You aren’t just fat…
There are moments in medicine that stop you in your tracks.
Yesterday was one of them.
I made the drive to Slinger, Wisconsin to visit Dr. Kelly at The WellNest for a lipedema consult and treatment session — and once again, I was reminded why finding the right practitioner changes everything.
Years ago, Dr. Kelly was actually the person who first introduced me to the diagnosis of lipedema. Like so many women, she had spent years doing “everything right” — exercising, eating well, pushing harder, trying every approach imaginable — yet the inflammation, pain, and disproportionate weight simply would not budge. Instead of accepting defeat, she became relentless in finding answers. That relentless pursuit led her to discover what so many women have been told their entire lives:
You aren’t lazy.
You aren’t failing.
And you aren’t just “fat.”
You may have lipedema.
That diagnosis changed her life — and now she’s changing the lives of others because of it.
And let me tell you…
Dr. Kelly is a unicorn.
The same kind of practitioner I strive to be.
Someone who refuses to gaslight patients.
Someone who listens.
Someone who digs deeper.
Someone who understands that inflammation is not a moral failure.
Her clinic, The WellNest, is incredible. Warm. Intentional. Healing. A place where women finally feel seen.
During my session, we worked on tight musculature with dry needling, utilized red light therapy, and incorporated directed massage techniques to help improve lymphatic flow and inflammation. It was powerful work.
Maybe a little too powerful.
Because just like my first MLD (manual lymphatic drainage) massage, my body had a major response afterward.
At first, I thought I was okay. I even took a couple calls with warriors on my drive back to Green Bay and headed into the office to finish charting and send out peptides.
And then…
It hit.
Hard.
It’s difficult to describe these episodes unless you’ve lived through them yourself. It felt like the floor suddenly disappeared beneath me. Out of nowhere, I had this massive surge of anxiety — which is strange because I’m honestly not an anxious person by nature.
But this felt chemical. Neurologic. Inflammatory.
My brain fog became severe.
The crushing fatigue came roaring back.
Emotionally, I felt like I had been thrown backward months.
And every warrior reading this knows exactly what I mean.
Because when you’ve clawed your way out of chronic illness, the fear of going backward is visceral. It’s emotional. Terrifying, honestly.
You never want to revisit the version of yourself that felt hopeless. Exhausted. Broken. Like a shell of a human being.
Yesterday brought me right to the edge of that feeling again.
So I did what I teach all of you to do:
I listened to my body.
I came home, ran a hot bath loaded with magnesium, soaked for 30 minutes, took a hefty dose of charcoal in case the treatment mobilized a large toxic burden, and crawled straight into bed.
Even then, my nervous system still felt incredibly triggered, and I ultimately needed to take an alprazolam to calm things down enough for my body to settle.
And this morning?
I got up early and put my candy ass in HBOT for 90 minutes to help push through whatever inflammatory cascade had been unleashed.
This weekend will be gentle.
Rest.
IV therapy.
Light movement.
Hydration.
Nervous system recovery.
And next time? No patients scheduled after a session with Dr. Kelly.
Because this is the reality of healing.
Sometimes therapies that help us also stir things up dramatically on the way out. Mobilizing stagnant lymphatics, inflammatory compounds, toxins, and tissue congestion can absolutely create temporary flares — especially in sensitive, chronically inflamed bodies.
It doesn’t mean the treatment failed.
It means the body responded.
And this is exactly why practitioners who truly understand complex illness matter so much.
Dr. Kelly gets it.
She understands the emotional side. The physiologic side. The “I’m trying so hard and still don’t feel right” side.
She is also speaking at the very first virtual Lipedema Summit happening June 10–12, and I could not think of a better person to help educate the world about this misunderstood condition.
We are now working together to help more patients finally receive the correct diagnosis so we can create the correct treatment plans.
Because being told to “eat less and exercise more” when you have lipedema is not healthcare.
It’s ignorance.
If you are struggling with:
disproportionate lower body weight
painful fat tissue
easy bruising
swelling
inflammation
heaviness in your legs
inability to lose weight despite doing everything “right”
…it may be worth exploring lipedema as part of your story.
And if you’re looking for someone truly exceptional in this space, Dr. Kelly is worth every mile of the drive.
The WellNest
1187 E. Commerce Blvd.
Slinger, WI 53086
📞 (262) 221-8099