Getting my Breast Implants…and Breast Implant Illness
After my Breast Implants
I got my implants in April 2011.
I was like: awesome!
I loved how my implants made my body look.
And maybe just maybe, they made me feel a little more secure. Most people didn’t even know I got them because I wanted them to look natural, and they did.
Fast forward four months. I was fit! I had boobs! I was a Super Mom and Super Wife! I was rocking teaching group fitness and personal training!
And yet, I still suffered from stupid negative thought patterns and self sabotage.
My husband Fred was always asking me “How can I make you happy?” and I was like “I am happy.”
And in many ways, I was. I had an amazing husband who loved me and poured life into me and the girls. Our girls were the best. Respectful, honest, and kind, with strong work ethics. And I could go on.
My Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis
Then the unimaginable happened. On November 11, 2011, I was diagnosed with MS.
It literally pulled the rug out from underneath me.
I could no longer be the super mom or wife or group fitness instructor.
It was a lot to handle. I felt so sorry for myself. I had gone from feeling temporarily like superwoman, being fit and sweating it out at the gym, to struggling to do anything by myself. It was an effort to even be able to do laundry.
Eventually, I had an AHA moment. I could either let this diagnosis drag me down and rob me of everything I had worked so hard for, or I could embrace this shitshow called life and figure out how to move forward.
It’s like how they say- the fire can either burn you or refine you. MS really stoked the fire in me that my gift, my real passion, is helping and inspiring others.
Even though on the inside I was still struggling to love myself, at that point I knew I was made to change the world one day one person at a time.
Starting on my Mission
Not having a clue what to do or how to operate a business, I decided to open my own Fit Body Boot Camp in 2014 to do just that.
See, I thought I’d be able to heal MY insecurities by pouring into other people- by helping THEM overcome THEIR insecurities.
“I threw my heart and soul into my business, but I also began to see for the first time that happiness is really an inside job. A connection between my heart and my mind. ”
I threw my heart and soul into my business, but I also began to see for the first time that happiness is really an inside job. A connection between my heart and my mind.
While I started to feel strong and confident for the first time, my health after my MS diagnosis was all over the place and I’d get terrible flare ups where I couldn’t move without being in pain.
Dealing with the MS Flare Ups
After my last really bad flare up in November 2018, I visited a Functional Medicine doctor.
She told me I was doing everything right, but asked if I had ever heard of Breast Implant Illness (BII).
I think I had read maybe one article about it.
She said, “I’m not saying for sure that your implants are making you sick, and I can’t guarantee you’ll feel better if you remove them, but having them in your body is just one more thing that your body has to work against.” She encouraged me to look into BII and gave me some good resources.
My husband Fred and I left that appointment thinking there was no way my implants were making me sick.
But we both got online and read, and man were our eyes were opened.
What I learned about breast implant illness literally blew my mind. Within 24 hours I had made the decision that these foreign objects where indeed making me sick. I was so mad I had done this to my body. I was mad that I was not informed of the risk of BII. I wanted them out now.