A woman from my forum shared this poem with everyone.  I loved it and decided to share it with our readers.  

She said that this is a part of the breast cancer awareness campaign in the UK. 

Enjoy!

Ode to Boobs, by Pip Bishop
Dear boobs,
This heartfelt apology goes out to you all
For moaning you’re too big or moaning you’re too small
For wishing you didn’t hang like puppies in sacks
Or just disappear when we lie on our backs
For squashing you flat with a minimising cup
or those torture bras that push you right up.
Why is it always your bad points we mention
Like your inverted nips or your water retention?
Why don’t we love you as much as our men
Or the babies that love you all over again?
Maybe we’re scared to show you we care
In case, one day, you’re simply not there.

beth

Announcing the DVD release of “Absolutely Safe” …because every woman has the right to make an informed decision about her body. Exclusively available through Alive Mind Media on DVD November 4th.

New York, NY, October 24, 2008 –(PR.com)– Every year more than 250,000 teenagers and women choose breast implants, yet fewer voices than ever seem to be asking “Why?” And fewer still are asking “Are they safe?” The debut release of filmmaker Carol Ciancutti-Leyva, “Absolutely Safe” takes an open-minded, personal approach to the controversy over breast implant safety. Ultimately, “Absolutely Safe” is the story of everyday women who find themselves and their breasts in the tangled and confusing intersection of beauty and business.

“Absolutely Safe” is driven by the experience of the filmmaker’s own mother. Diagnosed with breast tumors, Audrey Ciancutti underwent a double mastectomy with silicone-implant reconstruction surgery. A year later, her implants ruptured, and soon after, her health steadily declined. Like thousands of other women, Audrey believes her debilitating illnesses—joint pain, chronic fatigue, scleroderma– are linked to her breast implants; however, most doctors and researchers deny this link. Among the debate by plastic surgeons, toxicologists, attorneys, implant manufacturers, whistle blowers, government officials and activists, “Absolutely Safe” introduces more women like Audrey who make choices about their breasts without being informed of the potential risks.

Even though the FDA recently lifted its restrictions on silicone implants and approved them for wide-scale use, many serious questions remain regarding breast implant safety. “Absolutely Safe” reveals that the conversation on implant safety is far more complex than mere health issues. Rather, the real question is how women can make informed decisions in a culture that equates female value with conformity to a synthetic ideal, and sexuality with large breasts. “Absolutely Safe” presents the personal stories of women who chose implants. “[’Absolutely Safe’] is the perfect antidote to ads and TV shows that now routinely mislead women into thinking that these devices have been proven to be safe.”–Judy Norsigian, co-author and Executive Director, Our Bodies Ourselves

Alive Mind is the exclusive home video distributor of “Absolutely Safe,” a personal journey by Mrs. Ciancutti-Leyva to bring awareness to women’s health and rights; because every woman has the right to make an informed decision about her body. This release will be available in November 2008.

About Our Bodies, Ourselves
Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS) is a nonprofit, public interest women’s health education, advocacy, and consulting organization. Beginning in 1970 with the publication of the first edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves, OBOS has inspired the women’s health movement by: Producing books that make accurate health and medical information accessible to a broad audience by weaving women’s stories into a framework of practical, clearly written text; Identifying and collaborating with exemplary individuals and organizations that provide services, generate research and policy analysis, and organize for social change; Inspiring and empowering women to become engaged in the political aspects of sustaining good health for themselves and their communities. For more information visit Our Bodies Ourselves at www.ourbodiesourselves.org/

About Alive Mind
Alive Mind releases on DVD and digitally specialty documentary programming in the areas of new consciousness, rational spirituality, and cultural transformation. Launched by industry pioneer Richard Lorber, Alive Mind seeks out intellectually provocative work from leading filmmakers – media content that delivers the “aha” response of a transformative experience. To advance discussion of issues related to our films, Alive Mind hosts Alive Mind Woman, where you will find open discussion about issues ranging from the decision not to have children to how to earn more money without selling your soul. AliveMindWoman.com hosts blogs for some of today’s most stimulating thinkers, filmmakers and activists including Ariel Gore, Carol Ciancutti-Leyva, and Jennifer Fox.

