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PCOS and lipedema: when the two meet
The two often go together. But what holds for one does not necessarily hold for the other.
PCOS and lipedema: when the two meet
When you have both
It is no coincidence that you carry both labels. In an Italian study of 315 women with lipedema, 17.1% also had PCOS, against roughly 10% in the general population.
What matters most here
Advice for PCOS turns a great deal around insulin and the glycaemic index. That is justified: insulin resistance is very common in PCOS.
In lipedema, it is the opposite. Insulin resistance there is three times less common than in lifestyle-related obesity: 11.3% against 34.5%.
In other words, what you read about PCOS targets a mechanism your lipedema does not necessarily follow. The two diseases live side by side, but they are not treated through the same levers.
Do not put everything down to the same cause
Legs that swell and hurt are not a consequence of PCOS. These are two distinct things, to be looked at separately. If you were told that your legs were your PCOS, that is a line worth reopening.
What is not known yet
No study has measured insulin resistance specifically in women who have both. The figures above come from separate cohorts, small ones, with different diagnostic criteria. Take them as a trend, not as a rule.
If you have both diagnoses, tell each of your health professionals: they rarely think about both at once.