new and scared

[Guest guest]

Hi..

I am new but have been reading your posts for over two weeks. I was

astonished to find that so many other women have the same experience

as I do. I thank you all for sharing your experiences because they

have greatly contributed to my decision to explant. I have scheduled

the explant for April 13 with Dr. Feng.

This is my story. After having my second child in June of 2001, I was

left with the familiar sag and deflation in my breasts. I was most

unhappy with the sag problem. It was very annoying and uncomfortable.

So, without doing much research, on purpose, because I didn't want to

find anything that would change my mind ( so dumb), I scheduled the

appointment to recieve saline implants. The surgery was done in May of

2002.

By July of 2002 I began having subtle but wierd symptoms. I was really

fit at the time, went to the gym 5 days a week, jogged on weekends.

Well, one day in July I was at the pool with a friend and I looked

down at my stomach and it was like I had this layer of fat from

nowhere! It turned out to be severe water retention. In july I was

keeping the air condition set to 85 degrees because I was so cold.

I really didn't know what was going on, all I knew was that I had this

very annoying, completely strange water retention.

Here's the reader's digest version: by November 2002 ( 6 mos after

implant surgery) I was completely disabled.

I slept 15 hours a night and had to nap for several hours in afternoon

I realized that my hair was falling out

my nails peeled and cracked

I was frozen to the bone, yet boiling hot at times

My muscles became so stiff that I could barely get out to bed

I could not walk up steps

I developed this wrist/ hand pain so bad I could not even hold a pen

Vitiligo

bad skin

gained about 20 lbs for no good reason

FATIGUE that has been so incredibly disabling

depression

Zero short term memory retention

I am sure I have many more that I just can't remember right now.

I had called my plastic surgeon a few months into this health ordeal

and explained how sick I was and asked if it could be the implants.

He said NO WAY it could be them... You obviously had a pre existing

condition. So, I went on my way and researched thyroid disorders

instead.

I have never tested in the hypothyroid range at all, even in the

slightest and even with the new tsh guidelines, but I convinced a doc

to give me a trial of thyroid meds.

Some things are better and some things are worse. I feel I will never

get better with these things in me. I am basically spinning my wheels.

I pray that I can recover from this. I have had the things almost

three years and have been sick for most of that time, so there really

wasn't any enjoyment there. I gave so much away that was valuable and

important to me just to have boobs. HOW DUMB.

Thanks for listening.

Dawn