BREAST IMPLANT ILLNESS - MY PERSONAL JOURNEY
Thousands of women are ill or have declining health due to BREAST IMPLANT ILLNESS from breast augmentation. For some, it’s too late. For others, it’s a journey and road to recovery once they realize the danger their bodies and health are in. I was one of those women. I was one of the lucky ones. This is my story of my experience with BREAST IMPLANT ILLNESS.
I have been obsessed with natural health, holistic nutrition, and physical fitness since I turned 20 years old back in 1993. Which is why, back in the Fall of 2013, I did something that I never thought I’d do. I got breast implants. I thought that they would change my life and I was right. They did. But it wasn’t the change I had expected and hoped for.
When my son was around 8 years old, I realized that I was most likely done having children and I was struggling to love my breasts after having breastfed that little sucker (pun intended) when he was a baby. The reality was that my breasts were fine. I didn’t think so. They were a little smaller, and had a little less life in them, but for some reason I became obsessed with having nice, small firm breasts again. I didn’t even want large breasts. In fact, I was nervous to consider implants because I didn’t want anyone to be able to tell that I’d gotten them. I just wanted mine to have shape and life again. I wanted to feel sexy again. I have always put a lot of effort into my physical fitness and have taken good care of my body. I felt great about the work I put into my physical body, but I felt my breasts no longer matched the rest of me. Looking back now, I see how ridiculous I was and how there really was nothing wrong with my breasts. What’s that saying about hindsight?
When I made the decision that I was interested in finding out more about breast implants, I scheduled a consultation appointment with one of the top breast augmentation surgeons in Colorado. Given my “obsession” with natural health and holistic nutrition, I asked the surgeon and nurses about the safety of getting breast implants. I also asked about alternative options, such as a breast lift. A breast lift would have been a much better choice for me, but I didn’t know enough about that option at the time to push the topic and find out more. They did a fantastic job of convincing me that getting breast implants is completely safe and they showed me what was a new product at the time, the Sientra textured “gummy bear” implants. This particular implant is often used for breast reconstruction patients because they are supposed to be very safe and more natural looking than other implants. I was told by the surgeon that a simple lift would not produce the results that I wanted. I was convinced! Holy hell, was I excited! When they did mock up photos of what they would look like, I was beyond thrilled and couldn’t wait to get them done. I went with the smallest sized implant that they made and I couldn’t wait to sport those toxic bags around (because at the time, I had no idea how toxic breast implants are). I should have done more research and advocated more for myself because the truth is, I knew better. My gut instinct knew better. I ignored it.
I had my breast implant surgery in October of 2013. I was so happy with the result at the time. My new, small breasts were FABULOUS and perfect and just what I envisioned. I felt like a new person in a lot of ways. However, the honeymoon with my fabulous new breasts was short lived. It wasn’t long before my health started to decline. At first, my health issues came on gradually and so subtly that I didn’t even think to make a connection to my implants. Because my story takes many twists and turns, and I had so many issues, I am listing my symptoms and the health issues that came up for me in the 42 months that I was living with my implants. I suffered from the following:
Extreme Fatigue
Depression
Severe tinnitus
Severe insomnia
TIA / Complex migraines
Severe vertigo
Hair loss
Thyroid issues
Endocrine system issues
Food allergies and sensitivities
Dry skin
Inflammation
Chronic UTI’s
Dry eyes / decline in vision
Estrogen / hormone imbalance
Digestive issues
Ovarian cysts / cancer cell growth / hysterectomy
Numbness / tingling sensations in hands and feet
Swollen lymph nodes
I had a myriad of other health issues as well (not listed), and some of them I’m not sure can be linked to BII, but the more they are learning about the illness, the more I’m realizing that they could have possibly been another result of having breast implants. The fact that I am healthy now makes me wonder about the likelihood of that.
I spent almost 3 full years consistently in and out of doctors offices trying to find answers for why my health was declining and what all of these issues were stemming from. My health was getting worse and worse and I had no answers as to the “why.” My body was just slowly shutting down. Things took a turn for the worse in 2015 with what started as severe vertigo episodes, then I had what doctors thought was a TIA (which led to a few luxurious days in the hospital), which led to recurring complex migraines. On top of that, I had uterine cancer cells that kept returning after treatments, ovarian cysts, and my menstrual cycles were out of control. My (then) husband and I used to call my cycles “monthly murder scenes.” All of that led to an urgent hysterectomy a few days before Christmas in 2015. In 2016, I started having more intense symptoms and health issues, and at that time I began having thoughts that I wanted to end it all. I wasn’t suicidal, but I would stand in the shower after feeling like I had to crawl to get there, and I just felt like I wanted it all to go away. I wanted to go away. I wanted it all to end. I felt so awful and depressed. I had no energy and not much will left. But through it all I kept looking for answers.
Then one afternoon the answer came in the form of what I consider to be a miracle. My husband (at the time) came home from work and mentioned that one of his colleagues had a wife who had also had breast implants and had suffered a lot of the same symptoms and issues that I was having. She had actually been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease and shortly after her diagnosis she had found out about Breast Implant Illness. She led me to a support group of women that were helping each other through Breast Implant Illness. She had had her implants removed a few months before I connected with her and she has since regained her health. After connecting with her, I joined the support group right away. When I joined the support group I was blown away by the stories, the illnesses, the recoveries, the losses, and the support that these women were giving each other. I related to what felt like every single story. I had found the support I needed. These women were having the same issues and symptoms that I was. During this time, there was news of my textured implants being linked to breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I made the decision pretty quickly to have my implants removed. And I didn’t look back. It was the best decision I’ve ever made in regards to my health.
