do i have dercums disease? im so scared

[fatphobia]

I have had my first lipoma on my right forearm when I was like 14. It never grow bigger, when I was about 24 I got into bodybuilding and kick boxing. Took MANY MANY weight lifting supplements and whey protein, (NO STERIODS). After heavy lifting. That was also the year I started to drink alcohol for the first time, believe it or not.

When I was 26, I was a extremely fit and packed with muscles and six pack meaning very low body fat percentage, that is when I noticed, I found a few more lipoma lumps on both my forearms like 5 on each, and like 3 on bi and triceps. Over all I had about 15 in total, including the very old one I had when I was a kid.

Now I dont know if these new lipomas were all along, since my body fat percentage came down, I see them more prominently or it was a side effect of my supplements NO2 such as superpump250 or my new habit that I started drinking alcohol.

The important thing is, NONE OF THESE LUMPS were PAINFUL. I squeeze them to no end, no pain. Except one of it was very tiny, and I pressed it too hard and it pained. But it stopped after a week, no more pain. My first and oldest lipoma I had since I was 14, stayed the same size, infact flatted out when I got older, that is upto 27. Almost 13 years.

I recently got almost all of my lipomas. The biopsy came out as possible angiolipoma that are yellowish and very well encapsulated. They called it angiolipoma because they had a little bit of blood vessel going on and the location of the lipomas were forearms.

Now, I read about angiolipomas but I am not sure how they are related with Dercums disease.

Basically I want to know if I just have multiple lipomatosis or Dercums disease.

Reading that if they dont pain, it aint Dercums disease, Im not sure if this is true. Can someone confirm this please?

PS: My father had one single lipoma removed when he was 40, and he doesnt have any lipoma now.

[Charlupa]

Doesnt sound like Dercums to me. Your story is very similar to mine. I find it interesting that your father only had one and that it did not return.

[sjohn]

Dercum lipoma are generally tender and painfull. Check Dr Herbst's site for more info.

[matt]

The overall diagnosis between different lipoma related conditions is sometimes very difficult for the most experienced docs. That being said, your description makes me to think a condition what most of us here would call familial multiple lipomatosis. The pain is very essential in Dercum's. Btw, I have FML and had at least one lipoma that could have been diagnosed as angiolipoma.

[caribou]

I think I've seen quite a lot of body builders posting about lipomas.... I wonder if it's because their fat percentage is so low that they notice them more easily than most people? And they might be more self-conscious about them than most people, I don't know.

It does sound like familial multiple lipomatosis/common lipomatosis to me rather than Dercum's.