September, 1996
Dear Silicone Survivors and Friends:
WOW! DENVER MINI CONFERENCE: SATURDAY, OCTOBER
5, 12:00 TO 5:00 P.M. DETAILS BELOW!!! MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW!!
I have recently returned from a 19 day trip to Idaho,
Oregon, Washington and Vancouver, BC. I combined these into one
trip because it was the only way I could afford to go. Since I
visit my mother in Oregon every August, I try to combine my time
there with silicone issues. We held 4 meetings during this trip
and discussed plans & ideas for the Tacoma Conference.
If any information or books you have ordered is late,
it is because of this trip, the two trips prior to this trip,
and due to the fact that 2 close family members have had medical
crises this last week, one breast cancer and the other coronary
by-pass surgery (he also has an aneurysm which must now wait for
his heart surgery to heal to be repaired). The affected persons
are my former mother-in-law (for 30 years, so we're good friends)
and my mother's husband (of 35 years).
I am beginning to take DHEA and an anti-fungal. We'll
see how I feel next month.
UPCOMING EVENTS: The first
annual Breast Implant Awareness Day is September 15th. Contact
Walt Monger @ E-Mail: ussw@digital.net or send a SASE to COSS
for the information on how to help.
St. Louis, MO conference Sept. 21st. See August newsletter
for details. Call Kathy K-Johnson @ (573) 445-0861.
FIRST IN THE AREA:
Saturday, Sept. 28, Tacoma, Washington Silicone Education Conference.
Registration 8:00 A.M. Conference begins at 9:00 A.M. Speakers
confirmed: Dr. Britta Ostermeyer, Dr. Saul Puszkin, Dr. Andrew
Campbell, Dr. Linda Huang & Dr. Aristo Vojdani. Several other
speakers pending. There will be an attorney to discuss recent
legal happenings. In order to keep conference costs down, lunch
will be on your own at any of a number of close-by restaurants
(or feel free to brown-bag it). Conference cost: $25. This conference
will be held at the Best Western Federal Way Executel Hotel near
the Sea-Tac Mall (Free shuttle from airport). Rooms: $59 single,
$65 double, $6 per additional person (up to four). Call Laurie
Beck at the hotel (206) 941-6000, Fax (206) 941-9500. Tell her
you are attending the 1996 Silicone Implant Conference. Best Western's
National #: (800) 346-2874. For more information or to register,
contact C.J. Mateljak, (206) 564-0104. Pre-registration must be
postmarked by September 15th. The cost after that date and at
the door will be $35.00. The NW is beautiful and the ocean is
just across town! I can't wait to walk barefoot on a beach again!
(You can tell that I don't get many vacations!)
DENVER MINI CONFERENCE: REGENCY HOTEL, 3900
ELATI STREET, NOON TO 5:00 P.M. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5TH.
Speakers: Rick Laminack, Atty., (O'Quinn, Kerensky, McAninch &
Laminack), Houston to discuss recent legal issues regarding lawsuits,
bankruptcy, opting-out and class action suits; Dr. Britta Ostermeyer,
Neurologist to discuss neurological problems and possible treatments;
Dr. Daniel Hoffman, Neuropsychiatrist to discuss the types of
brain damage he has observed in breast implanted women; and Dr.
Saul Puszkin, Pathologist to discuss issues related to the pathology
of the implants, surrounding tissues and damaged body tissues.
If you have not been to one of our meetings or if you have not
had much contact with our group lately, come with your questions
(legal and medical), your concerns and to meet others with silicone
disease. Cost: $10.00 (to pay for the facilities and postage).
Don't forget to mark your calendar. We will probably not be able
to send another notice (because of mailing costs) and you know
how our brains are (we often forget things). We always look forward
to meeting new members.
