Adria's BII & Cancer Journey
My arduous journey started back in June of 2010 when I decided to get “gummy bear” implants. I was NOT told that there were any side effects to having the breast implants. I had no clue that I would endure horrible symptoms or that 8 years down the road that I would be diagnosed with breast cancer.
It’s hard to say when the back, hip and neck pain started as it was a slow progression and I just blamed it on getting older even though I’m only in my 30’s. I have about 25 of the 50+ breast implant illness symptoms. The most embarrassing symptom is the hair loss and breakage, as I tend to wear my hair up everyday or wear it half up trying to hide the breakage and thin spots. My horrible symptoms include muscle aches, pain and weakness, joint pain and soreness, hair loss, dry eyes, skin, mouth and hair, easy bruising, ringing in my ears, metallic taste in mouth, night sweats, skin rashes, hormone imbalance, tingling and numbness in my arms and legs, cold and discolored hands and feet, vertigo, frequent urination, chronic neck and back pain, skin freckling and pigmentation issues, vision disturbances, liver and kidney dysfunction, gastrointestinal and digestive issues, smell and chemical sensitivities, fungal infections, throat clearing, headaches, anxiety, adrenal symptoms, and eventually breast cancer.
Unfortunately, it does not matter if these implants are saline or silicone. Saline implants are covered in a silicone shell and they have a valve that that can slowly leak into the body, thus creating a place for mold to grow. Silicone has over 40 known toxic chemicals in them.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I found my breast lumps in May of 2018 while I was on a work call and felt the tumors just above my sports bra line in my armpit area. I had to get a mammogram, nothing showed up on it, and a sonogram. The sonogram showed both lumps. A week later they performed a biopsy that showed invasive ductal carcinoma stage 1A. I was given different options by different oncology surgeons. I could either get a lumpectomy and replace my implants and do 5 weeks of radiation and take Tamoxifen (horrible side effects including uterine cancer) for 5 years. HELL NO! My other option was to do a bilateral nipple and skin sparing mastectomy with immediate reconstruction of newer breast implants to avoid radiation and chemotherapy. The way these surgeons and oncologists rush patients into making life decisions based on their own livelihood disgusts me. If I could do it all over again, I would have had a lumpectomy and lied about getting radiation to avoid it’s horrible side effects and the fact it causes cancer.
My intuition told me that these implants were ruptured since I fell off my bike 3 years prior and had to go to the emergency room where I was told my collarbone was dislocated. It never occurred to me that my implants may have been ruptured. I did not know about breast implant illness until after my bilateral mastectomy so I had no clue how detrimental implants are. Nobody could tell me if my MRI showed a rupture in either breast implant. You have to get a specific MRI with a special radiologist that will be able to read it.
Anyhow, it was after my double mastectomy that I started reading the book “ The Naked Truth About Breast Implants” by Susan Kolb. This book educated me on everything I needed to know. I learned that all breast implants can rupture, leak and bleed. HOLY SHIT! Her book mentioned several websites with more information which eventually lead me down a rabbit hole that brought me to many Facebook support group pages with women just like me. At first these pages saved my whole world and allowed me to connect with other women having gone through the same traumatic events, along with advice on the best explant doctors.
My newfound path in life is now is to create awareness to women, men, and transgender about the risks of all breast implants and their side effects. Please help to share your own newfound knowledge to those that are thinking of getting implants or those that already have them. I am on my way to explanting myself and am sharing my journey more in depth as I continue to live and journal it, eventually writing my book.
Love and light to you all.