Myrl Jeffcoat wisgroup_leader@yahoo.com

Sensitivity to Metals and Women with Breast Implants

Recently, I have had little conversations with a few of the women harmed by breast implants. And these conversations have brought up a lingering question that has rattled around in my head.

First of all, being in California, we seem to have more than our share of breast implant surgeries. I have noticed that implanted women seem to either get quite ill right away, or have a honeymoon period of a few years, and then get sick. Still other women seem to have their implants (yes even the silicone ones) for many years without ill effects.

Here is one common denominator that I seem to be noticing among women, who seem to almost immediately become ill with their implants - They were and are allergic or sensitive to the metals in their jewellery - even prior to implantation.

As one woman told me, "I can’t wear a watch with a metal band, I can’t wear earrings unless they are a minimum of 18kt. gold."

Because of my interest in these sensitivity issues, I decided to poll the readers of my group, and how many have similar sensitivity to jewellery, and especially if they had the sensitivity before implantation. If so, WHEN after implantation did they come ill?

In my own instance, I had the sensitivity before implantation, and began getting ill from implants about 3 ½ years later.

This isn’t any kind of scientific study, but I found the responses quite interesting. They follow here.

Myrl Jeffcoat

Women’s Information & Support

http://www.webstarmagic.com/wisletter.htm
http://www.myrljeffcoat.com

[Comments from: VL] - I had a mild sensitivity before implants. After having my chest scraped during explant, the sensitivity grew worse. Sometimes I can’t wear a watch at all. 14K Gold earrings ate through my ear lobe and the ear did not heal right.

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[Comments from: PD] - My symptoms of illness began showing up within a year and with each replacement where the chest was disturbed, I became worse.

I had one abnormality on the brain after a year that was diagnosed with an EEG. Seventeen years later, I had two independent abnormalities in separate lobes of the brain show up with another EEG.

One answer may be that only some of the implants had platinum. Some had none at all. There are many different formulas for the silicone and that probably accounts for the differences in illnesses and why some women do not become ill.

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[Comments from CP] - Myrl, At the same time of my implant rupture, I became allergic to all my jewellery. It was 11 yrs after implant and I’d had no problems previously.

To answer your question regarding metal sensitivity. I was allergic to all metals (other than gold and silver) long before I got silicone implants. I did not become ill for almost 15 years after getting the implants. One ruptured when I had them removed 20 years after I got them. Thanks for keeping us informed regarding the implant problem.

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[Comments from: ET] - Myrl, I have sensitivity to jewellery that is not 18 carat gold can’t wear metal watch bands, don’t really remember just when it started although I do believe it was prior to the implants mine were Dow Corning, I now also have chemical sensitivity as well and I have had to move in Church and leave stores because some one had on perfumes that choked me, especially the floral ones. I also got sick very quickly, with-in 8 months. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, Raynauds Phenomenon, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Pulmonary Fibrosis as well as Pulmonary Hypertension. I also had a rupture for 13 years.

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[Comment from: AG] - Hi Myrl, Thank you for helping keep the communication lines open. I am one of the women, who had sensitivity to the metals in jewellery, especially earrings. I became seriously ill almost immediately after implantation of my silicone implants. I had a rupture within 3 years, and that pretty much devastated my health. I was explanted shortly thereafter, and have had a little improvement. I’m now not only still sensitive to jewellery, but also now have a hard time with shampoo, soap and many household products.

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[Comment from: CF] - The reason I wear those plastic watches is that I don’t get the bumps on my arm. If any of your ladies have problems with their watches, have them use clear fingernail polish on the clasp. I do it to wear my good watch which has a metal claps. Go figure….

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[Comment from: MA] - I can sure tell you that after not before having silicone implants placed—I began having problems with metals in my teeth. I actually became so fixated on my problems that I had bridges and crowns removed and replaced many times. The dry mouth plus the nickel and other metals, not to mention mercury, were all a problem for me. I was so busy having dental work done trying to solve all the problems with these metals that I did not recognize my symptoms were actually related to my breast implants. Maybe more women have had these problems as well.

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