My sister In-law and best friend past away July 17th 2004. For years we were after her about her weight. I think most people found her legs offensive.
Well I know I know they did because I saw the looks myself and heard the comments.
When she in the hospital I talked to specialist (after researching on the internet) and we discovered too late that she actually had
Primary lymphedema. Although she was a large woman half of her weight was fluid. Had her condition been caught and treated when she was a teen her life would of been very different. Please check out this web site
http://www.lymphnet.org/whatis.html . Maybe more understanding and lives can be changed. I noticed a woman in a parking lot with very large ankles (My sister in-laws were 26 inches around and yes the diagnosis of lymphedema was missed, I am still very angry) This woman must of thought I was crazy but I approached her and asked her if she knew she had Lymphedema, she said she had not heard of it and like my sister in-law always saw a family doctor and had not talked to a specialist. I begged her to check it out on the internet. I saw my sister in-law not eat for 2 week but gained 50lbs in the hospital. I was happy that the family had a chance to say how sorry that we were when did not believe that she did not eat as much as we figured she had to be. Any teen with thick ankles should be checked out for Lymphedema simple compression bandages can correct a life of suffering with this condition. Our family is left in the shadow of guilt for thinking that an eating disorder was the sole problem, to this day my husband suffers from post tramatic stress syndrome and has to take medication after watching his sister being taken off life support. R.I.P Audrey