Taylor Omalley never thought a few mysterious bruises would change the course of her life.
For years, she brushed off the marks that dotted her legs, chalking them up to clumsiness or just having sensitive skin. It wasn’t until a social media post and a long-awaited diagnosis finally gave her answers.
“It’s pretty much been my whole life,” Taylor tells PEOPLE, reflecting on how her tendency to bruise easily once sparked laughter among friends. “In high school, it was kind of a joke that I bruised so easily, but we just never did anything about it.”
She wasn’t oblivious to the signs — far from it. During her first pregnancy, she even brought it up with her midwife, who referred her to a blood specialist just to be safe. “My blood’s always been normal and nothing really sparked the alert,” she says. “So it was just brushed off again.”
Like many women with vague, unexplained symptoms, Taylor spent years being dismissed or overlooked by the medical system. “Most doctors just pied me off,” she says. “They’d say, ‘Everyone gets bruises,’ or ‘Some people just bruise easier than others,’ and that would be the end of it.”
Her family and friends, too, were used to her bruising. “My parents didn’t really care to look into it because it was just normal for me,” she adds. “There weren’t any other symptoms that seemed serious enough to raise alarms.”
It wasn’t until she stumbled upon an Instagram post that everything began to shift. The post mentioned lipedema — a condition Taylor had never heard of before.
According to the Lipedema Foundation, “Lipedema is a chronic condition that occurs almost exclusively in women and manifests as symmetrical buildup of often-painful fat in the limbs, sparing the hands and feet.”
As Taylor read through the description, something clicked. “I realized I had all of the symptoms,” she recalls. “And then I kind of pondered on it for a year before finally bringing it up with my doctor.”
That conversation marked the start of what would become a long, mentally exhausting journey toward a diagnosis. “Seeing specialists for my bruising would have been about five years ago,” she says. “But to get a diagnosis over here is quite tricky.”
The difficulty, she explains, stems from a lack of awareness among general practitioners and the absence of a clear diagnostic tool. “You have to find someone who specializes in it,” she says. “And that’s not easy.”
When she reached out to a surgeon, she was met with skepticism. “He just sent me back this massive email saying, ‘Don’t waste your time coming in unless you have A, B, and C,’ which I did,” Taylor says. “But it made me doubt myself — made me think maybe I was overreacting.”
After months of waiting and some encouragement from her general practitioner, she finally got an appointment — with a three-month wait time. “It was quite mentally draining,” she says. “I just had to sit with the uncertainty and hope I wasn’t imagining things.”
Recently, Taylor was officially diagnosed with lipedema. “I was actually quite relieved,” she tells PEOPLE. “The first day was a bit upsetting because I realized that no matter what I do, it’s probably not going to make a difference.”
For someone as health-focused and active as Taylor, who works as a personal trainer, the diagnosis came with mixed emotions. “All the efforts that I’ve put in for the past 10 years… It’s not that they were for nothing, but I’m never going to have the physique that is my goal,” she says. “That’s a bit heartbreaking.”
Still, there was comfort in finally being heard. “I’ve always thought I’m a bit of an overreactor because pain is one of the symptoms,” she explains. “Even if my dog knocks my leg too hard, it actually does hurt, but people would say, ‘That didn’t hurt.’ ”
Taylor now knows her pain wasn’t imagined. “Being validated for my feelings makes me feel so much better,” she says. “Even my parents were like, ‘Wow, all those X-rays — turns out you actually were in pain.’”
Since receiving her diagnosis, Taylor’s lifestyle has undergone a major shift. “It was recommended that I wear compression pants every day,” she says. “And I use a massage gun for daily lymphatic massage.”
She’s also reworked her entire fitness routine. “All the training I’ve been doing has always been kind of hardcore,” she explains. “But now I’ve learned that’s the opposite of what I should be doing.”
Her new regimen includes low-impact activities like walking and lifting lighter weights. “Some exercises even cause bruising,” she notes. “If I do hip thrusts, my hips bruise. If I squat with a bar, my shoulders bruise.”
Taylor has also changed how she fuels her body. “They recommend a keto or Mediterranean diet, so very low carb,” she says. “Whereas before, I was eating quite a lot of carbs because that’s what you’re told to do for energy and muscle-building. So it completely flipped my daily routine upside down.”
Rather than seeing these changes as limitations, Taylor is turning her experience into a mission. “I actually decided to use this to my advantage,” she says. “I’ve started putting the word out there that I want to train lipedema patients.”
She’s already made connections with potential clients through the specialist who diagnosed her. “Since I have a nursing background as well, it’s kind of a win-win,” she says. “They get someone who understands what they’re going through.”
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Taylor’s viral TikTok video of discovering her condition has sparked a wave of conversation, support and skepticism. “I’ve had a lot of girls reach out to say thank you,” she says. “But there’s also people telling me to get checked for leukemia or something more serious, which I have done — and I say that in the caption — but people don’t always read it.”
Even so, the support she’s received has been heartening. “Women are saying, ‘I’ve got these symptoms, I’m going to bring it up with my doctor,’” she says. “I even started a support group and a few women have shown interest in that, too.”
Now, Taylor hopes her story can help raise awareness about a condition that’s too often misunderstood. “Lipedema gets mistaken for just being obese,” she says. “People think you’re just fat because they don’t know.”
And what does she want readers to take away from her journey? “You know your body more than anyone else,” Taylor says. “So if you strongly think something’s wrong, keep pushing until someone listens — because sometimes you have to make them listen.”
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