What does Dercums disease feel like?
If you have Dercum’s, the growths of fatty tissue (lipomas) may appear all over your body. They’ll show up most often on your torso (trunk), upper arms and upper legs. The lumps can cause weakness and severe pain as they press on nearby nerves. This may come and go or the pain may get worse as you move.
How do you know if you have Dercums disease?
Additional symptoms may occur in individuals with Dercum’s disease including fatigue, generalized weakness, a tendency to bruise easily, headaches, irritability, and stiffness after resting, especially in the morning, gastrointestinal symptoms, palpitations and shortness of breath.
What disease causes lipomas?
Dercum’s disease is a rare disorder that causes painful growths of fatty tissue called lipomas. It’s also referred to as adiposis dolorosa. This disorder usually affects the torso, upper arms, or upper legs.
Is Dercum’s disease a disability?
These benefits are offered to those who have worked in a job that’s covered by Social Security and have a medical condition that meets Social Security’s definition of a disability. Dercum’s disease is one such medical condition that could qualify individuals for social security disability benefits.
What does lipoma look like?
Lipomas often form in the fatty tissue under the skin. These are also the most noticeable ones, as they look and feel like soft, dome-shaped lumps under the skin. They vary in size from pea-sized to several centimetres in diameter.
Is Dercums disease always painful?
Dercum’s disease is characterized by pronounced pain in the adipose tissue. The pain is burning and searing. The pain can be severe, is chronic (> 3 months) and is disabling. It is believed that pain is always associated with smaller or bigger subcutaneous adipose lumps.
Do lipomas grow in clusters?
What is a lipoma? A lipoma is a soft fatty lump. It is a non-cancerous (benign) growth made up from fat cells that clump together. A lipoma can occur in any part of the body where there are fat cells.
What can be mistaken for lipoma?
Liposarcoma, an uncommon soft tissue cancer, occurs more often in men than women. Its appearance is similar to a lipoma, a benign lump under the skin.
What autoimmune disease causes lumps under the skin?
What are rheumatoid nodules? Rheumatoid nodules are firm lumps that develop under the skin. They are a symptom that is unique to rheumatoid arthritis and usually occur near joints affected by the condition. About a quarter of people with rheumatoid arthritis develop rheumatoid nodules.
Can lipomas make you sick?
A person with a lipoma that occurs deeper under the skin may not be able to see or feel it. However, a deep lipoma may place pressure on internal organs or nerves and cause associated symptoms. For example, a person with a lipoma on or near the bowels may experience nausea, vomiting, and constipation.
Is lipoma related to fatty liver?
In 2012, Martin-Benitez et al. reported a statically significant association between lipomas and non-alcoholic liver steatosis. Hepatic steatosis is generally a diffuse process, but focal distribution of fat, usually periligamentous or periportal, is quite common in the liver and is known as focal fatty changes.
Is lipoma a VA disability?
The Veteran’s service-connected lipomas and residual scars are rated as benign skin neoplasms under 38 C.F.R. § 4.118, Diagnostic Code 7819.
Where do Dercum’s Lipomas occur?
The lipomas mainly occur on the trunk, the upper arms and upper legs and are found just below the skin (subcutaneously) but also can be found deeper in the body coupled to muscle, tendons, ligaments or bone by connective tissue. Pain associated with Dercum’s disease can often be severe.
What is Dercum’s disease?
General Discussion Dercum’s disease is a rare disorder characterized by multiple, painful growths of fatty tissue (lipomas). Fat tissue is known as loose connective tissue, hence Dercum’s disease is a loose connective tissue disease.
What are the symptoms of small lipomas?
The size and number of lipomas varies from case to case. Some individuals may develop hundreds of small lipomas that do not cause symptoms (asymptomatic). Unlike Dercum’s disease, the lipomas do not cause pain. The neck and shoulders are usually not affected.
Can liposuction help with Dercum’s disease?
Liposuction has been used as a supportive treatment for some individuals with Dercum’s disease and may provide an initial reduction in pain and improvement in quality of life. These effects may lessen over time.