Your Nervous System & the Body

Your nervous system is constantly receiving information from your body and your environment.

It helps regulate things like:

Your autonomic nervous system works largely in the background, helping regulate many of these functions.

When the body feels overwhelmed

Pain, illness, poor sleep, hormonal changes, ongoing stress and sensory overload can all affect how we experience our bodies.

This doesn't mean that every symptom is “just your nervous system.”

And it doesn't mean that a person can simply think themselves better.

It means the nervous system is one part of a much bigger picture.

Women living with lipoedema may experience chronic pain, heaviness, fatigue, reduced mobility and emotional distress.

Some also live with other conditions involving connective tissue or autonomic function, including:

Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders
hEDS
POTS / dysautonomia
MCAS

These conditions are not present in everyone with lipoedema, and they are not currently considered to be caused by lipoedema.

However, recognising that these experiences can overlap is important when looking at the whole person.

Research into these relationships is continuing.

POTS, or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, is a form of autonomic dysfunction.

It can involve symptoms such as:

POTS requires proper medical assessment and management.

At Embody, the goal isn't to treat POTS.

It is to understand that someone living with a complex health picture may need a gentler, more individualised treatment experience.

When someone arrives feeling overwhelmed, exhausted or physically uncomfortable, I don't believe treatment needs to feel rushed.

At Embody, we create space to slow down.

Breathing.

Gentle touch.

Rhythmic techniques.

Warmth.

Rest.

And an environment where you don't have to explain or justify your body.