Episode 11: How Do You Know If You Have Breast Implant Illness

Foreign Dr. Rob Whitfield, the board certified plastic surgeon specializing in explant surgery. Breast implant illness is a topic that is not often talked enough about, especially in medical community, but is something that affects many women. In this podcast I will be discussing the latest research, treatment options and personal stories of women who have undergone explant surgery in an effort to heal breast implant illness. In this podcast, we'll explore the symptoms of breast implant illness and delve into the latest surgical techniques for explantation and the recovery process. Whether you are currently experiencing breast implant illness or are considering explant surgery, this podcast is a valuable resource for anyone looking to take control of their health and wellness. So let's dive in. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Robert Whitfield, private practice plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas. Welcome to my podcast about breast implant illness. Today we're going to start with a simple question of how does someone know if they have breast breast implant illness? And so as we've discussed on my show, in the past over six years, I've done 1100 explants and it's been very challenging to clarify all the different aspects breast implant illness amounts to. And if you've listened to my show or came to my office and got a consultation or spoke to me in a discovery session, you'll know that I think it revolves around inflammation. And it's been difficult because in allopathic terms inflammation is, it's not always that easy to understand it. And certainly there's things like joint inflammation and muscle inflammation. These things are more, you know, common. But systemic inflammation is a much more ill defined process. And when you have multiple things contributing to inflammation, that's even more complicated. And so those several thousand consults I've done for this have helped me really just hone in on when I hear it, I understand it, when I see it, you know, I understand it. And I'll, I'll try to give you, you know, how I think about it when I hear the symptoms. And so from neurologic symptoms, if I have someone who's had a lot of brain fog, memory problems, can't find the words, can't remember the names, leaves things, loses things easily. If they have, you know, ringing in their ears, if they have sound sensitivity, light sensitivity, if they have anxiety, depression, difficulty with concentration, maintained focus, dry eyes, dry mouth, like all these other symptoms that are all, you know, basically above the, the shoulders, if you will, and as we come down the body, you can have shortness of breath, palpitations, tightness of the chest, just difficulty in Your breath as you kind of move down the GI system, you can have all sorts of problems in the gi. You can have reflux, you can have digestive, you can have constipation, diarrhea, bloating, just overall swelling, the kind of anything bothers you. I've had people tell me, you know, they drink a water, it bothers them. You can have really aggressive skin symptoms. I've had people have full body acne, full body rashes, been to, you know, multiple providers and dermatologists and nobody knows what to do with them. They'll end up getting put on immunosuppressive medications that actually don't help either. They don't sleep well, they may wake up multiple times in the night, may never get rested. They may have an aura ring that tells them they get like no sleep or a whoop strap or something trying to, you know, analyze it more. And then typically by the time they see someone like me or found my show or it's been shared with them or friend has told them about me, they've seen multiple healthcare providers, you know, they've seen their GP, they've been referred specialists, maybe even a rheumatologist, Hemoc, Dr. Derm, and they've, you know, been examined by these folks and nobody can find out what's wrong with them because they're traditional blood work, a cbc, kidney function, liver function tests are normal. Then they do these autoimmune workups and they may have a slightly positive A and A or not at all. Rheumatoid factor may be equivocal. There's just all these little vagary things that just, they don't add up. They may end up getting imaging ultrasounds, mammograms, MRIs and everything, you know, seemingly, quote, unquote, looks normal. On occasion they'll find, you know, ruptured device and device. To me, that's like over 8 years old, over 9 years old, over 10 years old, has an increased rupture rate year over year over year. And so are you on a journey to healing and wellness, but feeling overwhelmed and unsure of where to turn? Look no further than Dr. Rob Solutions. At Dr. Rob Solutions, we understand the unique challenges that come with breast implant illness, which is why we offer wide range of the highest grade supplements, medical grade skin care and lab testing and HARP options to aid in your journey to recovery. Our supplements are specially formulated to support detoxification and aid in the healing process. While our medical grade skincare products are designed to nourish and protect the skin, we Also offer a comprehensive lab testing to help identify any underlying health issues that may be contributing to your symptoms. And for those who are ready for explant surgery, we offer HARP options as well. Don't let the uncertainty and confusion of breast implant illness hold you back any longer. Trust the experts at Dr. Rob's Solutions to provide you with the resources and support you need to take control of your health and wellness. Visit our website today to learn more and to order your products. Take the first step towards healing and Wellness with Dr. Rob Solutions. Atrobsolutions.myshopify.com When I mostly did just cancer reconstruction, switched out implants around the 8 to 10 year mark, kind of common, that's the way I was taught and I saw