Fw: Women find strength, a bond after health problems resulting fromfaulty breast implants

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From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

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Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 8:17 PM

Subject: Women find strength, a bond after health problems resulting

fromfaulty breast implants

> ~~~ Thanks much Jewell, love Ilena ~~~

>

>

>

http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id=1A845F84-6618-4572-8FE2-7F626C6A40BB

>

> Women find strength, a bond after health problems resulting from faulty

> breast implants

>

> MICHELLE SAXTON

> Canadian Press

>

>

> Friday, January 25, 2002

>

>

>

> CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The camaraderie is evident as they sit at lunch,

> sharing gifts, talking, laughing and sharing cake and candy. Their

> sisterhood is obvious. What brought them together is not.

>

> For varying reasons, each woman received breast implants in the 1970s and

> '80s. Since then, several have had health problems, including lupus, body

> aches and fatigue. Today, the women meet regularly to confide in each

> other and draw strength from their misfortunes.

>

> " Sisters of Silicone, that's what we call ourselves, " said Emma on

> of Cross Lanes. " We've just bonded, all of us. "

>

> " It's just an enjoyable . . . couple hours for us once a month to catch

> up, " said Becky Miceli of Elkview.

>

> Miceli started the group about seven years ago after she and other West

> Virginia women sued Dow Corning and other breast implants manufacturers,

> claiming the implants made them sick. Similar allegations were made by

> thousands of North American women.

>

> Dow Corning, which stopped making silicone breast implants in 1992,

> declared bankruptcy in 1995.

>

> In 2000, a U.S. federal court upheld a $3.2 billion settlement, which Dow

> Corning hopes will fend off future litigation from the more than 170,000

> women who have faulty silicone implant claims against the company. The

> settlement was part of Dow Corning's plan to emerge from Chapter 11

> bankruptcy.

>

> As many as 70 women have attended the sisters of silicone meetings, but as

> women received settlements from other companies, the participation slacked

> off. Still, at least 20 women participate - either attending the group

> sessions or receiving its newsletters.

>

> The origin of their illness remains unclear.

>

> Some scientists, including members of a court-appointed panel that issued

> a report in 1999, say there is no link between the implants and disease.

>

> Yet a Food and Drug Administration study on ruptured implants published

> last May suggests an association between fibromyalgia - a painful

> rheumatic condition usually accompanied by fatigue - and silicone that had

> migrated outside the fibrous scar capsule around implants.

>

> " I never have a day without pain, " said 54-year-old Erma Roe of Clendenin,

> who suffers from chronic fatigue, migraine headaches and seizures.

>

> Roe received her implants after fibrocystic breast disease forced her to

> have her breasts removed. The implants were removed after one leaked, but

> still there was pain in the area of her breasts.

>

> The meetings allow Roe to " forget for a while and laugh. "

>

> The women provide each other with support and understanding. They listen

> and sympathize.

>

> At 69, on, too, has fibromyalgia.

>

> " You talk yourself into trying to overlook everything because you know

> it's not going to get any better, " she said.

>

> on received saline implants in 1979 following a double mastectomy

> because of cystic breast disease. Within two years, the set ruptured. She

> noticed something was horribly wrong after work one day.

>

> " When I got home that night to take a shower, I looked down and my breast

> was just flat, " on said. " They had just burst. "

>

> She received silicone implants in 1981 after a surgeon recommended them.

>

> " He felt like I was too young not to have any breasts, " on said.

>

> About two years later, she began feeling pain in her shoulders, arms and

> hands.

>

> " I decorated cakes . . . and I would be squeezing the tubes, and all at

> once my fingers would lock, " she said. " I would run to the kitchen, run

> hot water on them to make them bend. "

>

> Later, she noticed that her breasts began to look lopsided. She had the

> implants removed in 1995 after an MRI showed that one implant had

> ruptured. The surgery lasted nearly five hours.

>

> " All that . . . silicone was sort of glued to my ribs, " said on,

> who now wears prosthetics and a padded bra.

>

> Miceli said getting breast implants was very common about 25 years ago.

> Women were told the implants were safe and would last forever.

>

> Miceli received silicone implants in 1976 because she was self-conscious

> about her small breasts.

>

> " I just thought, oh, I can wear bathing suits, and I can wear . . . nice

> dresses during the holidays and . . . just not have to worry, " she said.

>

> There were no immediate problems. But Miceli decided to have the implants

> removed in the mid-1990s because they had grown uncomfortably hard.

>

> She also hoped to improve her health, which had started to decline from

> lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease. Over the years, she has dealt with

> weight loss, fatigue and thinning hair.

>

> " Now I wish that I would have just been happy with . . . the way I was, "

> Miceli said.

>

> Miceli considers herself lucky. Her husband and three children have

> supported her over the years, and she has her sisters of silicone.

>

> " It's been good medicine for us, " she said. " I guess we'll keep meeting .

> . . 10, 20 years from now. "

>

>