Category: Blog

• Insecurities About Breasts After Having Nursed A Baby

  Posted at 7:00 am by motherima, on June 14, 2015

  

  Today there was a ‘nurse-in’ protest, in Maple Ridge, B.C. as a result of a woman being told to ‘cover up’, while nursing her infant in a restaurant.

  Breasts nourish life. It is a violation of human rights to be denied the right to breast feed in a public place, in British Columbia.

  Not to take away from that very important issue, I would be remiss not to bring attention to the issue of self-esteem, and the insecurities that often occur for women after having breast fed because of the pressure to fit a totally unrealistic image. I wondered how many of the women who took part in the protest may later at least consider getting breast implants because they’re unsatisfied with their breasts after nursing. Some may already have them.

  Nursing babies is a natural part of life; changes in breasts after nursing is also a natural part of life.

  What if in our culture we valued the beauty of breasts that have softened, sagged, and lost volume after nursing a baby? How is it that a toxic plastic sac is considered a more desirable option?

  So many women who have their breasts augmented after breast feeding end up regretting it, and wish in retrospect that they’d accepted themselves instead.

  The Celebrate Your Breasts Project promotes women loving and accepting themselves at all ages, in all stages of life, including after having nursed babies.

   

  Posted in Blog | 0 Comments

• Celebrate Your Breasts Project – call for models, artists and photographers

  Posted at 8:41 pm by motherima, on May 27, 2014

   

  This is a call for artists, models and photographers for an upcoming show called:  ‘Celebrate Your Breasts’

  It will be a segment of the main show called:  ‘Breast Implants: What Would It Take To Change Your Mind?’

  The intention behind the show is to promote awareness, education and dialogue around the issue of ‘Breast Implants’.  And, ultimately to promote self-esteem, self-love, self-acceptance and reclaiming personal power.

  My goal is for the vast range of size, shape, tone, age (must be 19+ years), and ethnicity to be represented.

  We’re bombarded with impossibly unrealistic photos that erode self-esteem.

  This show is to celebrate women being who they are, in their own uniqueness; in all stages of life.

  Real breasts include pre-childbirth & non-child-birth (women who have not had children); pregnant; post-childbirth & lactating; mid-life; crone; senior; post-mastectomy and any other stage or circumstance of life not mentioned here (excluding breast augmentation).

  * It’s a celebration of each woman’s individual uniqueness and natural beauty * 

  

  Collage Component:

  Models (women with natural breasts) will be asked to choose words, and/or images to express what they feel about their breasts. These will be painted on their breasts/torso. Artists will depict, or even help co-create the models’ vision. Photographers will photograph them and the images will be part of a BIG collage. The photos will be non-identifying, including only breasts/torso. This is the feature component of the Celebrate Your Breasts Project.

  Non-Collage Component:

  Artists will also be invited to paint or sketch models’ breasts (or full body nude, as long as its consistent with the intention of the show (Not ‘playboy-ish’ or glossed-over media styling). All of the models must have natural breasts. The pieces must allow models anonymity. The objective is celebrating women in a way that promotes healthy imaging. Fabric Art, Ceramic Art, Body Casting, or other mediums, including written pieces, are also welcomed.

  If you’re interested in being part of this project, please contact me:

  Nancy Pratt  e-mail: motherima@hotmail.com   Phone: 250-635-2403

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drummergirlnancy

  If you’d like to read more about this project, please visit my blog entry:

  http://www.breastimplantfailure.net/category/celebrate-your-breasts-project/

   

  Continue reading →

  Posted in Blog, Celebrate Your Breasts Project | 0 Comments

• WHAT YOUR DOCTOR DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT BREAST IMPLANTS CAN HURT YOU!

  Posted at 5:49 am by motherima, on May 6, 2014

  My situation was extreme. It took 16 years of missed symptoms of rupture to get there.

  Sixteen years after what I now know was the point of rupture my body was in serious trouble.

  I was examined by many doctors, often specialists, during those years. I presented with multiple symptoms consistent with rupture. I think back now to being examined by specialists when I was a patient in the hospital, being told there was nothing wrong with me physically, it was all ‘in my head’. They missed the equivalent of a 5-alarm fire inside my chest. I was ill systemically.

  The fact that my implants were 22 years old should have been a red flag in itself. I had Grade 4 capsular contracture, the worst there is. A chest x-ray showed calcification, but it was not investigated. I had what felt like a displaced rib. It was discounted also, as scar tissue that had become separated, but was actually a granuloma with an open end – a portal where silicone was passing from my badly ruptured left implant to the inside of my chest wall. I had masses and lymph nodes in, and around, my armpits. I had a lot of pain due to migrated silicone, acute inflammation, granulomas, necrotised tissue and infection. I have multiple autoimmune illnesses and neurological symptoms. I developed sensitivities to some chemicals and medications. Doctors just aren’t connecting the dots. The scenario is the same for most women with implant-related illness or rupture. Women who are seriously ill, being told their symptoms are in their head. It’s the same globally.