The day of the surgery for my implant removal, I was already improving within hours following the procedure. My eyes were white and vibrant again and most of my symptoms went away almost immediately. All of my minor symptoms and issues were gone, and of the bigger issues I listed, I haven’t had a single complex migraine or vertigo since the removal. The detox process can be a long, slow race, but it’s one worth running. I began the detox process shortly after my surgery and I still follow detox protocols for heavy metals, and it made such a big difference in my recovery. Of the symptoms listed above, the only ones that I still deal with are tinnitus (although it’s much approved after my implant removal) and I have to be diligent about my gut health and keeping things in balance. My path to recovery was pretty incredible and I feel so grateful and fortunate that I found the answers I needed to recover my health.
My surgeon did a fantastic job with my explant and reconstruction. He is truly fabulous and I am so grateful to him. I was so sick at the time that I didn’t even have the foresight to be worried about how my breasts would look after the surgery. I didn’t care at that time. He was so reassuring and supportive. He was like a magician with how he made my breasts after everything they’d been through. They are beautiful. Ironically, they are what I would have had with a lift if I had gone that direction in the first place and not bothered with the implants.
It’s been almost 4 years since I had those toxic bags removed from my body and in that time I went through a myriad of emotions. First and foremost was relief. Relief that I had found the answers I was looking for and needed. Relief that I was able to get my breast implants removed. Relief that I was on the road to recovery. The relief was followed by the emotion of anger and of being angry with myself. I was angry because I felt like I knew better. I knew better than to put something foreign like that in my body. It didn’t seem like “me” to alter my body with something unnatural. I was angry that I put myself through all of that. Then came acceptance. What was done was done. There wasn’t anything that could be changed and there was no need to dwell. I decided to focus on what I learned. Then came GRATITUDE. Gratitude for so many things. I was grateful that I found the answers that I needed to regain my health. I was grateful that my body was on the road to recovery and that my body was strong. I was grateful that I was feeling good and alive again. And most importantly, I am grateful that I’ve spent the past 2 years focused on self-love and acceptance because of what I went through. There are no mistakes. There are only experiences and lessons to be learned in everything, which shapes us into who we are in this lifetime. I am so in love with my body and I have so much self-love now that I didn’t have before this experience. Self-love is something that is still fairly new for me and something I focus on and I’m grateful for every day. This experience healed a lot of things for me around how I view myself. And guess what? I love my breasts now more than I ever did. I am grateful for them. They are truly perfect, even with a few small scars. My scars are my reminder that you can go through difficult things and still come out the other side a better version of yourself. And that is exactly what I did. I am better and more “me” than ever because of this experience. I don’t regret a single moment of it. I feel so extremely grateful that I was able to heal and recover quickly.
I’m now working to raise awareness in a more public way. It’s interesting to note that not once during the 3 years that my health was declining did a doctor ever suggest to me that my breast implants could be the problem. This is part of the issue and why we try to raise awareness. It’s for the medical community as well. Doctors are very quick to dismiss the possibility that breast implants are the cause of illness in women and rarely even think to ask a patient about their implants and their experience. The FDA is becoming more involved in the research of breast implants due to the thousands of women that have become sick and are speaking out. There are fabulous Breast Implant Illness support groups. There are celebrities having their implants taken out due to illness and they are speaking out. This needs to continue. We all need to speak up, share our stories and help our fellow sisters. There is so much work to be done.
Not every woman who has breast implants will become ill with them. It’s important to say that. But many women do. Breast Implants can cause an autoimmune response, among a large list of other potential symptoms. Some women will become ill and would never think to look to their breast implants as the cause of their issues. Some won’t want to because they love their implants too much. Some can’t afford to have them removed.
I am on a mission to spread the word, advocate for women and support them in the process of regaining their health. Since having my implants removed back in May of 2017, I have helped four of my friends and acquaintances, through telling my story, realize that they too were suffering from Breast Implant Illness. Those friends have since had their implants removed and are now recovered and / or on the road to recovery. If my story helps just one woman regain her health and her life, along with her self esteem, self worth and helps her move back into a space of self-love, then it’s all worth it. I needed to hear the stories of the women who were struggling the way that I was. Having that kind of support and the guidance saved my life in many ways. The decision to remove breast implants is a personal one.
There is a strong movement happening in the Breast Implant Illness community where women are now beginning to advocate for their health and realizing that the medical community is not looking out for our best interests. We are taking things into our own hands and helping each other through this process. If you or someone you know has breast implants and is suffering from undiagnosed illnesses (particularly autoimmune disorders, thyroid issues, endocrine and neurological disorders), please share my story with them.
“By 2018, there were more than 500,000 women reporting a range of symptoms they refer to as “breast implant illness” on two Facebook pages: Breast Implant Illness and Healing and Breast Implant Victim Advocacy. More than a dozen Administrators and patient advocates from these two Facebook pages met with FDA officials in September 2018 to discuss their health issues and to urge the FDA to do more to require the completion of large, long-term scientific studies and to better inform women of the health problems experienced by many women as a result of their breast implants.”
-Diana Zuckerman, PhD, & Varuna Srinivasan, MBBS, MPH: National Center for Health Research
https://www.center4research.org/breast-implant-illnesses-whats-evidence/
For further information on my personal story, to connect with a Breast Implant Illness support group, or for a list of surgeons performing explant surgeries, please private message me or email me: info@leannejewell.com and I would be happy to help answer any questions.
We are all in this life together.
-Leanne
Photo by Beth Photography
