise, we are here to facilitate change on your terms.

• Health coaching at it's heart is client-centred, focussing on collaboration and partnership with you because you actually are in the drivers seat of the whole process, you are the expert in your life, that is what is so exciting and uniquely different with a health coach alongside you.

• We draw on positive psychology, mindfulness, stress management and lifestyle medicine supporting you to address your barriers, your obstacles, your behaviour change, which is challenging, while supporting and encouraging you to create your own lasting habits that impact your overall wellbeing and are achievable to your unique needs.

• My role is to walk alongside you, with compassion and understanding, as you figure out what balance looks like in your life.

• I stand in the gap, not as a doctor or lymphoedema therapist or counsellor, but as someone who has lived this, who knows the overwhelm, and who believes you can find your way through.

• An important and valid part of the coaching process is exploring your values, so often we do not even know what they are, but they drive our choices, they are the very thing that makes us unique, keeps us centred, at the core of who we are, if we don't recognise them then life can feel out of alignment, when we do know them we can make choices that are congruent, that bring harmony and focus into your life and that is pretty special.

  
  

You are in the driver’s seat. You have wisdom inside you. Sometimes all you need is a safe space, an ally, and time to explore, so you can discover your own way forward.

When the noise quiets down, when you know what feels right for you, life begins to shift. Conversations change. Adventures become possible again. Balance may not erase the condition, but it gives you freedom to live the life you envision.

💚 This is not a straight path. It is a journey. But you are not alone. And balance, your balance is within reach.

DM me either via my contact page on my website

https://www.jmhealthcoach.com/contact or my Health coaching fb page,

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094371277518

I would love to chat and meet you, a discovery call is just that, a time to meet one another and see if health coaching is for you. :)

A Gentle Reflection for You

Take a moment, pen and paper in hand, and ask yourself:

1 - Right now, what feels most costly to me financially, emotionally, or physically?

2 - And what small, realistic step could I take this week that might bring me a little more balance?

Write whatever comes. No judgment, no pressure. Just honesty. Sometimes clarity begins with a single word written on a page.

'explore what matters, living your life, loving your lymph'

J