Reply #10: Handful of women? Hardly.

[LiberalHeart]

Hundreds of thousands of women have suffered a group of symptoms, not knowing there were others going through the same thing they were, and not knowing doctors weren't telling the truth when they said implants are safe.

The studies, largely funded by the manufacturers who worked with research folks at medical facilities/universities, looked for a link between known diseases and implants. That was a faulty approach because the women knew they were sick, but they weren't saying they had known diseases, and they begged researchers to look at the galaxy of symptoms assocated with the implants and to find ways to help those who were suffering. Any research that set out to prove, for example, that implants cause MS were doomed. Researchers knew what wasn't there and then searched for it anyway. That was a total disservice to women and produced so-called medical studies that people with a vested interest could point to when lying to the public.

After a double mastectomy, I got saline-filled implants (silicone shell with texturizing). I was very ill within 8 weeks. It was like having a bad case of the flu every damn day of my life -- it went on for years. Medical tests showed no problems. Lucikly I had an enlightened doctor who kept looking for the cause. He called my plastic surgeon and asked if the illness could be related to the implants. The surgeon said nope, no way, no women were complaining of the symptoms I had. Years went by (about three, I think) and then all hell broke loose about implants and I found huge numbers of women who were experiencing precisely what I was.

My doctor submitted paperwork to my insurance company, requesting explant surgery for me. It was denied. I decided to pay for it myself but then couldn't get any doctor to agree to do the surgery. They called it vandalism (to my body), said the implants don't make people sick, and on and on like that. I tried every surgeon in my area and they all said no. Finally I found one at Cleveland Clinic and had a surgery date set -- but then a lawyer said he'd fight for free for me to get the surgery voa my insurance plan, and to have it done at a local hospital by a local surgeon so I wouldn't have to be away from home when recovering.

The insurance company continued to say no, calling it -- get this -- "cosmetic" surgery. The lawyer finally won the coverage for me by pointing out that my insurance policy covered reconstructive surgery and what I wanted was to have my post-mastectomy chest reconstructed so I'd be post-mastectomy flat again. Once the insurance company agreed to provide the coverage, surgeons in my area were willing to do the surgery. I interviewed them to find the one who would do it the right way -- removing not just the implants, but the capsule that forms around them. Only one would agree to that lengthy, difficult surgery.

I had the capsule sent to the hospital's pathologist to see what was in it -- and just as I had suspected, there were pieces of that texturizing material (silicone, like the envelope itself) that had drifted from the implant and set up an inflammatory response in my body as my body tried to fight off the foreign body. So it's not just the gooey silicone leakage that's a problem, and it's not just the hardening around it, and it's not just the immediate area fighting the foreign material. The response for me was systemic and horribly debilitating. I lost my ability to concentrate, to work, to remember things. And I hurt all over my entire body, sometimes in my muscles, sometimes in my joints, sometimes both -- and the surface of my skin became very tender, like it was bruised. Also an area where I'd once had a broken bone became a focal point of sometimes extreme pain. I was told by my doctor at Cleveland Clinic this was common for women who had implants -- the response to the silicone caused previously injured body parts to become painful.

I began to feel better within a month of having the implants removed. Not a lot, but some. And the improvement continued month after month for a year or more. Eventually I was back to my old self again.

I personally know several others who've had experiences a great deal like mine.

I think women need to get over their breasts. It's not worth risking your health to go this route.

I believe this return of silicone will attract a lot of women to the surgery -- ones who didn't get it before because of the less natural look and feel of saline implants. And I predict we'll see more sad stories as women suffer the consequences of the sometimes wayward behavior of the implants once they're in the body, the problems associated with leakage, the pain of hardening, and the illnesses that many are unwilling to admit are very real and very devastating.

And if you've had mastectomies, having the implants removed is not a simple thing. You end up with a chest that's far worse looking than a post-mastectomy chest. It's concave, like inverted cereal bowls on your chest. Tops/shirts that follow the form of the body dip inward where the implants were.

Women who risk getting these types of problems over something as silly as filling out a sweater are making a huge mistake. The FDA is putting them at risk with this foolhardy move.