Why Most Diagnoses Don't Matter

Why Most Diagnoses Don’t Matter

What’s wrong with me? I need a label!

I really hate diagnoses or medical labels. I know; I’m a nurse and a functional health practitioner. What we call something doesn’t matter. I get that you might think this is weird so I’ll try to explain.

If you were healthy as a horse (whatever that means), and your list of vague, seemingly unrelated symptoms started after you got breast implants, then they are likely symptoms of breast implant illness. Diagnosis by definition is the identification of the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms. This means that labels like irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s, chronic fatigue, etc. aren’t real diagnoses because they don’t imply a cause. They are merely symptoms of a larger problem that has yet to be discovered, and in our cases, it is likely our breast implants.

Now, this doesn’t mean that removal of the source will always be an immediate cure. I see so many photos posted on social media of women the day of surgery and the day after surgery looking “slightly” better, but portrayed in a way which leads the viewer to believe that explant is going to miraculously take all their symptoms away from day one. This just ins’t reality for most people. Healing never happens in a straight line and it has many peaks and valleys. Healing is dependent on so many factors, including genetic mutations, overall toxic body burden, mental/emotional blocking factors, and vital reserve, just to name a few. It also happens much more slowly if you don’t know how to support the body, not only to detox and address the downstream metabolic chaos caused by breast implants, but also to recover from a major surgery and general anesthesia which is a huge hit on our body systems. It’s not as simple as juicing and self-care.

When we explant and that doesn’t magically cure us, what do many of us do? We search for more labels. Why do we do this? “Breast implant illness” gives our suffering a name, connects us to other women going through the same thing, connects us to support groups, and gives us an indication to get our breast implants removed. Does that help? Absolutely! You can’t heal without knowing the root cause of your symptoms.

Seeking out diagnoses for the symptoms you are left with post-explant doesn’t do much good though. In the case of breast implants, a label gives you an explanation for your symptoms, but other than knowing you have a collection of symptoms caused by your breast implants, it doesn’t change our plan after explant. It might be an end to speculation, questions, and frustration. But it doesn’t give you a prognosis. It doesn’t tell us what you’re unique healing journey is going to look like or what exactly you will need after explant.

Conventional medical doctors run tests so they can put a label on your group of symptoms, which becomes an ICD-10 code in your permanent medical record. But what does something like “chronic fatigue” or “irritable bowel syndrom” even mean? Nothing more than the symptoms they describe. You’re tired all the time and you have diarrhea/constipation/gas/bloating. But didn’t you already know that? What about fibromyalgia? Muscle pain you already know you’re dealing with. So what? Knowing the label means doctors can open their medical apps on their smart phones and prescribe the proper drug for that “disease”. This is completely disrespectful to the body’s innate intelligence and natural healing ability. Even if what was in their medical apps to treat you was a natural and holistic approach, no two people are the same and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to restoring health.

What if you believed that your body had a built-in healing system? What if you regarded your symptoms as your body’s way of getting your attention?

We’re often not listening to the messages our bodies are trying to tell us. We have no idea how to decipher what these messages even mean. Or maybe we get the message, but feel resistant to change. I believe our mental, emotional, and physical symptoms are the way our bodies tell us that something in our life isn’t working correctly. Symptoms are just signals. They are the body saying “hey! I need your care and attention over here!”

It could be the food you’re eating, or a lack of sleep. It could be food sensitivities and a gut that needs healing. It could be the toxins in your cosmetics, personal care products, or food. It could be heart break, the stress of the job you don’t love, or past traumas that you are still holding onto. It could be an improperly functioning immune system that needs restoring. It could be your beliefs or perceptions about the world. It could be the kind of water you’re drinking or an improper amount and/or type of exercise.

The medical label ignores all of these legitimate possibilities. Don’t be satisfied with the label. It’s not enough. Knowing it won’t cure you or heal you.

What will heal you? Understanding the root causes of dis-ease outside of just your breast implants and purposefully addressing the body’s imbalances. This involves conscious decisions about: what you eat and drink, how you sleep, the air you breathe, how you move your body, stress reduction, and choosing to be mindful. This also means detoxing your body at the cellular level after explant and addressing any lingering down stream effects caused by your breast implants. These things can be found on functional lab testing and addressed holistically. This doesn’t mean more diagnoses; it means looking for the imbalances that need correcting.

