Beyond the Diagnosis: Reclaiming Life and Purpose With Lipedema with Hiba Hamati
Release Date: 10/15/2025
How Trauma Rewrites Pain Part 3—When Trauma Turns on the Immune System
Dear body, I’m listening
“Trauma doesn't just live in your memories, your fascia, or your nervous system. It can also reshape your immune system, especially when no one helped you feel safe. That doesn't mean it's your fault, and that doesn't mean your body isn't on your side. It means that your body has been on your side this whole time, trying to protect you the only way it knew how.” —Donna Piper Some days your body throws signals you cannot ignore, but no one seems to hear them. The swelling, the exhaustion, the crashes that make no sense on paper start to feel like a secret only you and your body...
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Thermal Imaging for Health: Early Answers, Less Guesswork with Dr. Robert Kane
Dear body, I’m listening
"It's a balance between getting information and trusting experts. It's really important that as a patient, you have to be your own advocate." —Robert Kane When it comes to our body, uncertainty can be the hardest symptom to treat. Worry sets in when answers are fuzzy, and bouncing between specialists leaves us more confused than before. The real question is: how can we know what’s happening inside before a health crisis begins? After doubting conventional answers and searching for tools that deliver real clarity, Dr. Robert Kane turned a career in health into a...
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Chronic Pain & Trauma: Gently Breaking The Invisible Link with Science
Dear body, I’m listening
"The body's intelligent. We just have to show up. I equate it to a dance where the body leads and I follow." —Peter Stuart You can run from nagging pain, but it keeps showing up in new ways—wrecking sleep, fouling up moods, and shutting down energy. The worst part? Real answers are rare, and the world keeps telling you to just “push through” or “try harder.” Maybe it’s not about willpower at all—it’s about listening to the actual story your body’s been trying to tell for years. Peter Stuart spent decades fighting through his own injuries, dismissed symptoms,...
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How Real Connection Supports Healing (Even When You’re Exhausted) with Heather Nelson
Dear body, I’m listening
“Push your life to be the life that you want and not accept that it's just the way it is. Every choice that you make should be toward loving the life that you have.” —Heather Nelson Connection isn’t just a feel-good extra. It’s a lifeline when the world feels heavy and invisible battles make us want to shut down. Isolation, overwhelm, and invisible struggles don’t need to be our whole story; even small acts of reaching out can reshape everything. The truth is, connecting with the right people and sharing our messy middle is stronger than any secret solution. Heather...
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The Science of Rest— What the Lipkin Study Taught Us About ME/CFS
Dear body, I’m listening
“Pace first, safety builds capacity.” —Donna Piper There’s a kind of tired that sleep can’t fix, a crash that feels invisible to everyone but you. You push, you pace, you try to “do all the right things,” yet your body still calls a timeout. Maybe it’s not weakness or lack of willpower. Maybe your body’s simply working harder than anyone realizes. In this episode, Donna unpacks a revolutionary study on chronic fatigue, the real science behind “the crash,” and why pacing, rest, and nervous system care are the new power moves for healing. Expect myth-busting,...
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Beyond the Diagnosis: Reclaiming Life and Purpose With Lipedema with Hiba Hamati
Dear body, I’m listening
"Trust your instinct… Our bodies sound an alarm bell that something isn’t right, and we ignore it for years. Don’t ignore it. Don't accept the bare minimum answer. Just because your labs are normal does not mean that your body is functioning optimally." —Hiba Hamati Going to doctor after doctor, trying every tip, and still wondering why your pain and swelling never make sense. You know there’s something happening that nobody else seems to see, and not getting answers just wears you down. This chat right here puts a name to all that frustration. Hiba Hamati...
