'I thought breast implants would give me confidence. Instead, my body started shutting down.'

The following is an extract from Treasured Chest by Andi Lew.

What happened to me and what inspired me to write this book is profound.

I'm still in shock. It feels like it's a real dream, but it really did happen.

I've only just started to realise now that I was slowly dying. I mean, when you're not working on your wellness every single day, we could describe ageing as slowly dying.

However, this is something different, as I was working on my wellness more than ever before, and in my post-operative media interviews, I was quoted as saying, "My body was shutting down".

I had my own breast implants augmented when I was in my early 40s after a divorce that I thought would help me heal from my childhood sexual trauma among other abuse, events and other things.

Watch: Mamamamia discusses the feminist implications of a society that is entirely preoccupied with women's looks.

Why on earth, would a wellness expert ever consider implanting something so toxic?

I had a hole in my left implant bag that six surgeons and an MRI didn't pick up. It was exactly where I pinpointed it was!

The most unbelievable part of this was that it wasn't discovered, until after I had the surgery that I had to wait almost years for.

My journey to discover that I had breast implant illness, and an undetected rupture, (which followed in me exploring the removal of them) was something that took a couple of years to accept and then feel healed.

In 2020–2022, I was living in Sydney, in Bondi Beach, where I wanted to be close to the ocean and had moved from Melbourne during the pandemic, because I had health symptoms that were worsening.

To be able to flee during a strict lockdown and save myself, I also created a job for myself in "essential services" so that I could cross borders.

It was a case of survival, literally.

In hindsight, I have been in 'survival mode' for many years. It's no wonder I've still come out thriving. I guess everything I teach was now really put into practice.

From Sydney, I moved to Los Angeles in July 2022, to advance my career status and give my son and I a brand new life.

We had been living in Beverly Hills for about four months, and I had already been diagnosed with breast implant illness by my Australian doctor but I had not removed my implants yet. We thought we had time. My body was telling me we didn't.

"More than 100 symptoms have been reported by sufferers," writes Andi Lew. Image: Supplied.

I landed up in a clinic of a Californian surgeon on midday and the middle of 2022 on a mildly warm sunny day, but the sterility of the clinic I'm standing in where I wait to be seen by this American plastic surgeon to seek a new professional opinion, keeps me trembling and chilly.

There aren't enough explant surgeons that can perform "complete capsulectomy", which is the special type of surgery that is now done to remove breast implants and their surrounding scar tissue.

This means that there are only a handful (albeit growing number) of specialist surgeons in the world that we can seek the services of.

I was hoping this one could help me because he was close to my home in Beverly Hills.

The anticipation of the notion that this is my 4th medical opinion now, and not knowing who's got the right answer on how to get me well, contributed to this crusade, if you like, that I, like many other BII sufferers seek before they explant.

I had seen a couple more in Australia to make sure I didn't have a rupture in the implant bag and so I could have peace of mind getting on a plane. I saw another in Los Angeles prior to this day also. He also didn't pick up the rupture.

However, I remain hopeful this time as I cannot wait any longer to be seen by the first explant surgeon.

"What if I was dying now?" These were my thoughts and it certainly felt like it.

It was hard to describe at the time because it was slow and felt like nothing I could ever imagine my body would feel.

I honestly wanted these bags out now. I couldn't see myself waiting for six months, let alone six days.

In hindsight, the only thing I could describe this as was "torture".

More than 100 symptoms have been reported by sufferers. They usually begin immediately after being implanted or years later.

These are a list of some breast implant illness symptoms:

• Joint and muscle pain

• Chronic fatigue

• Memory and concentration problems

• Breathing problems

• Sleep disturbance

• Rashes and other skin problems

• Dry mouth and dry eyes

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Headaches

• Hair loss

• Gastrointestinal problems

• Vertigo

• Food intolerances

• Heartbeat irregularity

• Light sensitivity

These were the symptoms I had:

• Brain fog and confusion

• Food intolerances / sensitivity

• Mast cell activation syndrome

• Stage two contracture, and the implant sliding into and in between my rib cage with the ribs and clavicle and shoulder, slowly dislocating and going out of alignment

• Feelings of suicide, or felt like I was dying because my system is shutting down

• Loss of libido

• Inability to breathe deeply

• Sleeplessness and night sweats

• Anxiety, depression and medical gaslighting telling me that nothing was urgent and questioning whether it really was implant illness or something else

• Inflammation

• Continual hair loss

• Bowel and digestive disorders like small, intestinal bowel overgrowth otherwise known as SIBO / constipation — passing stools once every five days and prior to surgery I had not eliminated any waste for 10 days

• Not sweating for about one year

• Insatiable thirst

• Heart palpitations

• Anus bleeding

• Dry eyes

• Tinnitus and brain buzzing which felt like I'm an antenna (heavy metals bouncing around interacting with 5G radiation. When 4G was around, I felt like it was there but not as bad)

• Localized pain in the left breast where the undetected rupture was. I had a pressing on the rib cage from week one which I reported but it got progressively worse year after year. I was told it was just a fold

• Light sensitivity

Image: Dymocks.

Treasured Chest by Andi Lew is available now.

Find out more here:

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Feature Image: Supplied.