For three years I’ve been sharing bits of my life on the internet. While raising my children I yearned for a connection with other Mothers. I started an online business and built an amazing, supportive community on social media. Although I shared tid-bits of my health struggles, I never fully explained how sick I was actually feeling. The weird thing was, I didn’t know what was causing so many unexplained symptoms. Then one day I was scrolling through social media and saw someone I follow share how they were having an explant surgery because breast implants were toxic and making them sick. And BAM, the light bulb went off. My breast implants are making me sick….
Before I share my story, I want to remind you that I am not a doctor, and I don’t have all the answers. I spent an entire year researching this topic before I had my own explant surgery. My symptoms, surgery, and recovery are my story. I’m sharing this in hopes to be the light bulb for someone else who has been searching for an answer for their unexplained ailments. I’m not an expert, just a mom of 3 who felt like shit and now feel like I have my life back. Some of the links I share below are affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission when you click and purchase through my link. This is at no additional cost to you. All products shared are things I personally used, and I feel were extremely helpful in my recovery.
The Beginning
I had my saline breast implant in for 12 years. I never thought anything of it. At the time of my breast augmentation I was never told that I would have to undergo routine surgeries or that there was a “shelf life” on my implants. This is something that has now been revealed. Breast Implants are only good for 10 years. So at 23 years old I had my surgery and went on with my life. I got married and had 3 beautiful babies. I started a business (well actually a few, but who’s counting). I traveled and lived life to the fullest…until I didn’t.
About 1.5 years after my third child was born something changed. Yes, I struggled in those early years with new parent exhaustion and stress. But nothing that I felt was abnormal. This was different, I was suddenly so irritable. The slightest noise, the slightest inconvenience, even bright lights would make me angry. My brain was foggy. I could barely remember a phone number and I complained often about my memory. It was like I was living through this thick cloud and it was hard to think. I was exhausted. I have never felt exhaustion like this before. I woke up feeling hung over with a goal to function long enough to get to nap time. Near the end I was spending every weekend napping instead of hanging out with my family.
I went to multiple doctors expressing my concerns just to be told “You are a busy mom of three, its all normal”. Blood work came back normal and tests came back normal but I was feeling SO NOT NORMAL. I started taking a heavy metal detox spray and began feeling a lot better. I saw so much improvement with my brain fog and my insomnia went away. It even reversed a previous autoimmune disease diagnosis. The detox was working! I even wrote a blog post on my detox because I couldn’t believe how much better I felt. You can read that HERE . I was feeling so good. But when I stopped detoxing I felt symptoms start creeping back in. Something was affecting me but I didn’t know what it was. I then began ditching and switching products. Getting rid of chemicals and toxins in the home was another step in the right direction that helped, but I STILL wasn’t feeling right.
My Light Bulb Moment
One day I was scrolling through social media and saw someone share about having an explant surgery. She shared graphics of the many breast implant illness symptoms and the long list of TOXINS in breast implants. *LIGHT BULB* Toxins in breast implants… wait… when I was detoxing heavy metals I was feeling better… but when I’m not detoxing I feel like crap… my body is fighting these toxic bags inside me… I will never be healthy as long as I have them… get them out… I want them out.
My moment of revelation went something like that. And then I spiraled down a rabbit hole of breast implant illness. I joined many amazing Facebook groups to learn more. But what I wasn’t expecting to find were the thousands upon thousands of stories from women that were exactly like mine. Many of them worse than mine.
From the beginning of my lightbulb moment to finally going into surgery took an entire year. It took me a long time to schedule that first consultation. A lot of thoughts went through my head. What if I have the surgery and it doesn’t change how I feel? How will I going to look like? What if something happens to me during surgery? What will happen to me if I don’t take them out?
My hesitations quickly began to escape my mind as I continued through the year feeling worse and worse. Hair started to fall out and my skin was an absolute wreck. My inflammation was out of control too. Deep down I knew that I needed to have this surgery. It took me 3 months to get in for my consult and took me 5 months to get in for surgery. My advice: If you are looking to explant DONT WAIT to make that first appointment. A good surgeon that performs explants have a long wait list!
Preparing for my surgery
As I neared my surgery date I wanted to make sure I would have everything I needed. Recovering quickly was a priority for me since I had 3 little ones to care for. I made sure I was eating really healthy, staying hydrated and taking supplements/vitamins so I wouldn’t get sick. The last thing I wanted was to get sick right before my surgery date since I had waited so long! I wanted my body to be in an ideal place for quick healing.