Toronto Conference, Sutton Hotel, October 25-27th
(Open House on the 25th, full day conference on the 26th (registration
7:30 A.M.), & speakers until noon on the 27th), presented
by the Breast Implant Line of Canada. Cost is $125 Canadian (if
you live in the U.S., ask a bank for the exchange rate & send
an international money order (best way), or, if you trust banks,
write Canadian funds after the amount on check. Sutton Hotel rooms
are $135 per night (also Canadian rate) for 2-4 persons. Speakers
include Drs. Blais, Edworthy, Feng, Guidoin, Holowaty, Ostermeyer,
Puszkin, Klein, Vojdani, and attorney Michael Eizenga. Contact
Joyce Attis @ (416) 636-6618 for information or to register. Fall
is beautiful in the Toronto region of Canada and Niagara Falls
is very close by. Don't miss this one! I was planning to go, but
lack the $$$.
A conference is in the planning stages for Boise,
ID. We will have more on this later.
A conference for Reno, NV is in the planning stages
for February. We have the location and the date and more details
will be provided soon. Stay tuned for more on this wonderful Winter
getaway to sun and fun and gambling as well as an exceptional
educational experience.
Vancouver, BC is planning a conference for May of
1997. This will be presented by the British Columbia Women's Health
Centre Breast Implant Centre.
Support groups need your help:
As time goes on, support groups receive less and less financial
support. Many, including ours, risk dissolution because of this
fact. Where once we had sponsors to help with conferences, now
no funds are forth-coming. Where once women donated small amounts
often, now very few do. Without your help and your subscriptions,
all groups will disappear. Please donate what you can to help
your group survive. The need has not gone away! More and more
women call each week to seek help. Packets of information cost
$$. Phone bills are high! More and more of the funds to finance
this are coming out of my and other group leader's own pockets.
Most will not be able to carry this burden for long. If all who
have received help would make a small donation each year, the
fight would become stronger and stronger!
LEGAL INFORMATION: Bankruptcy
of Dow Corning: New Toll Free Help Line #: (800) 651-7030 If you
have not filed a claim and wish to be included in being notified
of when and how to do so, write to: Dow Corning Claims Facility,
P.O. Box 7500, Midland, MI 48686-7500. Ask for a claim form to
file your claim against Dow Corning. File by certified mail, return
receipt. If you feel you need to speak to an attorney at D.C.
(there are very few reasons that you should), one attorney there
is David Ellerbee, (517) 496-5668. Please do not call him or any
other attorney without your own attorney's advice & permission.
After September 4th, a second Dow Corning information number is
(800) 997-1700.
I received my Dow Corning bankruptcy claim forms
Aug 23. When yours arrive, you should copy them several times
before starting to fill them out so that you have duplicates and
you can give them to others or you can use them if you make errors.
These forms came with some instructions, but I am sure if you
call the new numbers, both the forms and the instructions will
be sent to you. Please note that all forms of implantable devices
are included, including toe and joint prostheses, TMJ implants,
chin/facial implants, silicone fluid injections, testicular/penile
implants and contraceptive devices implanted in the upper arm.
Raw materials used in other manufacturers implants are also included.
(And they continue to deny that silicone causes problems!!!???)
If you have an attorney, please do not fill out and mail these
forms without checking with that attorney. Most will want to fill
them out and send them in themselves but you must sign the forms
unless you have given a power of attorney to that person (and
I assume that you have rescinded those by now). The form must
be received by January 15, 1997 (the Bar Date) unless you
maintained your residence outside the U.S. during the period of
September 15, 1996 to November 15, 1996. If that is the case,
you have until February 14, 1997 to file this form.
Foreign claimants may file in this bankruptcy.
Foreign claimants have until February 14, 1997 to file a claim
(It must be received by the court by this date). Please check
with your attorney before doing so as this claim may preclude
any separate or class action lawsuit being pursued in your own
country. Make sure that it is sent airmail and by certified mail
as overseas mail can take a long time to arrive and you must have
proof of delivery in case they deny receiving your forms (they
can be lost in the mail).
Breast Implant companies who have been trying to
consolidate thousands of cases against them into one court's jurisdiction
have again been denied that desire by Federal (District) Judge
Denise Page Hood. The companies stated that they would appeal
this decision. Dow Chemical Corp. is leading the movement for
consolidation. Corning, Inc., 3-M, Baxter International, and Bristol-Myers
Squibb are the other companies appealing Judge Hood's decision.
Corning, Inc. has basically been protected from lawsuits because
of a 1993 Federal Court ruling that there was insufficient evidence
that it took part in Dow Corning's implant decisions.
