Hello Realself world I’m a 37 year old female from New York City. Just to give you a little back story of why I came to get breast implants and leading up to removing them, like some I would say it all lead to insecurity of my breast. I wouldn’t say I was completely flat chested but for me my breast always sagged and I would have to wear push up bras which to me were uncomfortable. I never was a fan of bras and I had friends who breast would just sit so high naturally that it made me extremely insecure about my own. So in 2014 I made the decision to get a breast lift. I had a fairly decent amount of breast so I figured I would just get a lift. So the day of my procedure my doctor tell me that I’m not a candidate for a breast lift because my blood levels wasn’t as high as she would like. She proceeds to tell me breast implants would be better because it would be an easier procedure and I wouldn’t have to be under anesthesia as long. I was heart broken to say the least because that’s what I wanted and didn’t prepare to have breast implants, I didn’t know the first thing about them other then seeing girls on TV with them. Needless to say I went ahead and got the breast implants but I told her I didn’t want to look like Dolly Parton with huge breast and she assured me that I wouldn’t. She said the implants were safe and that I was getting cohesive silicone gel. I was hesitant but I was already there and paid so I figured I had nothing to lose. I remember coming out of that procedure not feeling much pain but I wouldn’t say I was a huge fan of my breasts because they were big but nothing I thought I couldn’t handle. As time went on I began to hate my breast implants, I was always the center of unwanted attention. I was about 135lbs and my breasts were a 36D. I didn’t like the way shirts fit and my breast began to sag even more. So I knew eventually removing them would be best. Now fast forward to 2021 it was a Saturday after work and I was watching a movie and my heart began to race uncontrollably that I thought I was having a heart attack. I got up and went to the hospital which was right up the block from me. It felt like it was an episode of Grey’s Anatomy the way the doctors rushed me in after they took my vitals, I was hooked up to an EKG machine, an IV in my arm and was asked a million questions. I was so scared because I just knew that was the end for me. They come in a few hours later and tell me my potassium was low which caused my heart rate to speed up. I was like ok cool we can fix this but from that day forward I suffered from severe heart palpitations. I was admitted to the hospital for about four days because they wanted to monitor my heart. During my time their I had a heart monitor around my neck, they did a d-dimer for blood clots and I had a echocardiogram done. Everything came back normal so I asked my doctor could it be my breast implants because that was the only thing in my body that I believe could be causing such a disruption. I had been vegan for about 5 years so I figured it couldn’t be my diet. After I was released from the hospital my health was declining rapidly and I knew it wasn’t from my potassium being low and no matter what the test said about me being healthy I had to listen to my body. I decided to look on YouTube and see if anyone was having issues with their implants and immediately videos started to pop up of BII (breast implant illness) after watching the first video I being to cry so hard because everything that the young lady spoke about mirrored what I was experiencing. Looking back I had symptoms for a long time and didn’t connect the dots. My symptoms where blurred vision, brain fog, night sweats, fatigue, insomnia, difficulty swallowing, joint pain, chills, anxiety, vertigo, hair loss, ringing in my ear, sensitivity to light, irritable bowel, yeast infections, shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, memory loss, numbness and tingling in my hand, and difficulty concentrating.
