Starting my Explant Journey! - Cleveland, OH

Unfortunately the explant did not improve my health. Shortly after surgery, I felt a bit better. Yet, subsequently, my symptoms progressed and were accompanied my significant neurological problems including paralysis. Several trips to the ER and nobody could help me, they pretty much thought I was mentally creating symptoms as I "looked healthy" and my blood work was perfect (it still is!). In October 2014, my naturopath sent my blood work to IGeneX labs (not the CDC test as it is NOT reliable) and I tested positive for LYME DISEASE. All of that arm tingling and buzzing? Oh ya, that's lyme. Hair loss. Fatigue. Shortness of breath. Heart arrhythmia. Cognitive dysfunction. Candida. Thyroid issues. Adrenal fatigue. This disease has rocked my world in every way. I'm still off of work and actually horizontal as I type this, as I spend most days.

I really wish that I could have had a fantastic explant success story, but I my lesson is to follow your gut if you think removal is the right decision, but don't be hard on yourself if it is not the answer to your health problems. All things happen for a reason. Sure there are days where I absolutely miss my substantial cup size, but right now my only concern is getting my life back. I wouldn't doubt it that the surgery hindered my health (it's a lot to endure when you are chronically ill), but the lack of foreign objects in my body has likely allowed my body to concentrate on fighting pathogens. I do have 4 visible scars - surgery plus drains (the whole reason I went to Dr Feng was to have minimal scarring) and have not yet had the confidence to let anyone see my body.

I rarely go on this site as all of my time is dedicated to getting my health back and researching this horrific, rarely publicized or recognized disease. Yet if you do send a message, I will try to respond. Or feel free to follow me on Insta ... Healing lyme

I saw my rheumatologist today for the results of my updated bloodwork and she said all of my antibodies are completely normal. Previous to the explant, she had concerns over lupus and was relying on the antibody levels of this blood work to give me a diagnosis. All clear! She was curious as to what I have been doing differently from the previous bloodwork and I just explained that everything has been consistent, yet I removed my silicone implants. I told her that after thorough online research, it seemed to be the highest plausible cause for my health concerns. She laughed and tried to tell me that my beliefs were very dated as 'they' found there was no correlation with silicone and illness over a decade ago. I quickly put her in her place (which felt pretty awesome, I must say). Also advised her to keep it in mind if she has any current or future patients with implants and she graciously obliged. Feels good to spread the word!

Since surgery, I've had no night sweats, sharp breast pain (non-surgically related) and the glands in my neck are no longer swollen. My glands have been consistently enlarged since I've had my implants put in and my doctor always said not to worry as it was just scar tissue likely from strep throat (which I was also chronically plagued with right after implantation). So I think this is a huge sign. Very strange to feel my neck without bulges! Just need to tackle the fatigue and memory/brain fog so I can feel human again. Crossing my fingers that all of the detoxing and the IV therapy does the trick. It's like attrition warfare. If I keep at it, the buggers are going to eventually have to give.

Breast tissue has tightened up slightly and no longer am feeling achiness from surgery. The past week my fatigue has increased and now only 2 out of 7 days have been good ones. I've ramped up the detoxing (infrared sauna 3x week, Epsom salt bath 3x, clay bath 1x). I'll also be starting high dose vitamin C IV therapy at the suggestion of my alternative doctor. Not sure if any of this will help, but at this point, I have nothing left to lose.