Settlement: Over 35,000 women have been sent notification
of status letters by the claims office. Many women have not returned
their blue proof of manufacturer forms. Many attorneys have advised
women not to file yet. My attorney and other attorney's I know
are now sending these forms in. This is because some women are
actually being paid and other women are upset that their forms
have not gone in. In any case, without sending these forms in,
no money or status letter will be sent to you. If you plan to
participate in the settlement, you may wish to consider whether
or not it is now time to get those forms in. The deadline for
filing proof of manufacturer forms, proof of rupture forms (after
explantation) and the request for explantation reimbursement form
is Dec. 16, 1996. Persons who checked the box on the explantation
form stating that they wished information on the program to assist
them with implant removal will begin to receive information on
this assistance in early September. Remember, if you have received
your status letter and you are planning to opt-out (with the advice
of an attorney that is going all the way to court with you, if
necessary), then you have only 45 days from the date on the status
letter (not the post-date) to opt-out. Once you opt-out, you have
six months to file suit. If you are planning to opt-out, it may
be advisable to wait until Dec. 1st to file the proof of manufacturer
form. Do so by certified mail, return receipt only.
Many women are unaware that many attorneys are requiring
women who opt-out and pursue individual lawsuits to front the
$$ for expert witnesses, etc. This can run from $90,000 to $250,000.
Also, many women are unaware that they may have to pay the manufacturers
expenses if they lose a case in court. Discuss these issues with
your attorney before you make a decision on opting-out. Make sure
your attorney is an experienced trial attorney and has taken many
product liability cases to court and is willing to take yours
to court if necessary. Some women have been surprised at the last
minute when they haven't asked their attorney's the right questions
(and received answers, as some can evade answers like true politicians).
Dow Corning Corporation reported profits of $52 million
for the second quarter of 1996.
Mentor/Bioplasty: Since Judge Pointer has approved
a plan for payment to claimants of these two companies, notifications
are being sent to attorneys by the end of this month (August).
These claim forms must be signed by the breast implant recipient,
not the attorney. The deadline for filing the claim will be December
16, 1996. There are 40,000 to 50,000 Mentor claimants and 4-5,000
Bioplasty claimants and no distinction will be made as to whether
or not the women are ill. No grid classification will be recognized.
Women who still have their implants and are completely healthy
will have equal rights to participate in the settlement as women
who have serious autoimmune or neurological diseases. With about
$25 million and 50,000 women (Mentor) and $4-5 million (Bioplasty),
that would be $520 per woman (Mentor) or $1,000 per woman (Bioplasty)
who filed a claim. Women who had other brands of implants and
also a Mentor/Bioplasty implant can participate at 25% of the
pro-rata share. Foreign claimants may participate. A hearing will
be held in Birmingham, AL October 11th to decide if the settlement
conditions are fair. File written complaints to the Clerk, Hugo
Black Federal Courthouse, 1729 Firth Avenue North, Birmingham
AL 35203 postmarked no later than September 30, 1996. The dollar
amount of the settlement cannot be challenged, only the method
of pro-rating. Insurance companies may subrogate against this
amount and take anything that might be left after attorney fees,
but most certainly won't have anything left. My only implants
were Mentor!! I sure am glad that I was never in this for the
money!! If you need a copy of the order and claim form, send $2
(U.S. only, $4 foreign) and a SASE to C.O.S.S. and request them
by name. If you filed a blue proof of manufacturer form, they
will be sent to your attorney of record.
Attorney Roy B. Cannon of San Diego would like women
who have had silicone injections to contact him. There is now
an attempt to certify a class action suit that was filed some
time ago. You do not need to hire Mr. Cannon as an attorney to
contact him and ask that information be sent to you. You may write
to him @ 550 West C Street # 700, San Diego, CA 92101 or call
(619) 231-1750. Registering simply identifies you as a injection
recipient, nothing more.
MEDICAL INFORMATION: According
to a recent study in The Lancet, people who use gas stoves have
2 1/2 times greater risk of developing asthma. They have twice
the incidence of wheezing and shortness of breath and a 20% greater
risk of hay fever and other allergies. Natural gas gives off nitrogen
dioxide which can irritate the lungs.
