Tangled in LL

Hello everybody there. I’m a former LL patient. Don’t ask me who I am or who my doctor is. Don’t ask me when and where I got my procedure. I don’t want being attacked, I don’t want to attack anybody, and I don’t want anybody to get attacked. The only purpose of this post is sharing my feelings about my LL experience, an experience that I would describe as devastating at all levels.

Before taking an impulsive decision, consider if you are strong enough to endure the possible sequels of this procedure, both physical and psychological. Being wheelchairbounded is hard. If it lasts for a few months, as expected, you’re not entitled to complain (when we decide to get this surgery, we know that’s the price we have to pay if we want to become taller). There are some situations, however, when the crippling nightmare lasts longer than expected, and people around you start saying you will never recover. Of course, there are nasty people everywhere in life, and you can choose to ignore them, but, if you are in the middle of such a situation, it’s difficult to ignore them completely. Even if you trust your doctor 100%, in the bottom of your heart there is a voice that says: what if they are right? If you decide to undertake this adventure, be prepared for dealing with those nasty individuals, and their nasty opinions, and also with your own fears and doubts.

LL per se isn’t a walk in the park. If you get complications, be prepared to cope with the fact that you will become a monster. Yes, that’s the worst part of this experience. Everything good in you might die after going through such a nightmare. Both physically and psychologically. You must show an outstanding strength of mind to cope with the crippling ordeal, with the endless number of unscheduled surgeries, with the disfiguring scars… All these factors cause not only physical, but also emotional trauma that may lead to serious depressions and other problems.

If you get the short straw, be prepared to feel vulnerable as a child again. You may well be a succesful professional and a full grown up, but, after this, you will become dependent on people, both at a physical and a psychological level. If you get complications, you will need extra support from those around you… and they may not be ready for that. They will call you a needy monster. They may well betray or abandon you. The worst part is you’ll feel helpless because you’ll think they’re right: everything good in you died after this experience, and you have become a monster.  So, if you decide to do this, and things go sore, be prepared to be considered a worthless piece of crap by those around you, but, worst of all, by yourself.

I am very sorry about your experience and I hope everything will be fine again with time. Longtime physical pain and stress in general makes someone automatically depressed or bitter or else. The people who considered you as such things just showed their real face or were overwhelmed themselves in such a situation. They might not meant it really that way.

Thank you for sharing you're experience but you might save someone else's fate by just sharing a little bit more about your experience (like how much you lengthened on one or two segments and with which method)

Yes I absolutely agree with your post! I'm a former internal bilateral femur patient and the whole LL experience was a physical and psychological burden, even despite the fact that my overall LL process was smooth, without any major complications during the procedure and a rather quick recovery. Days still felt tedious, drugs wore me down mentally/physically and don't get me started on being wheelchair/walker bound. I just had my rods removed two weeks ago and this has also got a good toll on me both and mentally and physically. I prefer not to tell anyone about my multiple surgeries because I don't really trust them (even my closest friends), I don't want to take the risk of them spreading this information to others behind my back, and just incase the relationship do become bitter, they can use this information against me and expose my former insecurities and make me appear weak. After all this torment, arduous, extremely expensive journey, I at 170 cm do not see any benefits of doing any further surgery to increase height, despite being still well below the average height in my current country that belongs in the top 5 tallest countries. I feel I can blend in well with the locals with a alot more confidence, to a point where height doesn't bother me too much. I've found happiness at that this height and the risk of further LL outweighs the benefits at this height. LL at/after 170cm sounds ridiculous to me now.

So many questions, too bad we can't ask them. Best of luck on your recovery.

This is heartbreaking. I'm very sorry you suffered so much. I'm a lurker. I registered here just to support you. Nobody deserves being considered a monster for asking for love and support in difficult situations. Only criminals are 'monsters'. Not you. You're a human being in despair, an intelligent and sensitive human being in despair as you appear in this post. Be proud of your intelligence and your strength, and don't let those people drag you down to their lower spiritual level (or perhaps they are overwhelmed as well, idk). You have all my support. Best of luck and I'm here if you need anything. Remember Jesus loves you.

