Maria Gmitro is President and co-founder of Breast Implant Safety Alliance (BISA Nonprofit). Sadly, Maria experienced illness from newly FDA-approved breast implants back in 2014. After getting the implants removed, Maria felt instantly better. Now, Maria loves to educate others and help people who are experiencing symptoms from their breast implants. There are many illnesses and system symptoms related to breast implants, including fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, anxiety, depression, and more. Tune in as Maria explains what you can do if you think you’re suffering from an illness related to breast implants or other medical devices.
In This Episode:
- [04:35] Maria speaks about her journey with illness from breast implants.
- [12:50] The illnesses that are associated with breast implants.
- [20:25] Breast implant recalls: what you need to know.
- [29:00] Everyone reacts differently to a medical device; think about the symptoms before getting an implant.
- [31:30] Do extensive research before getting anything implanted into your body.
Key Takeaways:
- The most common systemic symptoms from breast implants are fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, anxiety, hair loss, depression, rash, autoimmune diseases, inflammation, and weight fluctuation.
- Memory loss, depression, anxiety, autoimmune disorders, and neurological deficits may not be from aging; instead, they may result from your breast implants.
- Everyone will react differently to a medical device or breast implants; you may have severe symptoms or no symptoms at all.
- Before getting breast implants or a medical device, do your research and find out about any adverse events.
Meet Maria Gmitro
Maria Gmitro holds a Master’s Degree in Instructional/Educational Technology from the University of Central Florida and is the Director of Community Outreach & Patient Advocacy for TrackMy Solutions, a medical device tracking/patient alerting company. Maria experienced illness from newly FDA approved breast implants and regained health upon removal. After healing, she decided to take action by supporting other women suffering from breast implant illness and BIA-ALCL through various support groups. She testified in front of the FDA at the most recent hearing on the safety of breast implants in March 2019.
Maria is President and co-founder of Breast Implant Safety Alliance (BISA Nonprofit). In September of 2019, she and her BISA organization were the first patient advocacy group given a booth at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons “Plastic Surgery The Meeting.” Through her experience, she learned of the greater issues with medical devices and advocates in DC for medical device safety. She serves as a breast implant representative for Medical Device Problems Advocacy of ASHES Nonprofit. She also serves as a breast implant patient representative for the National Center for Health Research’s Breast Implant Working Group, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Patient Group and the Breast Device Collaborative Community.
Maria currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband and two daughters. She hopes to raise public awareness because individuals need accurate information to make informed health decisions.
Resources:
Website: https://www.breastimplantsafetyalliance.org & https://trackmysolutions.us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breastimplantsafetyalliance/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bisanonprofit
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-gmitro/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trackmymaria/
BISA on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bisanonprofit/