Visit them online at www.alivemind.net

Video Information:
“Absolutely Safe”
Price: $24.98
Genre: Documentary
Availability: Worldwide
Running Time: 83 minutes
Technical Aspects: 4:3, NTSC Region 0
Language: English

I found this article posted at Truth in Aging.com a few days ago. I found it interesting that a woman who has nothing to lose in saying whether silicone is safe or unsafe had so many negative things to say about silicone. Personally, I am tired of hearing over and over that is silicone is safe from plastic surgeons, implant manufacturers and others that have something to lose if the truth comes out that silicone is actually UNsafe. Silicone is toxic! And, just for the record, silicone is in the shell of a saline implant, so don’t think just because you have saline implants that you are safe. Read on!

Encouraged by an email exchange with Stan, I spent the last few days researching silicones. They crop up in many shampoos, conditioners and moisturizers (as well as breast implants), with aliases such as dimethicone, hydroxypropyldimethicone or amodimethicone. The claims made about silicones are starkly black or white: they are good for you or they are very bad for you. Since both statements are unlikely to be simultaneously true, some Truth In Aging perspective is needed.

Before we go into what is true or false, it is worth knowing that silicone is either an organic or inorganic polymer. And a polymer is made up of many molecules strung together. Depending on the structure of how these molecules link up, polymers could be soft and bouncy, rock hard or gooey and gel-like. Hence, different silicones can play different roles in cosmetics.

Silicones build up on the hair causing it to be dull and heavy - true or false?

This depends on the silicone. Cyclopentasiloxane (CPS), for example, is water-thin so it’s very good at dispersing thicker, greasier silicones. For this reason it’s often used in combination with dimethicone. It is also volatile, which means it will evaporate. So, not only does it help spread heavier silicones, but it doesn’t leave your hair feeling weighed down after it’s done.

Silicones will make your hair fall out - true or false?

The theory is that silicone in shampoos and conditioners builds up on the hair and deprives the shaft of oxygen with the result that hair falls out. This appears to be untrue. The Journal of Investigative Dermatology says: “Silicone-based conditioners, such as dimethicone, are one of the newest agents that aid in smoothing the cuticle and increasing hair smoothness and luster. The silicone is left behind following water rinsing of the shampoo as a thin coating over each individual hair shaft to fill in visible defects in the hair cuticle.Probably the most important aspect of hair cosmesis is combing ease. Increased hair friction snags the hair as the comb is drawn for grooming purposes, resulting in hair breakage. This is the most common cause of significant hair loss in normal patients, patients with dandruff, and patients afflicted with female pattern hair loss. Compatibility of the hair can be increased by smoothing the cuticle and coating each individual hair shaft with an agent to decrease friction. Silicone fulfills this need.”

Some people are allergic to silicone - true or false?

I’ve seen quite a few people remark on online message boards that they are allergic to ‘cones. This is mostly likely to be false and they are allergic to some other ingredient (perhaps a preservative). Unlike many preservatives that are known irritants, countless tests have been conducted with silicones that have concluded that they do not cause allergic reactions. Having said that, unmodified silicones stay on or near the surface of the skin. Not only are the molecules too big to physically enter past the upper living cells, they associate with the upper layer of drying skin but they also cannot penetrate cell membranes due to their large size. In some ways that is a good thing, however, they may be preventing stuff - sweat - from getting out. There have been some recent studies that show that prolonged exposure of the skin to sweat that can’t escape causes irritation.

Silicones can cause cancer - true or false?

This question came to head when women with silicone breast implants made an association with leakage of the gel and subsequent development of cancer cells. This is where things really get black and white. The evidence for whites (silicone does not cause cancer) looks to be compelling. Until, that is, you come to the realization that the evidence is based on research carried out decades ago. The most quoted is the most problematic. It was conducted by Dow Chemical (maker of silicone) on one group of rats, just after the Second World War.

I also came across a reference to a review of 123 reports on cyclic polydimethlsiloxanes (D3, D4, D5, and D6). The review concluded: “These compounds are volatile and potentially of concern in manufacturing; however, they also are used in consumer products, such as hair sprays, and are found in breast implants, although in very low amounts (see Chapter 3). They are practically nontoxic on ingestion, dermal application, or inhalation, although they are mildly irritating when placed directly on the skin or in the eyes. Subacute gavage studies showed that these compounds had no untoward effect other than a reversible increase in liver weight due to increases in both cell number and cell size at doses ranging up to 2,000 mg/kg. Skin application did not cause toxicity; however, some D5 penetrates the skin.”