   FDA and manufacturer guidelines recommend implanted women have an MRI 3 years after implant, and every 2 years thereafter. Not one doctor recommended I have an MRI, in fact I had to push for one.

  I hope that women with breast implants will proactively and vigilantly pay attention to their ‘body speak’ and learn all they can about their breast implants and signs of device failure. I knew nothing about my breast implants until I learned they were ruptured, which is a common scenario. I mistakenly thought if the doctors weren’t concerned about my breast implants they must be ok. It didn’t occur to me that they knew nothing about them.

  

  Sadly, I know of many other women who’s situations were equally, if not more-so extreme as mine. Women who’ve had their implants much longer than I had mine; some who had multiple sets. They’re all very ill. I shudder to think of how doctors have failed to investigate and diagnose often longstanding rupture.

  Posted in Blog, FYI's, What Your Doctor Doesn't Know (or acknowledge) Can Really Hurt You | 4 Comments

• P.I.P. News Story – Australia

  Posted at 7:15 pm by motherima, on April 16, 2014

  http://www.todaytonightadelaide.com.au/stories/breast-implant-business

  Posted in Blog, Links to Breast Implant-related News Stories, Resources & Helpful Sites | 0 Comments

• FULL DISCLOSURE

  Posted at 6:59 pm by motherima, on April 16, 2014

  I am currently trying to obtain a list of ALL ingredients used in ALL breast implants currently available for use in Canada, from Health Canada. Women deserve to know EXACTLY what’s being put in their body. This is the latest, somewhat helpful, yet still unsatisfactory, response:

  
  The above information while extensive, is not an exact ingredient listing for a silicone breast implant.  Manufactures have provided this information in confidence under the Medical Devices Regulations, but it cannot be considered for release without an Access to Information request.  If there is a particular chemical component you are looking for, perhaps you could send me additional details, and I could further review the files to see exactly what information we may have.

  My response:

  Thank you for this information. There are some chemical components of particular interest to me, which I will pursue shortly, but a quick note to say that what I am looking for is FULL DISCLOSURE. Women have a right to know what’s being put into their body, not blindly put their trust in companies or studies that have not demonstrated a great track record in the past. How would I proceed with an Access to Information request?

  TO BE CONTINUED!
  Posted in Blog, FULL DISCLOSURE, What EXACTLY is used in Breast Implants? | 2 Comments

• FYI: MISCONCEPTION regarding modern Breast Implant models

  Posted at 2:26 am by motherima, on April 16, 2014

  There is a common misconception that with modern implants women are not at risk for complications around device failure. I hear the belief expressed that ‘they wouldn’t let that happen now’. This is a dangerous and erroneous belief.

  There are many thousands of women globally who have experienced rupture, gel bleeds, and other health-busting complications with contemporary models of breast implants. The P.I.P. scandal alone is estimated to have impacted 300,000 women globally.

  Let me reiterate (from an earlier FYI), Health Canada and the FDA have assigned breast implants their highest risk rating because they have known issues and a high incidence of device failure. In conversations with Health Canada they have openly conceded this truth.

  Let me also reiterate that EVERY woman implanted since 2006, when Breast Implants were ‘conditionally’ approved for use in Canada and the U.S.A., is a GUINEA PIG. They are part of a 10-year study to determine IF breast implants are safe. There are countless women who have experienced device failure.

  And worse, the actual follow-up rate of women implanted since 2006, till now (and supposedly included in the studies), is *very low* beyond the first year. As in past studies, the results will be skewed and not at all reflective of the actual degree of device failure and breast implant related illness.

  The FDA and manufacturers recommend that women with breast implants have an MRI after 3 years, and every two years subsequently. The outside ‘life’ of an implanted breast implant is 8-10 years; but, it is noted *even on the Mentor website* that devices can fail earlier. I know women who have experienced problems within months of being implanted. Complications within the first 2-6 years are common.

  If any woman is going to be implanted in the future I hope it would not be a result of the erroneous belief that ‘they wouldn’t let that happen now’. Oh, believe me, they would, and it does!

  Posted in Blog, FYI's | 0 Comments

• Seeing With Awareness

  Posted at 5:07 pm by motherima, on April 15, 2014

  

  

  The day the photograph wearing clothes was taken I was already very ill. In the photo (a friend cropped out) I struck a playful pose feigning energy and vitality that had long ago left me. I could barely function. I was still trying to push through the illness that would eventually become too much to pretend through.

   

  The photo with my ruptured implant superimposed was taken during my ‘BEFORE’ photo shoot for an upcoming gallery project.

   

  When we see images of implanted women we see only the exterior. Inside, long before the women themselves are aware, their chest wall is undergoing destructive changes. Even if there is not yet ‘gel bleed’ or rupture; the body’s immune system is working hard from the time of implant.

