I am new here - intro

[Guest guest]

With a very heavy heart, I'm introducing myself. :-(

I am 33 years old, have sub pec smooth saline (mentor) implants for

five years now with no problems until seven months ago. I have two

children, one who is 5 months and breastfeeding (I fed my

successfully b/fd my first as well, with implants). I went from 34B

to 35D.

My symptoms are:

- extreme joint pain, stiffness. First it was neck then back and now

it is severe in knees, hips, groin, wrists, ankles, feet. My rings

no longer fit and my shoe size is up one size.

- joint pain and stiffness/achiness aggravated any time I sleep or

rest

- flu like feelings constantly, never gets better with rest

- fuzzy thinking, fog-brain (I am sleep deprived but I was with my

first child and I was still whip smart, not like I am now

- extreme fatigue - like someone just pulled the plug on me

- joints feel hot, I sweat a lot and am hot all the time

- hand dexterity significantly reduced

No headaches, though and I have no numbness, chest rashes.

I kept blaming my pain and fatigue on things like relocation, new

mattress, new baby, just tired, etc. But the *fact* is, I'm getting

worse not better and I feel 73, not 33. I miss how I used to feel so

much! I used to go for long hikes with my (then) infant son and

never was tired or sore, just healthy. Now I wince and gear up just

to get out of bed.

I moved out of the US, haven't see a doc here. My PS is in CA,

haven't contacted him either. I feel strongly that when I see my GP,

he will not include my implants as a probable cause for my symptom

profile. And the thought of being ignored or dismissed is crushing

right now.

I cannot have surgery at this time as I have to continue to

breastfeed my baby, so any explant will have to wait a bit. I want

to breastfeed more children of mine in the future and am very worried

that when I get the explant (b/c I believe the implants are the

prob), I will risk my ability to breastfeed.

My husband is very worried with all my implant talk and research and

thinks it's drastic to even consider explant. I am beginning to feel

like i have an invader in my chest and I want it out *now*. I feel

creepy all of the sudden that I have these implants in me (what was I

thinking???) Husband thinks if I sleep more and drink no coffee, it

will improve but I tell ya, I think he is wrong. I do not feel right

and that fact isn't going away.

So, that's my intro and I so so appreciate this group being here. It

makes sense to me that the saline could get moldy, that the silicon

shell could break down and migrate - all these things are so

logical. What doesn't make sense to me is a doc saying 'oh, it's not

the implants' or that bs about saline being harmless and the shell

shards unlikely.

Thanks for this space.