I was about to breath a sigh of relief until I discovered that the  reports were all 40 years old.

And then I found this: according to research gathered by attorney Richard Alexander, of the Alexander Law Firm in San Jose, California, Dow Chemical and Dow Corning have been aware of the toxic effects of silicone and silica since the 1950s, based on their own studies, but never published the data. They knew these substances were bioreactive, immunogenic, toxic, and inflammatory when introduced into the human body, states Alexander. (Update on Breast Implants,January 1998, website: http://consumerlawpage.com.)

“Silicone degrades into silica, usually at the surface of the gel implant, then fragments and subdivides into millions of microdroplets capable of migrating throughout the body” (according to PSC Records No. 1352, 7017. These are documents produced by Dow Corning in national litigation. Silica in the body is a toxic, carcinogenic substance, damaging the immune system, killing cells, and producing silicosis.

Silicone is toxic - true or false?

True, I’m afraid. The Journal of Toxicology reported that silicone injections led to multi-organ failure. Research collected by the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee (PSC) for the National Breast Implant Litigation shows that silicone has marked effects on the adrenal glands and liver, induces chronic inflammation, and degrades into smaller molecules, including silica. Silicone fed to rabbits produced widespread toxic effects including kidney and spleen damage within four months. (Stanford Medical Bulletin, 10:1 [1952], 23-26.) “That silicone is toxic in both animals and man is well proven“, stated John S. Sergent, M.D., and colleagues in Textbook of Rheumatology (W.B. Saunders Company, 1993).

OK, but I am not injecting or ingesting silicones and I have the breasts that God gave me, so I am not in any real danger - true or false?
This is a bit trickier and enters a realm dappled with shades of grey. If the silicone molecules are too large to enter the surface of the skin and, as is the case with cyclopentasiloxane (in vitro tests show that less than 2% penetrates the skin), it evaporates quickly, then there probably isn’t too much to fear from your shampoo or moisturizer. On the other hand, silicones can help some ingredients penetrate the skin more effectively. Dow Corning sites some research with silicone and hydroquinone in which  “the silicone gum induced the formation of a reservoir of hydrocortisone in the stratum corneum“.

In the same paper, Dow Corning becomes at best ambiguous about the safety of topical silicones. It cites tests on rats that led to enlarged livers and testicular cancer. But then says, without any back-up, “this effect is not applicable to humans” - provided that the silicone “was allowed to evaporate”.

But silicones have some benefit or there wouldn’t be so much of it in my bathroom - true or false?

Largely false. Even those that are described as “skin conditioning” or “conditioning agents” are entirely superficial and temporary, imparting a silky, feel-good factor, but without actually doing anything at the cellular level. There is an argument that silicones protect you from other nasties, such as hair from pollution. Hmm, but at what cost?

Silicones that you can expect to see in cosmetics and hair care:

Dimethicone (also called Polydimethylsiloxane), Methicone, Amino Bispropyl Dimethicone, Aminopropyl Dimethicone, Amodimethicone, Amodimethicone Hydroxystearate, Behenoxy Dimethicone, C30-45 Alkyl Dimethicone, C24-28 Alkyl Dimethicone, C30-45 Alkyl Methicone, Cetearyl Methicone, Cetyl Dimethicone, Dimethoxysilyl Ethylenediaminopropyl Dimethicone, Hexyl Methicone, Hydroxypropyldimethicone, Stearamidopropyl Dimethicone, Stearoxy Dimethicone, Stearyl Methicone, Stearyl Dimethicone and Vinyl Dimethicone.

Honestly ladies, what more do you need to know, what more do you need to hear? Your implants might not be causing you any problems now, but down the road as the implant degrades, you will have MAJOR health problems on your hands. There are just too many of us who are sick, fighting with our health to call in a coincidence. Silicone is a toxic substance and should NEVER be implanted into the human body.