Hi Tangled,

LL is a lonely world as most of us are too scared to reveal what we are doing to out nearest and dearest.  When things go wrong it feels as if the world is still moving but we have stopped, paralazed with nowhere to go.

I am so sorry this happened to you and I wish you all the best.

To add some insight...while I still have to take the rods out (happening this fall) and I do have some right knee pain from time to time (although it has greatly improved and it's not nearly as bad when I do get it), my outcome is largely good. It achieved the goal I had in mind of getting rid of my height neurosis. I am a solid 5'8" at night (and I think my becoming something of a yogi has made me even a pinch taller, which I'm not complaining about), and while that's "short" to many people on here and in the world, I am very happy at this height.

However...despite my relative success and escaping from this mostly unscathed (especially compared to others on here)...I am "lonely" in the sense that I feel I can't hang out with certain old friends of mine. Luckily, I make new friends very easily and some of my lifelong close friends already know I had the surgery, so I still have them of course. Dating/women weren't much of an issue beforehand, and I have zero issues filling up my dance card now (I have model tier facial aesthetics, so 5'8" is totally fine for me). But sometimes I feel as though I am a "fraud" and sometimes I semi resent myself for doing this. 98% of the time I don't - I know I'd regret it if I hadn't done the surgery. I always wanted to be taller. So at the end of the day, I got what I wanted. But I sometimes feel as though people don't know the "real me" if that makes sense. But it's not something I think about too often.

Just wanted to give a different perspective. LL sucks. It sucks that a man's height is so important and it sucks that there's no easy way to change it. Even if you escape from this mostly unscathed the way I did (I can squat 315 lbs and deadlift 405 lbs post LL, both pain free), you might still have other "types" of regrets the way I occasionally do. But at the end of the day - going from 5'5" to 5'8" is really awesome

to genuinely short people, there is no doubt successful LL is beneficial. even with 6-9 months of disability, drugs, radiation, pain, it is definitely worth it.

however it is obviously not worth it if there are physical side effects. the brain can easily forget bad memories when in good circumstances. that's why happy people tend to forgive others easily. on the other hand if you have physical ailments after LL everything flips and all your anguish is amplified.

the problem is that even now it's not clear if LL is 'physically' safe to do or not. with such a minuscule number of people getting it and most of them being discreet about it, i doubt there will ever be enough data to conclude its safety profile.

Quote from: fokid on May 09, 2018, 02:36:56 PMto genuinely short people, there is no doubt successful LL is beneficial. even with 6-9 months of disability, drugs, radiation, pain, it is definitely worth it.

however it is obviously not worth it if there are physical side effects. the brain can easily forget bad memories when in good circumstances. that's why happy people tend to forgive others easily. on the other hand if you have physical ailments after LL everything flips and all your anguish is amplified.

the problem is that even now it's not clear if LL is 'physically' safe to do or not. with such a minuscule number of people getting it and most of them being discreet about it, i doubt there will ever be enough data to conclude its safety profile.

Totally agree. I think LL is riskier than a lot of us are willing to admit. When we're in pain about being short and all the negative things that come with being a short man, we'll do anything to change our situation. Unfortunately, LL is probably the riskiest, most painful cosmetic procedure known to man. But it's the only way to get taller. It's a horrible catch 22. I'm glad I made it out mostly unscathed, but my occasional knee pain, for instance, bugs me sometimes.

also it's worth being wary about anything posted on the internet without proof. whether it is someone promoting a doctor, or someone creating a very scary picture of LL. especially people with no previous posts and no pictures.

i don't mean to point fingers at anyone, but it is always safer to make important decisions considering trustworthy data samples. whether it is to not do LL or to do LL.