My Breast Implant Illness Journey

Hi Rad Life Fam!

I am sharing my journey with Breast Implant Illness and Autoimmune disease and as I sit here trying to gather my thoughts, I'm not really quite sure where to begin! 1. We have ALOT to cover (this is going to be broken into 3 episodes/parts) and 2. This requires me to be a little bit vulnerable here haha. But what the heck, let's just dive right in! :)

Okay ya I decided, this post will be one of 3!

Part 1: My BII journey

Part 2: My AI journey with Sjogrens

Part 3: Awareness and education on BII and AI

Of course every story has a backstory and here's mine....

Little did I know my journey was beginning the day I had my breast augmentation surgery. I did my research, I found a great plastic surgeon who I adore! I value her so much in fact, that she did my explant surgery for me (but I am getting ahead of myself so more on that later). I asked all the questions. I asked about toxicity and was reassured that it was rare and that since I was going the silicone route those were a "safer" option. So, on May 9, 2018, I had my breast augmentation surgery (high-profile, Mentor ((I believe)) "gummy bear" silicone implants) and everything went great! Surgery was a breeze, recovery was a breeze, I had some suture spitting but it was minor and nothing to be concerned about. I was a happy and healthy 28 year old!

Fast forward to 2020... I turned 30 years old and I had some changes in my body and skin that I attributed to being, you know, 30 years old! I thought hey when you get older your hormones change, it's harder to lose weight, this is normal. Well, changes didn't stop there. I started having major shifts in my ability to handle stress, my anxiety was like it had never been before, I had multiple panic attacks back-to-back and I had never experienced those before. If you don't know what those are truly like- they're DEBILITATING let me tell ya! I was ALWAYS tired (and I am someone who functions perfectly well on zero caffeine). I had memory loss and if you know me, you know my memory is gold! The list goes on: brain fog, depression, dry eyes, dry skin, hair loss, inflammation, insomnia, low libido, body odor, slow healing, choking out of nowhere, food intolerances (there's a long list of those, yippee), heart palpitations, sore joints, slow healing, shortness of breath, and Autoimmune disease diagnosis (I'll dive into that more here shortly). These were all symptoms I had. They did not all come on at once. They came on after about 2 years of having my implants and by the 4 year mark, I was struggling with all of these symptoms. They started to become more intense and I thought this cannot be my 30s!

Fast forward some more and we are in May 2022.. I was having a conversation with my sister-in-law and we were talking about how these things I was going through were just weird and nothing was "fixing" them. She mentioned BII and I had my "AHA!" moment! Now when I say I went down a rabbit hole, well that's just an understatement! I am a researcher by nature and boy the information I was finding! It all made sense. I felt like I had an answer and now I need to go get "proof". June 2022, I meet with my primary care doctor and we discuss possibilities. She was leaning towards BII and possibly AI and wanted to run labs. Oh the blood work! After getting the labs done, it was now the fun part... waiting (and again if you know me, you know that is surely not a strong suit of mine). So, 2 weeks later, I get my results. Now, let me preface by saying there is no test, or lab, or scan to "prove" you have BII. There is not a blood marker that can be linked to it, therefore there is no way draw blood and say "yes, you have BII". With that being said, my blood work came back that I have autoimmune antibodies and that warranted further testing and me being referred to a rheumatologist. I found one and based on that appointment, he recommended me having my implants removed. He also wanted to do more blood work and an ultrasound on my jaw to diagnose Sjogrens Autoimmune disease- which he suspected I had developed because of the implants and BII (he had patients of his develop AI diseases from breast implants personally and he truly believed they went hand in hand). Now, I had already had my explant scheduled based on my primary care doctor visit, labs, and the truckloads of research I did (the insomnia paid off for all of that haha) and we felt confident this was the solution for me and the way for me to begin my healing. I did the extra labs and testing and waited for those results. Unfortunately, blood work for AI takes weeks to process and receive results.

On August 3, 2022, we drove the 4 hours back to my PS to have my explant surgery. At this point, I had still not received my AI blood work results. Leading up to the explant, I was SO nervous to be put under again. I was having major anxiety and stress about everything going perfectly, me waking up, my recovery and healing... THIS NEEDED TO BE MY SOLUTION. THIS NEEDED TO WORK.