Here is another great article by Carol Ciancutti-Leyva. This was published in Alive Mind Woman on October 2, 2008.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is an important time to inform and educate everyone—men and women—about breast cancer detection, prevention, and treatments. Yesterday, the Oprah Winfrey show dedicated its hour to this very topic. The show began with Christina Applegate bravely sharing her story. I applaud her openness and Oprah’s dedicating her show to this issue. Christina discussed her decision to have a radical mastectomy and her decision to be reconstructed with saline implants. She explained the procedure of getting saline implants after mastectomy, the placement of breast expanders, and the later implantation of saline implants. She then said “I’ll never have to wear a bra again.” That took my breath away for a second.

My mother went to the Mayo Clinic in the early 1970’s and she was told to have a radical mastectomy and have her breasts reconstructed with silicone implants. Her surgeon told her the same thing–“You’ll never have to wear a bra again!” Two years after that surgery her implant ruptured and she had it replaced. Very shortly after that it ruptured again. My mother has suffered a great deal of pain from the several surgeries, complications from the implants, and subsequent health problems. Not having to wear a bra was a very insignificant benefit given the many serious problems she had with her implants.

Now, one might say that this happened years ago and now implants are safer, the surgery has been perfected, and even the FDA has approved both saline and silicone implants. I think this is far from the truth. Somehow, the known risks, the known complications, and unknowns about the long-term safety of both saline and silicone implants are being lost. Don’t forget that the FDA and implant manufacturers fully acknowledge that breast implants carry known risks, like rupture and capsular contracture. The safety dispute emerges regarding the “unknown” risks like severe allergic reaction to the chemicals and platinum salts used in both saline and silicone breast implants.

I watched the Oprah show yesterday and by the end of the hour I was filled with a profound sadness and anger that I didn’t hear any discussion about the safety of implants. There was not even one word mentioned about risk or safety questions. And, breast implants, both saline and silicone, are only one of the reconstruction options for mastectomy patients. There are other reconstructive procedures available to women, using the patient’s own fat (from other areas of the body) to rebuild the breast. Or, there are some very gifted medical artists who sell breast prosthesis that require no surgery.
On yesterday’s show there was an oncologist, the head of the Susan Komen Foundation, and several breast cancer survivors. The conversation was important and informative but missing an important chapter—other options that may be safer and perhaps even less expensive for women.

Today, I went to the Oprah website hoping to find some supplementary information about the safety of breast implants and it wasn’t there. I am so struck by the seeming lack of information presented to women and to the public. There are important organizations that every woman facing this choice should contact.

Judy Norsigian, the Executive Director of Our Bodies Ourselves, has stated “We know breast cancer patients want to make informed decisions, but that just isn’t possible when the necessary long-term research has not been done.”

Breast Cancer Action has a statement about the FDA approval of silicone implants, “Breast Cancer Action is alarmed and concerned that the FDA has once again erred on the side of industry at the expense of women’s health.”

The National Center for Research for Women and Families issued a report in 2006 called Decisions in the Dark. Do breast cancer patients choosing silicone implants know that Inamed Corporation’s three year study on silicone implants that 46% of the reconstruction patients had a re-operation in the first three years? Do they know that Allergan, one of the leading sellers of breast implants today, states in all of their ads “Safety and effectiveness have not been established in patients with a weakened immune system.” And, that “The health consequences of a ruptured silicone gel-filled breast implant have not been fully established.”

Where is the balanced information so that women can make an informed choice? I applaud Oprah and Christina for talking about breast cancer and mastectomy, but such discussions must at least acknowledge that breast implants carry known and unknown risks. Never having to wear a bra again is the least of our concerns. Speak out, write back, log onto absolutely safe and tell us your story.

Here at Beauty and the Breast, we have been following the story regarding Applegate’s recent masectomy.  I had read many stories regarding her reconstruction but never knew if she planned a breast reconstruction using her own tissue or breast implants. 

This story reports that she did a nude photoshoot so that she can remember what her breasts looked like prior to the masectomy.  What I found upsetting is that she described the expanders she has in order to stretch the skin for the placement of saline implants.  

I can’t help but wonder why so many breast cancer patients opt for this type of reconstruction.  I strongly believe that this is just adding insult to injury. 

Saline implants are not any safer than silicone gel implants.  I should know as I had them for 8 years.  My explant was 4 years ago and I’m still disabled from autoimmune type disorders and severe fatigue.  My implants were filled with mold and bacteria. 