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If Only I Were Skinny…
Dear body, I’m listening
"Your body is not the enemy—the world's impossible standards are. And every time you name that truth out loud, you don't just free yourself, you also free someone else.” —Donna Piper Some lies are so loud they start to sound like truth—like the idea that confidence waits on the other side of weight loss. And the hardest part? The shame of not being skinny can at times feel heavier than our own weight, turning every step forward into a fight against an invisible anchor. Donna spent years believing her size erased her gifts. It wasn’t until she uncovered her...
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How Trauma Rewrites Pain, Part 2: When Fight or Flight Gets Stuck
Dear body, I’m listening
"If trauma rewrote the wiring one way, that means safety relationship and somatic practices can rewrite it the other way— it is the long game; there is no quick fix.” —Donna Piper Sometimes you do everything right, but your body keeps sending SOS signals no one else can see. Doubt creeps in—is this real, or is something deeper going on? You’re not alone; your body’s story matters, and what you feel makes perfect sense. For years, Donna felt invisible, questioned, and let down by quick fixes and dismissive answers. Her experience battling chronic pain, trauma, and...
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Dollars and Cents: The Real Financial Stress of Being Sick
Dear body, I’m listening
"I'm not my bills. I'm not my debt. I am worthy of care." —Donna Piper Being sick isn’t just exhausting—it’s expensive in ways nobody warns you about. The stress of medical bills, insurance denials, and endless receipts can weigh just as heavily as the symptoms themselves. If you’re tired of feeling like your wallet is as worn out as your body, you’re not alone. In this episode, Donna opens up about the real price tag of chronic illness, sharing her journey through misdiagnoses, out-of-pocket treatments, and the emotional toll of fighting for care. She breaks down the...
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How Trauma Rewrites Pain, Part 1: My Body Kept Score
Dear body, I’m listening
“Moving is medicine. There's something with moving that you don't need to know why or how, or how it relates to your emotions or trauma. And just like how trauma rewrites pain, it is also the opposite when you feel safe, embodied, and in a compassionate relationship with yourself, you can rewrite your story for safety.” —Donna Piper Sometimes pain isn’t just in your head—it’s woven deep into your body, shaping how you move, feel, and even how you see yourself. When life keeps telling you to “push through” but your body keeps shutting down, it’s easy to wonder if...
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"Trust your instinct… Our bodies sound an alarm bell that something isn’t right, and we ignore it for years. Don’t ignore it. Don't accept the bare minimum answer. Just because your labs are normal does not mean that your body is functioning optimally." —Hiba Hamati
Going to doctor after doctor, trying every tip, and still wondering why your pain and swelling never make sense. You know there’s something happening that nobody else seems to see, and not getting answers just wears you down. This chat right here puts a name to all that frustration.
Hiba Hamati has been through the misdiagnoses, the surgery rollercoaster, the self-doubt, and all the “shoulds” that never quite fit to finally figuring out what actually helps. Now, she’s sharing what it’s really like to deal with lipedema: the messy, honest stuff plus a few wins along the way.
Listen in as Donna sits with Hiba to talk about the suffering of getting misdiagnosed, getting correctly diagnosed (at last), the good and bad of surgery, how body image messes with your head, daily survival tricks, what support really looks like, and why it pays to speak up.