In January, the U.S. Cancer Institute immunized a
healthy bone marrow donor against multiple myeloma and then transferred
some of the bone marrow to a patient with multiple myeloma. This
form of cancer went into remission and has remained that way for
two years.
Long term exposure to UV rays may lead to a variety
of eye problems, including macular degeneration. Diets which include
large quantities of spinach and collard greens could help reduce
the growing danger from ultraviolet radiation to eyes. Sunglasses
which provide UV protection must also be used. This study was
published recently in JAMA.
Latex balloons are the leading cause of non-food
choking deaths in children under 14. Younger children can choke
on them or on broken pieces of latex from balloons; older children
may inhale them when taking a deep breath to blow them up. According
to some pediatricians, the only safe balloon is make of a substance
called Mylar. This information was found in Redbook.
H. Pylori (Helicobacter pylori) is a common bacteria
which is now known to be a huge factor in ulcers. NSAID's taken
for pain can increase the chances of ulcers (much more than they
already do) if H. Pylori is present. In addition, this bacteria
also seems to increase the risk of heart attack in ischemic (an
obstruction of the inflow of arterial blood) patients. Killing
this bacteria can stall gastric cancers for up to two years, leading
to a debate on the link between H. Pylori and this type of cancer.
There are tests to determine if one has this bacteria (Immunosciences
Lab and others). Simple antibiotics can eradicate it.
Live measles vaccine may be a risk factor in the
development of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Persons
who had been inoculated with the live vaccine were 3 times more
likely to develop Crohn's disease and 2.5 times more likely to
develop ulcerative colitis. This link was discovered when live
measles virus' were found in the gut of IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease)
patients.
Published in Science in 1994, a study in Manitoba,
Canada showed a significant link between MS and having had chicken
pox as a child. Hutterite populations, who had 39% less chicken
pox, had far fewer incidences of MS than a similar non-Hutterite
population. The incidence of herpes zoster (a virus related to
chicken pox) was 47% less in the Hutterite population. Inoculation
with chicken pox vaccine temporarily halted the advancement of
MS. Several years ago, in the Lancet, a study was published
about MS patients who went into remission when they developed
a second case of chicken pox. The theory was that their system
was so overloaded with antibodies to the chicken pox that it could
not have an immunological response to the MS. The theory that
has come from the Manitoba study is that everyone with MS had
chicken pox as a child.
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: Chin Koo (Chin Koo Tieh Shang Wan) is a specific remedy for wounds. It has been available for a number of years. It has helped one woman tremendously with her fibromyalgia. It is reportedly an anti-inflammatory preparation. Ask a practitioner of Chinese Herbal Medicine about this product.
Acupuncture can relieve menstrual cramps, probably
by releasing our own pain-relieving endorphins. This result occurred
after as little as three treatments and the effects lasted for
up to nine months after the last treatment. This same type of
treatment works for fibromyalgia and other pain. Acupressure is
also helpful.
A healthy product that has helped women feel better
and have more energy is Flax Seeds. You purchase them at health
food stores, grind them with a coffee grinder, store them in a
cool dark place (sealed) and take 2 tablespoons 3 times a day.
Grape seeds may help prevent aging of the skin. The
French have come up with a method to isolate the polyphenols in
the seeds of grapes to combat free radicals which invade skin
cells and destroy them, particularly in the presence of sunlight
and cigarette smoke. The Lancet recently reported on the potential
of polyphenols and now the French have designed a process to extract
them and place them into skin care products. The company is Caudalie,
a new firm just set up to market this product.
Low-fat, healthy diets, good for adults, can cause
serious health problems in children. Anemia, stunted growth, learning
difficulties, diabetes or heart disease can result from poor nourishment.
Children need energy-dense food such as potatoes, meat, custards,
etc. along with vegetables and fruits in order to develop properly.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
Q. Why do I need an attorney now if I am going
to stay in this settlement or if I am in the Dow Corning Bankruptcy?