I’m sure her doctor convinced her that this was a very safe option.  She seems like such a smart woman.  Did she do her research?  Does she know that these implants will have to be replaced several times in her lifetime?  Does she know about the automimmune diseases she will at risk for not to mention the slew of other health issues?

I hope the best for her and wonder if she does become ill, will she speak out about it or will it be ‘Mum’s the word like so many Hollywood Celebrities?’. 

beth

Here is an update from Carol Ciancutti-Leyva, Author of the documentary “Absolutely Safe.” This was published in Alive Mind Woman on September 18, 2008.

In 1995, I went to Washington, DC to film a rally on the Washington mall. Women and their families and friends from all over the country had convened to protest the lack of safety information the government was requiring manufacturers of breast implants to provide. I walked around in the crowd and interviewed woman after woman who told me the same basic story about their failed implants. Maybe slightly different symptoms, some had implants ruptured, some had great pain but virtually all of them believed they were sick from their implants and all believed the device had failed them. This crowd was asking the government to force breast implant manufacturers do to more and better research. This is the first step I took in making my film, ABSOLUTELY SAFE.

Fast forward 13 years and what has changed. Not much EXCEPT both saline and silicone implants were approved by the FDA based on two to three years of safety data. The FDA approval was given despite the fact that long term safety is an important concern for women getting implants. Breast augmentation is more popular than ever. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons breast augmentation was the #1 most performed surgical procedure in the US in 2007. They also state that “despite domestic concerns like inflation and the home lending crisis, average American continue to spend money on plastic surgery.” ASPS state there was a 7% increase in procedures from 2006 to 2007.

For breast cancer patients who are recommended to have mastectomies, the recommended reconstruction of the breast is with silicone implants. Also, now women with the breast cancer gene are recommended to have radical mastectomies and have silicone implants put in.

I started my film, ABSOLUTELY SAFE, many years ago to give voice to the women who believed their health had been harmed by breast implants. My Mother was (and is) one of them. The question remains has the public or the medical community truly heard these voices? Have other women contemplating this surgery heard these voices? Are women getting Informed Consent? Do they still want implants even if they understand the possible health risks and the unknowns of breast implants safety? I don’t have the definitive answers and I have never set out to prove implants harmful. I set out to give a certain group of women a voice.

Informed consent is defined as:

A medical doctrine based on the notion that every patient has a right to decide what’s going to be done to his or her body. It requires doctors to inform patients of all the risks and benefits connected with an operation or procedure. Patient must not only be informed of such risks, they must also fully understand them.”

So, do women get informed consent? Do they understand the risks of implants? After a screening of my film last year at Boston College, a young man raised his hand to make a comment. A young woman who appears in the film got saline implants and lost sensation in her nipples. This a possible risks of implants that was clearly on her surgical permission form she signed. Now did she read it, did she understand it, did she want the implants despite this possibility?

This particular young man was completely baffled why a woman would get implants if loss of nipple sensation was a possible risk. I do think though if a young man was going to have a penile implant and he was told that he may possibly lose sensation, I can say with fair certainty that he would say “No thank you! How I feel is important than anyone’s perception of how I look.” Do women feel the same way?

I read about a new type of breast implant or breast enhancement method as I’m not sure they can really be considered breast implants.  I must say I was very shocked when I read about this.  The article claims that 60% of women would prefer ‘Micro-Breast Implants’.  My first thought was who did the study to find out just what the figures were? 

Reading further about this new method, I was a bit in shock.  These ‘implants’ are the size of a raisin.  A silicone raisin, wow, that sounds really safe!  So basically what a PS will do is make a very small incision and insert hundreds of these raisin size implants into the breast and they are boasting that the incision site will only be 5mm in size.

I think that these are some of the things that women need to take into consideration prior to having this done:

Will a mammo rupture these small implants?  If so, will a rupture be easily detected? 

More importantly, will a mammo be able to detect a lump on the breast?  I’d expect that when looking at a mammo, these raisin size ‘implants’ might appear to be small lumps so how do you determine which are the implants and what might be a lump?

How easily will these migrate throughout the body, under the arms?  After all, I’ve heard of some women that have had their implants move and end up in the upper chest area or in the armpit area.  I’d think that something this small would be more likely to migrate.  How would you keep them in place?

Lastly, how about removal?  How would a surgeon go in and remove ‘hundreds’ of these micro-implants?  I would think that this would be a very difficult task and way to risky. 

