My Lived Experience

Gian Wild lives with two conditions that are frequently misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and dismissed — and she has experienced that dismissal firsthand.

Lipoedema

Lipoedema is a chronic condition affecting the distribution of fat tissue, almost exclusively in women. It is not obesity. It cannot be resolved through diet or exercise — the fat deposits are pathological, not lifestyle-related. Women with lipoedema who attempt extreme caloric restriction will lose weight everywhere except the affected areas, and can become dangerously malnourished in the process. Despite affecting an estimated 11% of women, lipoedema remains poorly recognised in mainstream medicine. Gian went undiagnosed for many years — a experience shared by the vast majority of women with the condition, who are routinely told to eat less and exercise more by clinicians who do not recognise what they are looking at.
If you have seen Gian present at a conference and wondered about her size, now you know. She is not lazy. She does not overeat. She has a medical condition that medicine spent decades ignoring.

Long COVID

Long COVID is the reason Gian no longer travels to conferences in person. Following COVID-19 infection, she developed the constellation of symptoms now recognised as Long COVID — profound fatigue, post-exertional malaise, and other systemic effects that make international travel impossible. Like lipoedema, Long COVID was initially dismissed by significant parts of the medical establishment as psychosomatic, as anxiety, as women catastrophising their symptoms. It is not. It is a physiological condition with measurable biological markers, affecting millions of people worldwide.

What Gian is doing about it

Gian was fortunate to find a doctor who takes both conditions seriously. Many people are not so lucky.

She has spoken publicly about lipoedema and was a guest on a dedicated lipoedema podcast. She is happy to speak further with anyone seeking information or support. She is also researching medical dismissal of women’s health concerns under Veritable Research, where lived experience and academic rigour meet.

Discrimination against people with these conditions — rooted in weight stigma, in the historical dismissal of women’s health, and in medical ignorance — causes real harm. Gian’s goal in naming her conditions publicly is simple: education. The more people understand what lipoedema and Long COVID actually are, the less room there is for the assumptions that make life harder for everyone who has them.