A. You don't need one to collect your settlement/bankruptcy funds,
but if your attorney helped you get your paperwork filled out
and prepared and sent it in, releasing that attorney now would
not release you from your obligation to pay him/her. Attorneys
who worked hard to get their clients registered and to help them
get evaluations deserve to share in the settlement. If you filled
out your own paperwork, submitted it, and did all of the work,
then that may be a different story. If you feel that your attorney
does not deserve a full share because he/she did very little work,
discuss this with them. If you are getting a very small award,
they may negotiate their fee with you. Many attorney's have reduced
their fees for women receiving small awards.
CANADA: Canadian women
have until September 9th to register with the negotiated settlement
for Quebec and Ontario provinces against Bristol-Myers Squibb
(Medical Engineering Corporation) (MEC). There is $29 million
in this fund. Those women with implants whose brands are Meme,
Replicon, Optimam, Natural Y, Surgitek and Vogue in these two
Canadian provinces must register against the settlement by Sept.
9, 1996 in order to participate. Approximately 1800 women have
currently registered. For information, contact Siskind, Cromarty
(800) 461-6166 or call Sheila James (416) 967-3702.
PERSONAL COMMUNICATION:
Are women with silicone implants having problems with ganglion
cysts? I have heard from four just this week! Are these caused
by silicone disease? I have one on my right heel.
Walt Monger of USSW has a woman who would like to
hear from anyone who has lost a kidney or had any serious kidney
involvement, urinary Incontinence, or urethral involvement caused
by silicone disease. On the internet, he can be reached @ ussw@digital.net
If you don't have an internet connection, please forward information
to me & I will E-mail it to Walt.
IMPORTANT:
In June, 1996, American Women Physicians founded
the American College of Women's Health Physicians. This is part
of a 5 year process that will lead to an application to the American
Board of Medical Specialties to make women's health a certified
specialty. I certainly think it is about time, don't you??
Do you need to lose weight and get more exercise
but cannot seem to get motivated? Do you start with the greatest
of motivation only to have that motivation sag before the week
(or day) is through? Do you feel like you cannot ever succeed
at getting back into shape? Have you tried many times and have
given up because you just don't think you can ever do it? Do you
feel that you are doomed to be overweight forever? Most people
fail because they try everything at once. They get motivated and
just want to do it and lose the weight, so they rush into it with
all they have and they feel that they must do this to succeed.
I think the secret to success is to change only one
thing about your lifestyle at a time. Most people are under far
too much stress to change more than one thing, no matter how much
they want to lose weight and get into shape. They need to gradually
change their lifestyles, not make radical changes that make it
almost impossible to stick to these changes.
Try to take it a step at a time. Either start with
exercise or with small dietary changes. If you choose exercise,
start slowly, especially if you get no exercise at all. If you
can barely walk through a grocery store you don't want to take
a 5 mile hike. Start with 5 or 10 minutes. Gradually increase
it until you reach 30 minutes a day. Most women could reach this
goal within 1-3 months. If you prefer other exercise (an easy-rider
type of exerciser or swimming, etc.), also begin slowly. If you
have someone who will exercise with you, even better, but don't
let the lack of a partner keep you from doing it. Don't ever skip
more than one day unless you are down in bed. Do something every
day if you can. Park further away from the grocery store or drug
store. Walk up and down stairs 3-4 extra times a day, even if
it is tiring and strenuous. Do more little exercises until you
can do bigger ones. Allow no excuse to not do it; if you allow
even one little excuse it will lead to more excuses later.
If you choose dietary changes, do one thing at a
time. Cut out fat first (I try for no more than 10% of my total
diet). Try steaming (or poaching) fish and chicken. I use a glass
or stainless steel skillet. Remove any visible fat from all meats.
Place chicken breasts (no dark meat, as these contain more fat),
add a little bottled water, some spices on top of the chicken,
and cook for about 15 minutes. Cook on high until hot and then
turn heat down. Keep covered. Add a little more water if it gets
dry and check to see that nothing is sticking to the pan. Don't
let the pan go dry. This is a wonderful, fat-free way to cook
chicken. The juice from the chicken is great on pasta or potatoes.
Since I seldom eat beef, I have never tried it this way. For fish
fillets, I squeeze half a lemon over the fish, add dill weed and
any other desired spice, add a little water and cook as above
for about 10 minutes. It is the best fish I have ever eaten (fresh
or fresh frozen fish, including salmon). This method basically
steams the food and keeps it tender and flavorful. This method
of cooking helps eliminate fat.