This in my opinion is so dangerous.  I really hope that women do their research before even considering this type of breast enhancement.  Better yet, I hope that women feel the same as I do and realize this is just not safe at all. 

Breast cancer is on the rise so do we really want to risk not being able to detect a lump for bigger breasts?  Women with implants are already risking this. 

I must tell our readers that when my implants were removed, there was a very large tumor found behind my one implant.  The tumor appeared malignant in nature.  I had a mammo, ultrasound and MRI and not one of these tests detected that tumor.  Thank goodness that tumor was benign but what if it hadn’t been? 

Please think carefully before even considering this type of breast enhancement. 

beth

“I’m going to have cute boobs til I’m 90,” Christina Applegate told Good Morning America regarding her upcoming reconstructive breast surgery.

 

Hmmm…now where have I heard that before?  Oh, yes, that was me just before I decided to get breast implants.  And in a perfect world, perhaps that would be possible.  At 19, I lived in that somewhat perfect world.  A world where doctors “do no harm”, and where there is a pill you can take to cure just about anything.  What a bunch of crap.  I thought my decision to get breast implants was a testament to how young and naive I was, but apparently not, as 30-something Christina is about to make a similar mistake.   The real world is messy.  There are coverups and whistleblowers, bribe money and science for sale, and fake officials stamping their fake approval on fake devices that are going in our bodies.  This is where we live today.  I do not blame women for not knowing the truth about breast implants; I blame the people that are purposely keeping the truth from them.  It is these people that are breaking oaths, causing harm, and stepping on whomever they please to make a buck or two, and it is the women that will continue to suffer.  Someone should tell Christina Applegate what she’s really up against after 50 years or so with breast implants: multiple corrective operations, several sets of breast implants, and if she’s really lucky, a host of seemingly unrelated autoimmune symptoms that just might lead to her death.  No she’s right, she will not die from breast cancer…it could much more likely be her breast implants.  ~Kacey 

I found this great blog today called “Woman Reproduction Health.” Today’s topic was breast implants, and I just wanted to share this bloggers top 15 reasons for not getting breast implants.

1. According to the FDA, up to 10 percent of saline implants deflate in less than five years. In addition, for each year the implant spends in the body, more and more complications in it become prevalent.

2. Usually, patients with breast cancer tend to have more complications than do patients with no health problems. In fact, it is a very risky time for a breast cancer patient to perform breast implants.

3. According to the study made by the National Institute of Medicine, 40 percent of patients who’ve gotten breast implants had to go back for another operation because of the bad faults that had arisen in them.

4. According to one of the studies, 20 percent of women who performed breast implants had silicone from their implants later on to migrated to elsewhere in their body. What’s even more interesting is that doctors are aware of this yet lie that their breast implants have ruptured.

5. Mentor, a study made by the maker of saline breast implants, found that almost 30 percent of implants put in the body had to be taken back out due to bad side effects that arouse.

6. Even though it is seldom, it is still important to put into consideration that the complications brought about by the breast implants can be so severe that not only the breasts would end up getting amputated, but the lungs and the heart are affected by it also. Worst case scenario: You can die by this.

7. One of the newest implant contains vegetable oil. Thus, at some point, that implant will spoil, and since it will spoil, it will attract many microorganism, posing harm to your health.

8. Fortunately, this type of implant is not approved in the U.S. and U.K., but if you are a European patient being offered a choice of having oil-filled implants, you better watch out, because if the oil in the breast leaks into the body, it will absorb calcium, and once it enters the bloodstream, it will create a fat emboli that could kill you without any warning.

9. You will be unable to have health insurance coverage for many breast-related illness.

10. Dr. Jack A. Friedland of Scottsdale says about the breasts having implants, “If a doctor tells you they don’t have complications, they’re either not operating or they’re lying to you.”

11. A plethora of doctors performing breast implants on the patients do not have a proper qualification. Most of the states allow anyone to perform it, as long as they have a medical degree, and sell plastic surgery.

12. There have been cases where doctors have told their patients that they look great when they should instead be saying that they should be going to the emergency room.

13. Breasts with implants in them feel like cement blocks with barely a half inch of skin. This does not seem adequate if you want healthy breasts.

