Breast implant Illness and A.S.I.A.

Autoimmune Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants

While many people (including physicians) dismiss Breast Implant Illness as being a REAL thing, the irony is that by another name; it is, in fact, a REAL thing.


Have you heard of the term, “Autoimmune Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants?” The acronym is A.S.I.A. They introduced the term in 2011 to describe autoimmune-type symptoms caused by a systemic response to foreign objects. Maybe a more socially acceptable name for BII would be ASIA? Why would one term be rejected and another be accepted. I’ll circle back to that further below.


Regardless, basically it’s an autoimmune and inflammatory syndrome caused when your body is exposed to an external entity including: mesh, screws, artificial joints, silicone lap bands, metal implants, chemical additives in vaccines added to trigger an antibody response, silicone breast implants, basically anything that is put into the body that does not belong there that can cause the body to have an inflammatory and autoimmune response. Why? Because your body smartly knows that it doesn’t belong there, see’s it as an invasion, or threat and attacks it by trying to get rid of it. That natural process is something that is absolutely accepted and recognized: remember the last time you got a splinter & your finger swelled red and relentlessly tries to push the object out. Think of the times we hear of organ transplants being rejected. What about those folks that have an accident and years later the metal or glass shard finally surfaces through the skin. This rejection is caused by one’s immune system from (a perfectly intact, non-leaking) implant.


How does that happen?

Macrophages (large white blood cells found in your tissue) are the body’s first line of defense. Think of a Pacman that goes through your body and gobbles up the garbage. That Pacman or macrophage is the first cell to recognize (and try to) engulf foreign substances. Macrophages start the breakdown process, meanwhile triggering your smaller white blood cells (Lymphocytes: Tcells)… say Pacman had many babies helping him. Basically, your white blood cells job is to relentlessly try to destroy the implanted/ transplanted object.


Breast Implant Illness.

Let’s talk about breast implant illness specifically because when it comes to BII, apparently to most plastic surgeons, implant manufactures and physicians this entire natural process, somehow think it doesn’t exist when it comes to breast implants.


Why would one with a medical background accept that any time you put a foreign object in your body, you risk it triggering an auto-immune and an inflammatory response. But NOT with breast implants. Maybe we should call breast implant illness, A.S.I.A., instead?


SYMPTOMS

Why do so many people have very different breast implant illness symptoms? The symptoms resemble more like a moving target that is hard to measure, calculate and quantify. So many of the symptoms start off very abstract and subjective. Most often, the early onset of symptoms are chalked up to the “normal aging” process. For me, I became tired and run down more easily, I felt joint pain and backaches, I found I had a harder time concentrating and I developed random odd numbness and tingling in my fingers. I did what most of us would do, I addressed the SYMPTOMS without considering the underlying cause.

  • I took more advil for the back pain (I had some documented back issues from playing soccer my entire life, but those same issues were heightened even more so with early onset BII).

  • I drank more caffeine to get me through the day to treat my fatigue.

  • I created a file in my phone to record thoughts I had that I couldn’t hold on to. I assumed I was just too busy & that what was causing my poor concentration.


    SYMPTOMS vs CAUSE

    If you have a leak in your roof causing internal home damage, putting a tarp over the top of it will only hold the water & pest damage off for so long. If left unfixed, eventually mold & decay set in. Sources of problems need to be addressed or further damage occurs. The same is true with BII.

    Those Pacmen in your body haven’t forgotten their job. They are still fighting away day and night. And slowly, like the leak in the roof, the problem continues to wear down your immune system. Inflammation on the inside is more felt than seen. As in body aches, GI issues, food sensitivities, insomnia and headaches, for example. Over time, the chronic inflammation can be visible on the outside in ways of rashes, red eyes and hair loss.

    It may take months or years. For me, it took years for the symptoms to start. Once they did, because I didn’t fix the cause, my health declined over several years. By year 4 since I experienced a 40 pound weight gain, swollen lymph nodes in my armpits, and food sensitivities so bad that basically think anything I ate pissed my intestines off to the point my abdomen would swell like I was 9 months pregnant.

    You may think, “yeah I have some of those symptoms, but I can’t keep weight ON.” Or something totally opposite. That’s the thing with autoimmune responses… my body is going to start breaking down at my weakest genetic point. We are carrying different DNA and have our own biological predispositions. Mine may be my GI system, yours may be your Endocrine.

In 2016-2018 it was calculated that I spent 22,000 on medical tests all to figure out what was WRONG with me?? I became perfect in my nutrition, eating leafy greens, all organic, ate many micronutrients. No matter how great I treated my body, I could feel it declining with no symptoms ever going away, just new ones to accompany the previous ones. By 45, I felt like I was living in an 80-year-old’s body. I imagined there being no way I’d live to see 50 at the rate my health was declining. All these very real symptoms and yet all the diagnostic test and physicians came back “fine”. Fine?? I honestly questioned if I was losing my mind. I prayed and prayed to find out what was CAUSING all of this? What was the ONE THING I did to cause this decline in my body??


