Breast Implant Illness: Why I'm Removing My Implants

aThis post has been THREE YEARS in the making and I have been DRAGGING my feet on it..

It’s such a real ,close, personal topic for me but I know ultimately by sharing I can pay it forward to other women. If it weren't for others sharing their story, I would never have known about this.

Last night, some of my dearest friends joined me for a little BOOB VOYAGE party! We burned a ceremonial bra in the fire pit to close this chapter of my life.

This upcoming Friday, I am having surgery to have my breast implants removed. Some of you may not even know that I HAVE implants (which I’ll get into).

I’ve had to really take a hard look beyond my own fears and realize that breast implant illness is a much bigger issue than me feeling awkward.
I hope that by being real & raw that women are not only educated but also that it helps them learn to appreciate and love the body that they are in.

After my initial fitness transformation with P90X, I became hyper aware of the loss of “volume” up top. I researched, asked questions (my bestie Lindsay will even tell you it was within one of our VERY first convos!) I really wanted to “balance” out my figure and I was sure implant would make me look more proportional.

Within 2-3 years, I scheduled 3 consultations for a breast augmentation. I met with multiple doctors and felt very confident and at ease with my decision.

March 2014, I went in for surgery. I started as a “B” cup and requested a “C”
But trusting my doctors opinion, I gave her some leeway with what she felt “looked better” BIGGEST REGRET. 😨

Instead of waking up as a C, I suddenly was a “DD” While I loved the fullness at the top, I basically hated them from day one. They were way too big, they overpower my frame, & I could not workout like I used to.
I went from rocking out one handed push-ups and pull ups...to suddenly have a weak upper body. On top of everything else, I felt HYPER sexualized and more self conscious than ever. My clothes went from cute tanks and shorts to oversized “potato sacks” as Rich likes to say. 🥔
Basically anything I can do to HIDE them. I was so self conscious about them that I’ve never really talked about my initial surgery.

Borrowing my friend's implants! How strange that we agreed to have these put IN our bodies?!

 Now, this is the part where things get a little confusing. Prior to implants, I was starting to have some digestive issues that doctors weren’t able to diagnose or unravel. But things certainly RAMPED up after implants. 📈

Within 7 months, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease (Hashimotos) and my list of food sensitivities really started to skyrocket.

Some of the symptoms

🔸Unexplained weight gain (Even with intense workouts 5-6 days per week and eating an extremely clean diet)
🔸My workout stamina drained, could not lose fat, could not gain muscle.
🔸My face started aging rapidly and my skin looked dull
🔸Migraines
🔸food allergies
🔸Digestive Issues.
🔸This constant thirst like I was dehydrated. I would literally drink well over 100 oz of water a day and still feel so extremely thirsty.  Rich always asks where the water all goes (?) lol
🔸Breast and chest pain & itchiness . Weird heart palpitations.
🔸Brain Fog and forgetfulness.
🔸Anxiety, Mood Swings. Headaches.
🔸Dry/itchy eyes and blurry vision, plus whites of eyes off in color.
🔸Chronic Fatigue.
🔸Inflammation

By having my thyroid regularly checked, taking my thyroid meds, removing gluten & really keeping my food in check, things have certainly gotten better. But I committed to an 80 day intense workout program and while I know I did get results, they certainly did not reflect the level of intensity I brought.

I’ve had blood work taken and my labs always look great, but I still have these lingering symptoms.

In 2016, I came across 2 stories that really caught my eye about women (including one that I personally one) removing their implants and seeing drastic improvement. I joined a group called Breast Implant Illness and Healing with Nicole. At the time, it only had 3,000 members but the group is now over 96,000 women strong! ♦️
As I read posts of all these women with the exact same symptoms as me, I suddenly felt understood.

But even still…

I was not ready to face this. My initial recovery was surgery was so awful. The recovery time is about 6 weeks. I was in awful pain for nearly 12 weeks.

I’ve tried to ignore it. I’ve postponed it and put it on the back burner, but this topic continued to come up for me daily.

More and more stories about breast implant illness found their way to me. I had a friend explant...and then another...and then another... The stories were stacking up.