   

  Inevitably there will be leaching of silicone and chemicals, which the immune system tries to wall off, forming a protective capsule around the implant. It works for a while, but then the silicone and chemicals breach the capsule exterior and the immune system creates another layer. This process will repeat until the time of explant, with the capsule becoming ever thicker. If there is rupture the response is greater. The capsule can eventually become hard and painful; this is called capsular contracture. It can cause the breasts to become misshapen.

   

  In time calcification, acute inflammation, necrotized tissue, infection (fungal and/or bacterial), granulomas and other complications can develop in the chest wall. Out of sight, out of mind.

   

  When the immune system has to fight too hard, for too long, it fatigues and becomes confused; this is the point where autoimmune illness happens. The immune system attacks everything, including the woman’s own body.

   

  We are bombarded with media images glamorizing breast implants with no real dialogue around consequence. Considering that breast augmentation has become alarmingly prevalent, especially with young women, I feel we need to create some awareness around it. The implications and potential consequences beyond what implanted women can even imagine.

   

  The next time you see an image of an implanted woman I hope you will ‘see’ with awareness and imagine what her chest wall looks like, instead of just seeing the exterior.

  Posted in Blog, FYI's | 1 Comment | Tagged bombarded, breast implants, media

• Anger (and other emotions)

  Posted at 2:30 am by motherima, on April 14, 2014

  Yesterday anger welled within me seeing myself with the RECALLED, ruptured implants superimposed over my implanted breasts in the image I posted, but then deleted. SEEING IT really impacted me. It touched anger around nobody having had the decency to tell me I had recalled devices in me.

  They notify people of recalled vehicle parts and other devices with issues. I’ve had the same address and phone number since before my augmentation date. I wasn’t hard to find. Nobody tried.

  I tend to keep my anger contained within. When it does surface I acknowledge it, feel it, and try to quickly move into a place of using my anger as energy to make things better. I so rarely allow myself to express anger and when I do I feel the need to qualify it.

  It is always my ultimate intention to build bridges and make things better even when addressing a grievously injurious circumstance. That I doubt will ever change, but as I heal I have to allow myself room to feel, express and process whatever surfaces. Yesterday it was anger.

  A letter or phone call would have prevented this. It was an unthinkable oversight.

  

  Posted in Blog, My Personal Journey | 2 Comments

• I flinched

  Posted at 5:40 am by motherima, on April 13, 2014

  I just deleted an earlier post from today. I flinched.

  I wanted to address that we’re so bombarded with images in the media of women with augmented breasts. We see only the exterior, detached from what’s going on inside their bodies. I wanted to push buttons and provoke thought and dialogue around seeing an implanted woman with implants superimposed over her breasts. Mine were all I had to work with. I still want to figure out how to do it … I’m just not ready YET.

  When we just see the exterior without connecting there’s TOXIC SILICONE-OR-SALINE-FILLED SACS inside the woman’s chest there is a troubling disconnect.

  The photo I posted also expressed the ANGER I feel that I had such badly ruptured implants in me for the better part of 20 years (16). The photo depicted silicone spilling out of the implants into my chest wall, the consequences of which have devastated my health and quality of life.

  So, for now the post with the photo is deleted, but I’m certain I’ll post it, or another version of it, down the road a bit.

  Posted in Blog | 0 Comments

• Buyer Beware

  Posted at 4:42 pm by motherima, on April 12, 2014

  FYI:

  Health Canada’s stamp of approval does not necessarily mean something is actually SAFE!

  In conversations with Health Canada where I posed tough questions to them, and countered every ‘standard party line’ they threw at me with facts they could not dispute, they eventually stressed that Breast Implants have the highest risk rating they assign. They are known to be high risk devices with high complication rates.

  I was told that when Health Canada gives their stamp of approval it doesn’t necessarily mean they feel the product is ‘safe’. They approve some products identified to be high risk because if they ban them people will get them in other countries where there are ZERO safety protocols in place, as was the case when breast implants were temporarily banned in Canada and the U.S. in the 1990s.

  *I personally don’t buy that explanation; I believe the ultimate criteria is PROFIT*

  Health Canada has banned sale of products that were previously available in health food stores (IMHO so that BIG PHARMA can profit from them), but they approve these devices (breast implants) that once implanted, immediately and irreversibly, have consequence in a woman’s body.

  I am currently pursuing, demanding, that Health Canada disclose a list of ingredients used in ALL breast implants currently sold in Canada. They have been resistant to say the least. I was told they may have to consult their legal department, but ultimately they may not be able to disclose this information.

  I intend to pursue this in the political arena also. Women have a right to know what’s being put in their bodies. They have a right to know so they can make an informed decision on *IF* they want to be implanted. I suspect if there was full disclosure many women would not have chosen not to be implanted.

  This topic is TO BE CONTINUED. If there is further resistance for FULL DISCLOSURE I intend to start a petition demanding it.

   

  Posted in Blog, FYI's | 0 Comments

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