Connect with Donna:
Website: https://www.donnapiper.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnapiper
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedonnapiper
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedonnapiper
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedonnapiper
Episode Highlights:
02:58 Anger to Advocacy: Discovering Lipedema
08:06 Facing Unmet Expectations
13:37 Wrestling with Body Image and Grief
24:27 The Unseen Emotional Toll and Daily Life Calculations
31:24 Life After Surgery: Trauma, Identity, and Breaking Free
38:51 Life Before and After Diagnosis
43:45 Finding What Works and Letting Go
48:33 Support and Advocacy
58:28 Naming the Invisible Battles: Finding Body Neutrality and Appreciation
01:04:11 Giving Back: Turning Pain Into Meaning
X:
Some pain steals life in quiet ways no doctor's report shows. Hear the truth about living with lipedema: hard lessons, true support, and tiny wins that matter with “Lipediva” Hiba Hamati. #DearBodyImListening #MCAS #Lymphedema #Lipedema #ChronicIllness #selfadvocacy #mentalhealth #invisibleillness #painmanagement #bodyacceptance #supportcommunity #healthjourney
Quotes:
04:21 "Anger destroyed me for a while, because that's all I could focus on. It's just how much of my life had been wasted, how much different my life could have been had I had a proper diagnosis. I realized I could let anger consume and destroy me, or I could funnel it into passion for helping others, for advocating for patients." —Hiba Hamati
07:01 "Just because someone doesn’t have the time or resources doesn’t mean they have to live with this horrible condition without knowing treatment options or ways to manage it." —Hiba Hamati
08:11 "We’re very fortunate to have more and more surgeons well versed in lipedema, but an area that is severely lacking is post-op mental health care." —Hiba Hamati
08:40 "It is a huge undertaking to have surgery. When you focus on the physical but not give proper attention to the mental and emotional toll, it can be very dangerous." —Hiba Hamati
13:16 ""When you’re not feeling well, recovering, and you’ve never had it before, you don’t really know what to expect. It’s brand new. There’s a lot of anxiety and fear—what if it’s worse than before?" —Donna Piper
17:06 "Sitting in that grief of never having a typical, standard body… I'm shaming myself because I can't make it look like how I want it to look. [It’s important to] pause on that for your mental health and deal with those feelings. " —Donna Piper
18:42 "Your feelings really do influence your thoughts. It’s not always the thoughts going down. You can't trick yourself into believing something that you know is not true." —Donna Piper
20:03 "I have to address the disconnect with my body... For so many years, everything hurt, nothing felt good, and I just wasn’t aware of what my body was doing." —Hiba Hamati
25:22 "Pain makes you a completely different person. It chips away a little bit every day, and one day you look and there’s a big gaping hole." —Hiba Hamati
45:44 "You have to constantly reassess and figure out where you put your time, because if you keep trying to do everything all the time, you’ll end up doing nothing." —Hiba Hamati
47:50 "Trauma does change how we perceive things—it's also trying to realistically see how we were before, and how far we've come." —Hiba Hamati
53:33 "Trust your instinct… Our bodies sound an alarm bell that something isn’t right, and we ignore it for years. Don’t ignore it. Don't accept the bare minimum answer. Just because your labs are normal does not mean that your body is functioning optimally." —Hiba Hamati
57:03 “Chronic Illness of any kind is very, very difficult to manage… Try to anchor and ground your body and your emotions are so critical.” —Hiba Hamati
58:35 “Maybe you don't love it, but having a different appreciation is the first step to that road.” —Donna Piper
01:00:01 “When you think about your body carrying all of that excess weight and still functioning normally— that's phenomenal!” —Hiba Hamati
01:01:29 “It's the things you can't see that are way more painful and debilitating.” —Donna Piper
01:04:05 “Putting meaning towards our life too, is when you heal your trauma.” —Donna Piper
01:05:10 "Being able to turn that pain into something helpful really makes it feel less cruel. It feels cruel to have gone through this for so long because it feels like so much of my life was stolen by this disease in so many different ways." —Hiba Hamati
01:05:58 "It’s not about enduring something— it’s about acceptance, forgiveness. It could be messy and raw and that makes life more exciting and living the pain ‘worth’ it." —Donna Piper
Connect with Hiba:
Hiba Hamati is a prominent advocate and educator in the lipedema community, widely known as “Lipediva.” As a board member of the American Lipedema Association, she leverages both her personal experience with lipedema and her professional commitment to raise awareness, improve care, and advance research for this chronic condition.
Hiba is an international speaker and thought leader, frequently presenting on the challenges of diagnosis, the importance of mental health in chronic illness, and empowering patients to advocate for their needs. Through her online presence and community work, she offers support and guidance for those navigating lipedema and related health challenges.
Website: https://thelipediva.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.lipediva/