Earlier this year, after my miscarriage something clicked for me. A literal LIGHT SWITCH moment. 💡
Within 12 hours, I had a surgical date on the books. Which was easy because I’ve now been researching this for YEARS LOL

It’s so important to note that not just any surgeon can PROPERLY perform this procedure.
With any forgein object in the body, a scar tissue capsule forms around it to protect your body. This capsule can absorb toxins, mold, fungus, bacteria etc from the implants. If the ENTIRE capsule not is removed, you can get much sicker over time.

Because the silicone implants carry so many heavy metals and toxins, your body can go into overdrive trying to detox them out. Silicone Breast Implants contain over 40 toxic chemicals and an array of heavy metals which will damage your health, and that silicone bleeds through the shell microscopically from early on.

ℹ️DIRECTLY from the FDA’s website:”
There is a risk of developing a type of cancer called breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) in the breast or scar tissue (capsule) surrounding the implant.

So when you have breast augmentation, you are signing up for a man-made toxic concoction sitting right on top of your heart, lungs, lymphnodes and putting yourself at risk for a rare type of cancer.
I’m not trying to cause hysterics, panic etc...but I do wish I was more informed and educated before deciding to go down this path.

I haxe ZERO judgement toward anyone opting for a cosmetic procedure (Im in that club) but I would truly regret not sharing my experience & showing the “darker side” of things.

My Breast Friends

I DON’T think all women will experience symptoms but if you have implants & unexplained health concerns, this is something you might want to start researching.

Obvi Im not a doctor or scientist 👩🏼‍🔬 😆 so I can’t say with absolute truth and empirical evidence, but I wanted to share my experience and decision. I can’t wait to be in my God-Given form and teach Reese the power of self-confidence and loving yourself.

🧡🧡Im VERY much looking forward to hugging my baby without feeling like we have balloons between us. HEART-TO-HEART for the first time ever - Might cry.🧡🧡

Thank you for allowing me to be so open and vulnerable about this. It’s taken me QUITE a while to come to terms with my decision and actually share it. 💞

I’m sorry for unconsciously normalizing an UNNATURAL body standard & it’s time I get back to who I was created to be.

I welcome any questions that you might have and am more than happy to help. I encourage you to join the Facebook Group, Breast Implant Illness and Healing by Nicole.

Sharing this because I'm hoping my experience can help to educate women on the dangers of breast implants. I want to encourage you all to embrace the beautiful body that God has blessed you with.

Society pushes unrealistic body images constantly in our face- but that is not the truth. Again, I am in no way shaming or guilting anyone who wants or has implants- And I realize that some women have them due to rescontructive surgery. I guess I'm just angry that they are not safe!
INFORMED CONSENT is so important and while I did know of risks surrounding any surgery (cosmetic or otherwise) I had no idea implants could make women so sick... trigger autoimmune disease or silicone poisoning.   I was way too passive in my research and I'm forever grateful for the women who were bold enough to share when everyone though they were crazy.

You are beautifully created, and God does not make mistakes. ❣️


FAQ
I've had so many questions around this so I wanted to answer some because I like to have ALL of the information. I will be writing a post op follow up to document the surgery and recovery

HOW DID YOU FIND A DOCTOR:
I started by going to https://www.breastimplantillness.com/explant-surgeons/
There is a complete list of surgeons with all of their information. I started researching and ultimatly relied on testimonials from friends!

I chose Dr Rankin at the Aqua Surgical group in South Florida. They have beautiful results and really put an emphasis on WELLNESS and healing.


RECOVERY TIME: 4-6 weeks

COST:
This is the current pricing at my doctor's office as of the Fall 2019
En bloc explant $6000
With lift $9000

WHAT HAPPENS WITH ALL OF THE LOOSE SKIN:

I think this is so dependent on your body, your implants, how you heal etc... Some women have their implants removed and their breasts look wonderful after (there is a recovery period and everyone tells me don't worry! They will change constantly within the first year- they start to fill in more)
For me, my skin was stretched from pregnancy and breast feeding. So I'm absoluety getting a lift.

Dr Rankin has a special "j wrap" technique he developed. I will update you on the results! 

For more about my recovery, I have TONS of videos saved on Instagram that document the entire experience

Breast Implant Illness
Explant Surgery
RECOVERY