WHY DOESN’T the MEDICAL COMMUNITY ACKNOWLEDGE BII?

A wise woman (ie my mom) once said to me when I questioned something to, “Follow the Money”. I can say that doing pharmaceutical sales for 10 years and witnessing how lobbyists for vested interest organizations “work” with Big Pharma & the FDA to make sure they give us what THEY need (not what WE need). What do they need you may ask? Customers.

Let’s “Follow the Money”… shall we?

Where would pharmaceutical companies be if there were less sickness? Ever wonder how we have more medicine now yet are sicker than we have ever been as a nation? How many side effects on your heart medicine causes you to take more medicine? Have you considered that many of the chemical additives in foods exacerbate illness? Have you thought about how pesticides on foods affect your health? What if you knew that many of the pesticide & food additives companies are also affiliated with the pharmaceutical companies? What if your infertility, asthma, heart issues were all exacerbated if not caused by years of exposure to products you were told were safe? You THINK pharma is your life saving best friend, but what if they were actually the ones that caused you unknowingly to run straight into their “loving & life saving” arms.

Where would vaccine manufactures be if most viruses were easily eradicated with safe therapeutics & without a vaccine? How many vaccines are truly LIFE SAVING, or just strongly suggested? Were you aware that ALUMINUM is the most commonly used adjuvant in childhood shots? What if you have an adverse reaction to a vaccine or an interaction with another vaccine you took years ago, a) unlike a pill you can’t “untake” it and b) because of the PREP Act, you can’t sue the vaccine manufacturer. You have no recourse. It leaves you living with the consequences. You are a captive customer.

Where would medical device companies be if we cut the need for devices in HALF? Breast Implants alone are a $600 million dollar a YEAR business in 2020 & that’s just in the United States. Device companies certainly don’t want their cash cow to be labeled “Could cause or exacerbate autoimmune symptoms or A.S.I.A”.

How would a physician’s income change if their piece of that $600 million in annual sales was significantly eliminated because Implants were labeled appropriately and BII was listed as an obvious risk factor. We pay most breast augmentations in cash. How do you think that would that change a plastic surgeon’s annual cash flow if there were transparency? Here is another consideration re plastic surgeons: repeat business. Once you’ve gotten your augmentation, they are IN! Here is how the plastic surgeon sees his options: In your life you’ll need or want a newer pair OR you’ll experience BII and want them out & most likely with a lift.

Either way, he WINS: once they are in you are his or someone else’s repeat customer. WHY do you suppose a plastic surgeon, no matter how skilled or nice he may be, down play or worse, DENY Breast Implant Illness exists? Why do you think they play it off like it is RARE or with just certain implants? How can they accept ASIA… but not BII?

In my case, look how many industries eventually earned off my choosing to have breast implants. The pharmaceutical, the diagnostic, the device and the physician. Many times over. All in all, I spent well over $50k, for 3 sets of implants over 20 years, medical bills, the explant and lift.


THE SILICONE IMPLANT ITSELF.

Here’s what more concerning with Breast Implants compared to other types implants or devices. They are made from..SILICONE. Silicone comprises over 40 chemical & heavy metal compounds: many of which are known neurotoxins & carcinogens. To make matters worse, these chemical bags (let’s be pragmatic, that’s what they are) are not implanted in an extremity like a knee, they are implanted & given a permanent home right by all your vital organs like your liver, heart, lungs & lymphatic system. If you are in remission or have cancer, specifically breast, consider that your immune system is already severely compromised & fighting a battle. Consider that you could be potentially adding more stress to your white blood cells & inflammation to your body.


SPEAKING of EXPLANT

I didn’t touch on this earlier, but remember your Pacman white blood cells? They are especially clever in that they build a capsule-wall around that implant the moment it is securely placed in your body. It the body’s way of “walling off” the object and shielding it from the rest of your body. Once you have signs of BII, and decide to get them removed, the capsule around the implant must be removed as well or you will STAY SICK. That capsule is like a sponge that’s been absorbing the toxins from the silicone. For me, because my implants were under my muscle, my capsule had grown onto my rib cage similar to barnacles growing on a piling.

When I got my implants out, within a month I was feeling 30% better. Within a year, I was 99% better and all of my symptoms have gone away. Not only do I feel like I have my life back, but at now 48 realize all those symptoms were not part of the normal aging process. That was total bullshit. I have energy. I think clearly. I have no food sensitivities. I feel younger now than I did in my 30s.


If you are considering breast implants, if you have breast implants and are experiencing some symptoms and are chalking them up to age and health, or maybe your symptoms are severe and you are being told you are “fine”, I encourage you to research BII and ASIA. If you talk to your physician about it, consider many doctors have been told by device companies & surgeons that BII doesn’t exist. Follow the money. Seek advice from those who financially do not benefit from you.

Here is a great resource: https://www.healingbreastimplantillness.com/