people routinely on an annual basis so I knew what was going on. And it was different in my oncology practice because those patients really stuck around or they were referred to another center if they moved out of state or out of catchment. So it was much easier to hone in and understand some of the challenges, you know, that providers and patients have is like, you know, constitutes a diagnosis of BII because it's not a ICD10 diagnosis for BII, which is international Classification of Diseases. There's limited awareness of both allopathic and functional medicine practitioners, but it's increasing. There's more and more work being done on this, both at a basic science level and at clinical research levels to help expand our knowledge and understanding of it. But it's still, I would say, limited in acceptance and understanding. There definitely is a lot of relief when someone sees me and I listen to their story and I have a couple provocative tests even in the office we do to help with them understanding their own immune system and how this plays a role in breast implant illness. I'll do a glutathione challenge with liposomal glutathione in my office. More often than not, it's really enlightening to folks that something as simple as that can help them understand how they don't really detox well. And if you don't detox regarding your your glutathione, then your, your genetics really are telling me that you're really predisposed to environmental toxicity. That may be things like glyphosates, phthalates, parabens, benzenes. It may be mycotoxins from molds like ochratoxin or aflatoxin. It may be heavy metals as well. For instance, I have been exposed to arsenic. Where I grew up, the groundwater had a lot of arsenic in my system. And so we each have these elements of genetics. And where we live, where we work, what we eat, what we drink, air we breathe, all plays a role. And once you identify what stimulates like your GI tract with the food sensitivities, how your digestive process works either with some. We do a GI map just to check for the bacteria, fungal and parasite numbers and get a sense of what's going on. Folks who had chronic antibiotic use for acne or they took Accutane or maybe they had sinusitis or UTIs or whatever, they're just all at risk to have leaky gut, which for their exacerbates this problem. Dietary things. People do different diets, like paleo and Mediterranean diets or plant based diets, and that's just not what they're supposed to do because they don't have the correct enzymatic makeup genetically to handle those types of diets. So you really have to drill down and figure out how best to help clients. So my whole testing program is worked around that. Functional genetics, total toxicity, inflammatory markers, complete blood work, including hormones. And really once you add all those things up with food sensitivities and stool analysis, you'll get a well rounded picture of the person conjunction with what they already told me regarding their pattern of symptoms. And that's how I come about to the conclusion whether or not someone has breast implant illness. But once again, it's over six years, 1100 explants, a thousand consults at this point. So in summary, you know, we want to identify and correlate the symptoms of breast implant illness and, you know, create an individualized plan for each person so that I can get them on the right track, but then really optimize them, a system standpoint. And all those tests really help you do that. And the importance of genetics can be understated. I think that's been, you know, a true game changer in how we look at and approach my clients. And I hope as time goes on, we'll really focus on that even more as a specialty of medicine and really personalize the approach using someone's genetics and these really specific tests to identify and explore toxicity and really work hard to optimize patients so they can live their best life. You know, of course I'm kind of highlighting, you know, all the testing and everything. I still will have to. In those cases where it's clear that the implant is a big generator of the problem, those patients will need an explant. And we have a whole program around that where people come in Visit us in Austin. Most of my clients come from out of state now through surgery. See them in the office a few times before they head back to their homes. Make sure the caregivers, spouses, friends, who's who's helping them understand and can really provide supportive care, both, you know, a physical standpoint and emotional standpoint to really get them on track. But our program built around it is what to me separates and differentiates and allows people to do extremely well in terms of recovery. That's my HARP program. We have a completely devoted team to help execute HARB for my patients who can't make it to Austin but want to participate in the program. So breast implant illness is going nowhere. We just need to explore it, dive in and add as much. Women who are suffering from this you know. Please share this with your friends or family. Anyone seeking more information about this and we look forward to the next time. Thanks for joining me today. I hope you found the information and stories shared on this podcast helpful and informative. Remember, taking control of your health and wellness is keeping recovery from breast implant illness. If you're looking for additional resources and support, be sure to visit our online store, Dr. Rob's Solutions at drrobsolutions.myshopify.com you'll find a wide range of wellness products and supplements to support your journey to recovery. From specially formulated detox supplements to personalized skincare products, we have everything you need to aid your recovery. Visit Dr. Rob's Solutions today at drrobssolutions.myshopify.com thank you for listening and we'll be back with another episode soon. Remember, you're not alone in this journey and together we can overcome breast implant illness. Take care. Of.