I have a feeling that not only would many people envy John Perry, but if doctors could figure out how to induce lipodystrophy in people, there would be lines around the block at the clinic. You see, John Perry “suffers” from a condition which makes his body unable to store fat. His body simply burns though all it gets and he never gains weight. He gorges himself on Chinese takeout, french fries, chocolate, whatever he likes… and his weight never changes.
This has the potential to finally settle the question of what to get your girl for her birthday. “Honey, I got you lipodystrophy, 2 cheesecakes, and a stuffed crust pizza!” My guess is she’d be so grateful she wouldn’t even think to ask if this means you think she’s fat.
Of course this means the country would be overrun by skinny little stick girls. While this wouldn’t be nearly as appealing to most men as an appropriately curvy woman, it would finally make the women stop obsessing about their weight. Although I suspect that maybe we’d just be squeezing the obsession balloon here. If weight ceased to be an issue, I’m sure the women’s magazines and talk shows would soon have them obsessing about hair texture or skin tone.
His story is a total misrepresentation of a very serious condition. I can only think that the doctors that have diagnosed him don’t know the facts about the condition and that he himself doesn’t. There is a specialist team in Cambridge that has all the relevant research information who I’m sure could inform Mr Perry more accurately and make him aware of the drug trials that are currently taking place. It’s all about being in the care of the right medical team and he clearly doesn’t seem to be.
For correct information about Lipodystrophy in all it forms please check my website http://www.lipodystrophy.co.uk
Lipodystrophy has many serious and life threatening metabolic complications but affects females more severely than males. It is by no means a slimmers dream and can cause premature death if not treated correctly. I myself have Familial Partial Lipodystrophy (FPLD) and have severe insulin resistance, diabetes, enlarged liver and pancreas, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides. And that is only part of it. People with certain lipodystrophies can look healthy on the outside but have serious medical issues on the inside, especially males.
My apologies for the delay in publishing the above comment. We had some email issues this week, and it sort of slipped through the cracks.
That said, as my regular readers are hopefully aware, the original post was intended as sarcastic. I was certainly not trying to diminish the severity of the condition. My sympathies go out to those who suffer from it. As the commenter rightly points out, this is not a condition to be envied. My only intent was to make fun of those who might be ill-advisedly inclined to do so.