“Always increasing illnesses, husband and his family issues, and operating a business for a few months had taken its toll. I was constantly sick with something. Head cold. Herpes. Pain in neck area. Back issues. Breathing issues. I was using essential oils to keep going.
And then one night, I could not sleep. Sitting on the couch in the middle of the night, struggling to breathe, and I found a Facebook post on something called Breast Implant Illness. What is that? Reading the list of symptoms of Breast Implant Illness – I knew.
I knew that was what was wrong with me. I had had the second saline implant since 1998, eighteen years ago. The light bulb went on. I had so many of the symptoms and yet, no doctor had been able to find out anything definitively wrong with me.
They said, “It is age. It is post early menopause. It is stress.”As I touched the implant, I realized it was hard. Sometimes it was pliable and sometimes I could not lie on my stomach comfortably because of the grapefruit in my chest.
Reading the symptoms list was surreal, and I had clear recognition of my own breast implant illness. I was shaking, sick to my stomach, angry, and relieved. Now what do I do about the replaced saline eighteen year old implant for reconstruction following my second breast cancer is making me sick.”