If sugar is your downfall, eliminate sugar first.
Try decreasing it slowly. Don't do it all at once if you have
tried this and failed. Decrease it by small amounts until you
only have a small desert once a week or so. Make it a low sugar,
low fat desert and make it a reward for skipping it all week.
It gives you something to look forward to. If you find this makes
you crave sugar, then avoid it altogether and eat fruit for desert,
but, in any case, if you can't discontinue the sugar all at once
(it is extremely addictive), then do it slowly and with a careful
plan. Don't buy what you shouldn't eat (with the excuse that hubby
or kids eat it). Never go to the grocery store when you are hungry.
Take a list, and stick to it. Take someone who knows your plan
with you until you are strong enough to resist. One week off sugar
and the craving begins to subside, one time cheating and it starts
to come back. If you remember this, it will help.
One reason sugar is such a problem is the fungal problems we almost all have. Fungus needs sugar to survive. Sugars come in many forms, including white starches. Avoiding sugars starves the fungus. Fungus can be responsible for fatigue, fibromyalgia, general malaise, headaches, pins and needle feelings, etc. Often taking a prescription drug like Diflucan or Sporanox for the fungus will help end the craving sooner, but this must be done in conjunction with a yeast and sugar-free diet as in the book The Yeast Connection.
BOOKS: Tainted Truth,
The Manipulation of Fact in America, by Cynthia Crossen. This
book demonstrates how deeply the research world has been pervaded
by artfully crafted deception and how it affects all of us. It
discusses manufactured truths, the corruption of information,
the misinformation fed to doctors, Congress, courtrooms, the public
and the media.
PRODUCTS AVAILABLE:
Essential Minerals (Minerals in the Colloidal
state, the state your body uses), are helping many women. Become
a distributor for only $5.95 and help pay for your own minerals
(About $20 per month). I encourage women to become distributors
and help others while they help themselves. I'm not trying to
make money from this but it would be nice if I could use it to
pay for my own minerals. I find I have more energy when I take
them. Minerals in tablet form (elemental state) are only 10% usable
by the body. In liquid form (they taste like citrus fruit) they
are 100% usable. All of us have mineral deficiencies and this
affects our immune systems, so this is a method to help rebuild
our immune systems the natural way. Call me for information on
how to join. Call for a copy of the tape Dead Doctors Don't
Lie. Please return the tape so I can send it to others so
they can also learn about this great product. You have only your
good health to regain and very little to lose. Many of
your sisters are now taking these minerals and finding new energy
and vitality.
ONE WOMAN'S COMMENTS ON SALINE IMPLANTS:
In 1978, I had moved from British Columbia (B..C.)
to Edmonton, Alberta with my three teen-aged children to get away
from an abusive marriage. In Calgary in 1978 I received saline
breast implants because a paralysis of one breast that caused
one breast to be larger than the other. This was caused by a previous
car accident.
When the doctor suggested the breast implants, he
assured me that saline would be safe. I didn't even question him.
The only information he gave me what that I would not be able
to exercise with my arms and upper body because they could deflate.
Not realizing that the actual bag was made of silicone, I agreed
to the procedure.
At first I was very proud of my new figure and form-fitting
clothes (that I could now wear again). Then in 1980, my problems
began. One of the implants ruptured; the other was rock hard and
very uncomfortable. I started having chest pains, constant infections,
fatigue, skin rashes, allergies, memory loss and arthritis-type
symptoms. I started making the rounds of going to doctors and
complaining, but apart from antibiotics and sympathy, that was
all the help and understanding I was given. I was told that it
couldn't be my implants.
I had allergies to everything, especially preservatives
in food, was unable to function satisfactorily and was laid off
from my job at University Hospital. Feeling fatigued and unable
to cope, in 1986 I decided to move back to B.C. My children had
grown by this time and were also moving back home (to B.C.).
I started seeing doctors again for my symptoms. I
was laid off from new jobs that I acquired in Vancouver because
of my pain, fatigue, chest pain, and inability to think properly.
