Shattered Trust Fix For An Unbalanced Chest Was A Silicone Time Bomb
As I went through puberty, my left breast never developed. Going through my teens lopsided was very difficult. Clothes never fit right and wearing a bathing suit was uncomfortable and embarrassing.
One time at the beach a wave hit me and my dime-store “falsey” flipped out and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. I spent hours in the water until I felt safe enough to run, with arms crossed, to my towel where I remained wrapped up for the rest of the day. So you may understand my enthusiasm when I received my breast implant in 1982. I finally felt normal. My implant didn’t cause me any problems until the winter of 1992 when I found a lump which turned out to be a cyst. But a few months later, I began to feel extremely fatigued. I saw a doctor. Nothing was found.
In the next month I started experiencing joint pain in my left knee. Pushing the clutch of my car became too painful. This time tests indicated that I had a positive test result which can be associated with lupus. I was sent to a specialist who told me that all that was wrong with me was weak knee joints.
I was once an active, healthy person. I attended college, worked and raised two children alone, and I still had energy for a social life. Then, I couldn’t make it through the day without a nap. I had to quit working and my grade-point average slipped. The idea of going anywhere was out of the question. The fatigue continued and the pain increased.
Just by accident I saw a fellow student posting a notice about a silicone breast implant support group. As I asked questions I found out that silicone may be causing autoimmune diseases such as lupus. For another several months I wavered back and forth about the idea that my precious implant was causing my illness. One day in early 1993 I woke up with extreme pain in the middle of my neck. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism.
I then decided to attend the support group. I was shocked to hear others’ stories about what was going on with them. It was my story, too. I now knew with little doubt that my implant was causing my illness. New symptoms have emerged - nonhealing sores in my nose, numbness in my arms, tingling in my legs and swelling in my armpits. I sometimes become so fatigued and fuzzy headed that working my part-time job becomes difficult.
I now rely on the state (the taxpayer) for my medical insurance, and here’s the catch - I can’t get the damn thing removed. The insurance company won’t pay for it unless I can prove it’s medically necessary. As I sit here with a time bomb ticking in my chest, the medical, legal and political communities debate the issue of whether or not silicone implants are safe. And all I’m asking is for someone to help me evacuate this bomb from my chest.
xxxx Silicone breast implants have been controversial for years. Since 1992, the Food and Drug Administration has limited women’s access because of reported health risks. And recently FDA Commissioner David Kessler said not enough data exist to reassure women of the safety of implants. But last June a study of the health effects of silicone breast implants failed to find any connection between the implants and immune system diseases. The study outraged members of a support group of Inland Northwest women who have experienced adverse reations to their implants. The group’s name is OASIS Organized Against Silicone in Spokane. The group was further outraged by a Chris Peck column in which he applauded the study because it will “calm fears and slow the lawsuits.” Three OASIS members wrote articles in response. Today, we add their voices to the continuing debate on the safety of silicone breast implants.
One of three personal stories about the effects of breast implants.