I certainly think you are generous to come here.

And I agree with you. Your posts are a great asset to this forum.
I know you are busy, but you know, we have a women's health forum here too.
A copy of your posts would be a tremendous asset there.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum41.html

No one likes to hear scary stuff. And when that happens some tend to attack the messenger. I've had reams of those responses myself, not so much here, but elsewhere!

One thing about knee and hip replacement is that typically they are done in older people. Doctors will hesitate to do them in people under 50, unless it is a huge emergency--like major trauma. Older people have weaker immune systems on average, and since it takes TIME to develop autoimmune responses, they may die before any really awful symptoms occur. Then there is the factoid that older people get PN anyway and so this development may not be associated with the knee/hip replacements. A very vigilant person may keep track and notice that after the surgery is when problems came. But if 5 yrs pass, then it becomes harder to attribute.

What is happening with implants is similar to the smoke and mirrors drug companies use to hide negative studies of their drugs they are promoting.
For example Lipitor may affect memory. So if an older patient develops memory issues on it, they might be diagnosed with Alzheimer's and the drug is ignored. This is Dr. Graveline's message:
http://www.spacedoc.net/lipitor.htm

With time however, the data does "will out". Only many may be damaged before that is recognized.

I think women who absolutely want implants should get some counseling before it decided upon. If the reasons are poor self image, that can be corrected. But for others who need implants for their occupation, like actresses, and the like, they may have financial reasons that will drive this decision. I think for example that the tragic life of Anna Nicole Smith --her drug use, pain issues, etc all revolved around the huge implants she had put in. But that is just my opinion. Here we have a person with low self esteem, who made the decision, and what benefits she reaped were short lived for her.
Her implants caused severe back pain, and who know what else, to lead her into drug abuse and other poor decisions. Her own son died as a result of methadone as well. (drug interaction). She is extreme, but she did an extreme thing, and the dominoes fell badly for her.

Right now in my area, are TV commericals advertising breast augmentation.
This really hooks young women, who may think this is a totally easy, affordable benign procedure, and they may not even research it. That bothers me.

Thanks for coming on here. I hope you decide to stay.