I was diagnosed in 1987 with chronic fibromyalgia (Rheumatologist)
but still had no other help. My chest pains were so bad that I
called 911 twice (I thought it was heart attacks). I ended up
in the Burnaby Hospital but all the tests that were done to isolate
my problems again proved to be negative.
I had asked different doctors many times (from 1980
on) if the ruptured implant could be removed and they stated that
it was just sitting in the sack and not to worry about it, that
it couldn't do any harm. In 1992 I asked my current doctor if
I should remove this ruptured implant as my symptoms were getting
worse but he refused to remove it also, giving me the same excuses
that I had received from previous doctors.
In 1995 I was very ill and still trying to work to
support myself and decided to have the implants out. When I saw
them and the infection they created I started to understand why
I was so ill. The one that had ruptured looked like a jet black
piece of crumpled carbon paper and the other one was a small hard
ball covered with some type of fuzz. Obviously the saline had
leaked out and this was all that was left.
I started feeling better after removal. My symptoms
were lessened and the pain in my chest had been relieved. I wondered
if it had been a piece of the silicone bag or a piece of the capsule
sticking into my chest.
I started to investigate the saline implant bags
and it seems that before 1985 many of these implants were not
being filled with sterilized water. The fact that the bag was
and still is made from silicone creates the same problems as silicone
filled bags (if not worse) from the constant infection depleting
the immune system. I am left with chronic fibromyalgia and am
unable to work in the capacity for which I was trained.
SALINE IMPLANTS SHOULD BE BANNED!!! When sterilized
water is put into a silicone bag at body temperature for any given
period bacteria (fungus, viruses, etc.) start to grow and infection
begins (no bag remains sterile, even if it once was). The implants
rupture and the body still has to contend with the silicone substance
in the bags.
I will never be completely well after these saline
implants as my body has the residual allergies, fibromyalgia and
fatigue from my damaged immune system. I can only hope that from
my experience and others, we can put a stop to the insanity of
putting such substances into the female body. N.B., B.C., Canada
PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER INFORMATION: Previous issues of newsletters
are available for $2.00 each U.S., $3.00 Foreign. January 1993
is the first available issue. Please indicate months' desired
and enclose $2.00 (US), $3.00 (Foreign) each. Some subjects covered
have been: Auto-immune (1/93); Fibromyalgia (2/93); Medical Testing
(3/93); Sjogren's (4/93); Vasculitis (4/93); Arthritis (5/93);
Chronic Fatigue (6/93); Lupus (7/93); Irritable Bowel Syndrome
& Inflammatory Bowel Disease (8/93); Miscellaneous Medical
Information (9/93); Insurance (8/93,9/93); Multiple Sclerosis
(10/93); Spasmodic Torticollis (10/93); Hypoglycemia (11/93);
Antibodies (12/93); Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (1/94); More
Miscellaneous Medical Information (2/94); Scleroderma (3/94);
Costochondritis (4/94); Peripheral Neuropathy (4/94); Class Action
(5/94); Fungal Infections (6/94); Hypercalcemia (low calcium)
(7/94); Raynaud's Phenomenon (8/94); Fibromyalgia Update (9/94);
Sarcoidosis (10/94); Free Radicals (11/94); Porphyria (12/94);
Interstitial Cystitis (1/95); Mixed Connective Tissue Disease
(2/95); Flap Procedures (3/95); Even More Miscellaneous Medical
(4/95); Thyroid Disease (5/95); Stress (6/95); Natural Healing
(7/95); Adrenal Malfunctions (8/95); Multiple Myeloma (9/95);
DHEA (10/95); Chelation Therapy (11/95); Sleep Disorders (12/95);
Menieres Disease (1/96); 33 Tips To Improve Your Health (2/96);
Amino Acids (3/96); Enzymes (4/96); Minerals (5/96); Aluminum
& Water Purification (6/96); Addictions (7/96); Addictions
& Food Sensitivities (8/96); Legal information is contained
in most back issues as is information on Alternative Medicine.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed here are those of the editor
and any contributors and are not to be construed as medical or
legal advice. Any articles or information submitted may be edited
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Roth, is a survivor having heard the dread word 'cancer' followed
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countries and lectures internationally. Your donation will definitely
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