14. Surgery on breasts damages nerves and the sensation of the skin, not to mention the effects are irreversible.

15. Despite the fact that many operations today compensate for the cement effects, some side effects can be lethal to the extent where a reoperation is imperative.

A lot of great points were brought up that I had never thought about before. I have a list of 40 reasons not to get breast implants on my website, and this blog gave me even more reasons to add to my long and growing list!

I’m getting very tired of reading blogs, like the ones here and here and articles regarding women with breast implants are more likely to commit suicide.  These articles are basically saying that the women that commit suicide would have done it anyway whether they had implants or not.  This ‘research’, that has been done, claims that it has shown the link between the two.  Yes, there is a link but it is because implants cause chronic illnesses and financial loss and also some women realize that their implants have made their children sick as well. 

So, I must ask you to place yourself in the shoes of a women with a chronic illness.  This woman is searching for answers as to why one day she was perfectly healthy and the next she couldn’t get out of bed and was diagnosed with a load of diseases and disorders some of which she never heard of.  Then when you think that things can’t get worse, you lose your job, your home, your car, EVERYTHING. 

How would most people react to that happening in their life?  No not all would commit suicide but many probably would.  We already know that chronic illness and depression goes hand in hand.  We also know that most people that suffer from depression, ’self medicate’ themselves with alcohol.  This is a known fact. 

I have been seeing psychiatrists since I was in my 20’s and its not something that I like to talk about but one doctor I was seeing asked me an interesting question that really made me stop and think.  He asked me if I would ever consider suicide??  This was before implants mind you, my answer surprised me as I never even though of something so terrible as suicide.  My answer to him was that NO, absolutely not.  I can’t imagine doing anything like that as I’m too much of a coward.  Killing yourself takes an awful lot of courage and that is something I don’t have.  I remember the look he gave me, kind of shocked, stunned and speechless.  He paused for a while and simply said, ‘Well, lets hope you continue to be a coward’.  I always remembered that conversation between me and my psychiatrist.  Every time I heard that someone took their own life, I would always be in disbelief and thought, how could things ever get that bad?

Well, I learned that things can get that bad.  I’m not psychotic or crazy or nuts or any of the other terms that people are called that suffer from depression.  I became very ill from my saline filled silicone implants.  So ill, I lost everything I owned.  The material things weren’t as hard as losing my job as I absolutely loved what I did.  It was my entire life and I woke up every morning thankful that I was getting paid to do something that I absolutely loved to do.    Yes, I was very lucky!    

So imagine becoming so ill that you can’t work, you’ve lost your love so to speak.  You are sick and lose interest in everything because you can barely keep your eyes open.  You are in pain and no one can give you any answers to why you have become so ill.  The toxins are affecting every part of your body which makes the depression worse and you are watching your life pass you by.  I don’t think this is something that any human being can endure without at least thinking about suicide. 

If this research were true, about 70% or more of the population would be taking their lives.  Antidepressants are one of the most widely prescribed drugs out there!  So this research to me is completely bogus.  I know as I lived through it!

I had my explant in November of 2004, a month after trying to take my own life.  On the way to the hospital, all I thought was that I hope I never wake up from this surgery.  That was the toxins affecting me because as soon as those damn things were removed, I started to feel better.  Yes, I still suffer from depression.  Many people do but it doesn’t mean they are going to go and kill themselves.  I suffer from depression but now if someone ever asked me if I would consider suicide, my answer would be that I’m too much of a coward.  Many say that committing suicide is the act of a coward but unless you have reached that low in your life, you would know that it really is just the opposite. 

This is a hard topic for me and I’m not looking for sympathy because I’m very happy with my life and I feel like certain things happened to me for a reason.  I feel fortunate once again.  Maybe not lucky but give me a few more years!

Another prime example is the heart breaking story of P.J. Brent.  The medical examiner said that P.J. Brent had such high levels of platinum in her body that she couldn’t have possibly been thinking clearly.  Also, the implants she thought were safe, made two of her children very ill as well.  I must ask you if this is something that you would be able to endure?  How do you fight the effects of chemicals in your body without going crazy?  Breast implants can make women feel like they are going crazy.  I know as I’ve experienced it.  I would be willing to bet if this woman never got implants, she would still be alive today.  What person could endure such heart ache and physical pain??? 

Beth