I drank Ningxia (an antioxidant powerhouse drink) every day leading up for optimal wellness. (more on this below as I think it was the key to my recovering from surgery so quickly).
I also made sure I had certain items like a pillow with arms (to keep me sleeping on my back), front zip bras, large water bottle for staying hydrated, front button pajamas. I also made sure to move items to counter height so I would be able to reach important things.
Surgery Day
I was nervous but SO ready on surgery day. We dropped the kids off with my parents and Rex drove me to the medical center. My surgery took a total of 3.5 hours. I made sure that my doctor took video and photos of my removed implants and capsules. I wanted to make sure I had evidence that she was able to remove everything. In the video she shared how she was able to remove everything in one piece (which is amazing). As she cut the capsule (the scar tissue that forms around an implant immediately after being placed in your body) from the implant it showed that BOTH of my implants had folds in them. In the video she says “It a good thing we took these out because with these folds they would have eventually ruptured”. She sent both my implants and my capsules off to pathology to be tested for mold, viruses, and BIA-ALCL Lymphoma (a specific cancer linked to breast implants). I later picked up my implants from pathology. You can see that image below and the fold in my implant.
When I woke up I felt pretty good (like I drank a bunch of margaritas). When I got home I remember looking in the mirror and being shocked at what I saw. My eyes had changed. They were wide, and white, and looked alive! I was in so much shock about it I took to social media and shared it with my followers on Instagram.
Recovery from my Explant
The few days after surgery were not bad. Yes, I was in some pain/discomfort but it was very tolerable. I only took pain medication for 2 days. The recovery getting breast implants were much harder than taking them out! The hardest part were the drains, which I had for a week. Not being able to reach my arms up past counter height was a pain. Rex and the kids had to grab everything for me that first week. Otherwise I felt amazing! My mind felt so clear and my physical appearance looks so much healthier.
I made a point to eat extremely healthy, stay hydrated and rest.
A lot of people in the explant FB groups said to stay away from detoxes for a while after surgery. So I focused more on drinking Ningxia every day to make sure my body was getting all the vitamins and minerals it needed. Its a whole food supplement that is jam packed with antioxidants. Ningxia is the highest known protection against the dangerous superoxide free radicals, as documented in the s-orac test conducted by Brunswick laboratories. It also helps with repairing cells and supports liver function. When I went for my 2 week post op appointment my doctor and nurse were shocked that I had no bruising and my incisions looked so good. I was healing so fast and so well and I attribute that to all the Ningxia I was drinking.
By my 2 week post op apt I felt completely back to normal with the occasional pulling sensation if I stretched my arms out too far. I was still instructed to keep my T-Rex arms until the 6 week mark, even though I felt good. The hardest part at this point was remembering to take it easy. That is how great I felt.
As I write this I am 10 weeks post op and I am shocked at the symptoms that have disappeared (many upon waking from surgery). Explanting was the best thing I could have done for myself and for my family. I know I still have some healing to do. I’ve read it takes 1 month to heal and fully detox for every year you have your implants in. So come Christmas of this year I should be completely healed from the havoc that breast implants did to my body.
If you are looking for more information you can see my journey and the videos taken by my surgeon on Instagram in my “Explant” Highlight. Also, feel free to reach out and I am happy to share the Facebook groups.
Final Thoughts
There is so much more I could say here about this entire experience and the industry as a whole. I’ll have to save that for a blog post at a later date. I think it is sad that I was made to believe that my God given body wasn’t perfect. That somehow altering my appearance was going to make me a better version of myself. I have learned so much about being an advocate for your own health. I’m still surprised today that not one of my doctors that I asked “Could my breast implants be making me sick” told me that it could be a possibility. Every single Doctor told me NO and then quickly pushed me into the direction of prescriptions and hormone replacements to try and treat the symptoms. No one wanted to dig in deep to find the cause of why I was feeling this way. THEY were all wrong.
You better believe that if I ever see them again I will tell them how I went ahead with an explant surgery anyways, despite their denial of my implants being the cause of my symptoms. And I will show them the pictures of how my face completely changed with 4 days of removing them. And I will advocate for them to be more open minded to the possibility of other women coming in with unexplained illness. That is why I’m sharing my story. If it hadn’t been for another brave women on the internet sharing breast implant illness I would still be here, feeling sick and not knowing why. The Heal is Real and it feels SO good to be on the lighter side!
