Myrl Jeffcoat myrlj@jps.net

MS. BAEKE: I am Suzanne Baeke. I am a registered nurse, patient educator specializing in plastic surgery. I have no financial ties with any of the breast implant manufacturers.

I chose to have breast implants seven years ago. Three years later, my life with silicone gel breast implants would be best described as the roller coaster ride from hell.

Each day brought with it new horrors: fevers up to 103, chills, memory loss. Concentrating on everything became a problem, hair loss, repeated bladder infections, zero sex drive, dry mouth, severe joint pain, painful feet, and crippling muscle spasms to the point where I had to have three deep tissue massages per week.

The mood swings were crippling, not just for me but my entire family. At times I wished I were not alive. I suffered the chronic fatigue, yet suffered from insomnia. I would at times have to pull into a parking lot and shut my eyes for what I thought would just be a minute but turned out to be 45.

I was evaluated by my rheumatologist at the Mayo Clinic for chronic fatigue syndrome. MS, fibromyalgia, ankylosing spondylitis were all considered. Members of the Committee, I would not have wished my life on anyone, but I refuse to give up. I refuse to live this way. And I was on a mission to find out what was wrong with me.

I bought every product on late?night television that promised to fix me. Eventually I found an endocrinologist, Dr. Bernard Rice. He performed on me the most comprehensive evaluation I had ever witnessed. Eventually he took me by the hand, took my husband, and said, "Your wife needs hormone replacement. The fact that you are still married is incredible. Most men get out when things get this bad."

Dr. Rice is one of the pioneering investigators in the gradual but debilitating effects of hypo-ovarian syndrome. Call it premenopause if you wish. All women begin to suffer the effects of low ovarian testosterone production early in life, progressing until full menopause. For me, the hysterectomy with an oophorectomy sped up this insidious process.

Distinguished panel, I am here to set the record straight. It is no coincidence the symptoms of which I suffered are identical to many of the women testifying today. I submit that silicone implants have been ridiculously maligned when more likely the culprit is the low testosterone levels in the pre?menopause and menopause patient. With expert estrogen and testosterone replacement, all of my symptoms immediately reversed. And I still have my silicone gel implants.

To the National Organization of Women, I challenge you. If your motives are truly honorable, consider that you may be wrong. Read my lips. The real problem afflicting millions of women is not silicone gel implants. It's, rather, inadequate hormone replacement therapy.

Thank you.