Labels paralyze. They stigmatize your illness, stagnate your energy, and limit your healing. With a label you become reliant on a cure. What if there is no cure to fix that label? Then you live a life suffering under that name.

The name doesn’t matter. Getting the body back into balance matters. Take Hashimoto’s or Crohn’s Disease, for instance. Both of these are autoimmune in nature and there is no cure according to the conventional medical model. The prognosis is a lifetime of medications and possibly surgery as forms of symptom management. This narrow way of looking at the body implies that there isn’t a cause; it just “happens”. Maybe it’s genetics? Well let me tell you, genetics may load the gun, but environment pulls the trigger. There is always a root cause to be addressed and I have seen many people reverse their so-called irreversible conditions. If you believe you will have a particular condition forever, then you will.

If that morbid way of thinking about disease is true, then why do my clients come to me after years of suffering and their symptoms start to go away once we work with the body’s innate desire to heal? It’s not because we are introducing a medication or even a supplement to suppress the symptoms, but because we’re giving the body what it needs to heal itself. You don’t need more labels in order to heal.

Your body knows how to heal; and in fact, wants to. It just needs to be given the proper support. So if we focus less on labels and more on how we can support and invigorate the body’s innate healing power, the body will heal.

De-emphasizing labels is liberating, empowering, and action-focused.

Skin rash? Removing food sensitivities will decrease inflammation and immune reactivity. Or maybe we need to be looking at gut health and liver congestion.

Fertility issues? When the body is putting so much effort into survival and maintaining basic functions, it places little priority on reproduction. Detoxifying the body after explant will restore natural balance and maximize egg health.

Tired and stressed all the time? Then take the time your body needs to rest or remove the factors that are causing you tension.

Functional lab testing can point to areas of the body that need addressing so that the body can heal properly.

Yes, removing labels does demand more accountability, but you truly are your body’s best interpreter if you stop to listen. Taking control of your own health based on your body’s inherent wisdom and guidance is the only sustainable option that will create lasting healing and happiness.

I want you living a heathy, thriving, delightful life; so stop focusing on the problem, drop the attachment to the label and start focusing on how you can get your body back into balance. If you need guidance, I can help. I have the tools to facilitate the rehabilitation of your body’s healing power so it can do its job and heal you.

Apply for your BII Discovery Call with Sarah HERE

Professional Bio

Founder of Reversing Breast Implant Illness. Sarah has a passion for restoring health that has taken her along a path from a practicing RN, to walking away from her conventional nursing career to become a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Practitioner, and Breast Implant Illness and Detox Expert. She believes the solution to Reversing Breast Implant illness is about more than just the explant and that we all need to take personal responsibility for restoring our health by addressing the root causes that contribute to chronic illness: toxicity, infections, trauma, and shame. Sarah’s “pain to purpose” is using her personal experience along with her understanding about the body to guide women through the sea of mis-information about Breast Implant Illness in hopes of finding their path to true and lasting healing.

Sarah was once quite happy and comfortable living the conventional life, but she began to look at things very differently when her body started failing her after getting breast implants. Within about six months of getting breast implants, Sarah began to see her once perfect health steadily decline. She began experiencing a myriad of symptoms which no doctor could explain. No one understood what Sarah was going through. She felt completely alone in this invisible illness because on the outside she looked fine. On the inside, the discomfort of living inside her own body was maddening.

Sarah soon realized she was looking in the wrong places, for the wrong things. If she wanted to fix her broken body, she had to stop looking to treat the symptoms; she had to start looking for a cause. It was time to take her health into her own hands and find real answers. She discovered that the root cause was literally inside of her.

Sarah believes there is always a greater purpose within our struggles, and she believes that purpose for her was to learn how to heal her own body so she could then help other women like her do the same. It is Sarah’s believe that the body has an innate desire to heal if given what it needs and she focuses on teaching natural healing principles. Sarah will teach you how to Reverse Breast Implant Illness, take back your health, and live vibrantly!