I had the surgery, I followed all the rules, and began my recovery. Everything seemed to be going great and I was healing as expected. About a month later, I started suture spitting and getting infections/abscesses on my incision sites that took some extra care to heal. This was unexpected because I healed so perfectly the first time (it was literally a piece of cake).

All I could do was pray that I would notice changes, lose symptoms that I had been struggling with, and just feel like myself again. I had so much hope and excitement, I felt like I was truly changing my life and there was this overwhelming joy that came from it. I made it here, I turned the page, I started a new chapter... all the positive quotes and feelings filled my heart and soul and I felt revived, refreshed, and HOPEFUL.

Two weeks after my explant surgery, I received a call from my rheumatologist. I thought he was calling to check in on my recovery and just see how I was doing post-surgery. To my surprise, he was calling to let me know that my blood work finally came back, and I did indeed test positive for early-onset Sjogrens autoimmune disease. I was crushed. The wind was knocked out of my sails. I felt defeated and I was angry. We set up an appointment to go over what Sjogrens is, what I can expect, and what this means for me moving forward.

*THIS WILL BE COVERED MORE IN DEPTH IN PART 2*

A couple months later, in December, I received my pathology report (it got lost in our move) from my tissues that were removed during the explant. They showed signs of inflammatory response to one of the implants. My rheumatologist said he is so glad I got them removed. This was my "proof". This was my "See! I wasn't making it up!" Needless to say, I cried because I was so relieved. It was an important piece to my puzzle. It validated everything I went through.

Here I am, 8 months post explant! I have had some symptoms go away shortly after surgery and some that took a little longer. I still have some symptoms, but they say it takes a year for your body to heal and recover after explant. I am being patient with myself and allowing my body the time it needs to heal. I can say my mental health is night and day from what it was! I handle stress like a champ again, panic attacks are few and far between, I have energy, I sleep better (I still have my nights here and there don't get me wrong, but I'm a mom and that needs no further explanation haha), bye bye dry skin and breakouts... these are all symptoms that I no longer suffer from. Some of my symptoms are products of now having an autoimmune disease, but I am regulating those the best I can and as naturally as I can.

Looking back, I wish I never got my implants in the first place. The damage and strain they have caused my body frustrates me. But that's no way to live and I try to find the positive in every situation. So, my positive in all of this, is this- I can use my experience, my journey, my knowledge, to help other women who may be in the same boat as I was. I want to bring awareness to BII because it is NOT talked about enough. There needs to be more attention brought to this illness. I want women to know they are not alone, and they can get better, they can heal, they can feel like themselves again. I never wanted to be part of this "community" but here I am so I might as well do my part and help other women who are suffering and struggling with the same thing.

Before we end, there is one thing I would really like to spend a minute on and if you hold on to anything I've said, please let it be this: JUST BECAUSE THERE IS NOT A DEFINITIVE DIAGNOSIS DOES NOT MEAN THIS IS NOT A REAL ILLNESS. The women who go through this and are fighting for their health, do not want to feel like they have to prove their illness. Speaking from experience, I knew what my body was going through because I was feeling it, I was dealing with it, I was struggling with it. I did not need to feel like I now had to prove that I was actually suffering from breast implant illness on top of it. BII is somewhat like an "invisible illness", just like auto immune diseases, and that is because majority of the symptoms are felt and dealt with internally. I may not have looked physically ill, but belive me when I tell you, my body was not right. My health was suffering. I was not okay and I felt it to my core.

While I am writing this, on April 18, 2023, just 11 days after turning 34 years old and 8 months post-explant, I am emotional. I am so incredibly thankful for my doctors, my surgeon, my husband, my family, and my friends who supported me and rallied alongside me. I am thankful that I advocated for myself and pushed to get answers. I am healing because I had my implants that were toxic and poisoning my body removed. I am healing because God gave me a fighting spirit and that is what I did and am still doing. My journey is not over, but boy am I excited that I am on the downhill of the battle I was fighting for years and didn't even know it.

I AM HEALING.

Part 2 will be coming soon. I won't leave you hanging, promise.

As always, Live A Rad Life!

XO,

Dannika