EP30 - Knee Replacement Allergy w/Julene

Our guest today, Julene, joins us in the middle of her knee replacement journey.
After going early on for a relatively routine meniscus repair, working through physical therapy and all the things to recover, she wound up in an extreme amount of pain that wasn’t normal. Saw a new doctor in follow-up who advised a total knee replacement. Julene received three surgical opinions and all were in agreement.
Julene chose the surgeon that asked about prior reactions to metal.
About a month after surgery Julene began to develop one symptom after another. So bad she could barely make a glass of water. Acute pain. Flu-like symptoms, fatigue, and allergy symptoms.
Her cries to her doctor fell on deaf ears and she sought a second opinion.
Julene received an LTT Blood test for metal allergies, which came back showing her off-the-charts allergic to nickel.
Julene eventually obtained a knee revision and her symptoms resolved rapidly.
She felt stable on her new titanium knee….and then it all began to unravel…again.
Here about the continuation of her journey, her huge success on the low-nickel diet and then about the connections she made with her metallic dental work.
You won’t believe the surprise ending to the story.
Well…it’s not the end, it’s actually the middle, as another revision is in Julene’s future.
In this episode you will learn:
How to better advocate for yourself, trusting your body when you have metal hypersensitivity.
The importance of a low-nickel diet in managing symptoms.
The importance of double & triple checking surgeons and device manufacturers when it comes to the metal compositions and devices recommended for implant.
More about common signs, symptoms and co-morbidities of metal hypersensitivity.

~Links and Resources~

~ To see the images that accompany this episode click HERE: https://tinyurl.com/bdcrmrfh
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~ To read the PubMed article mentioned on a completely metal-free knee click HERE: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39251687/
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~ To find out about the FIG food app click HERE: https://foodisgood.com/
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~To make a comment or petition to the FDA, click HERE: https://www.regulations.gov/#!home
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~To follow Heavily Metalled on RUMBLE click HERE: https://rumble.com/c/HeavilyMetalledPC
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~Get the Low Nickel Diet cookbook HERE: http://TheLowNickelDiet.com
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~To learn more visit ⁠HeavilyMetalled.com⁠.
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Check out the “Heavily Metalled” resource page: ⁠https://www.heavilymetalled.com/resources⁠
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Sign the petition asking medical providers and facilities to pre-screen for metal hypersensitivity here: http://tinyurl.com/2458ea8
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Subscribe to Heavily Metalled on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@HeavilyMetalled⁠
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***Many WONDERFUL, supportive special-interest communities exist for metal allergies and diet, hardware issues, medical devices, etc., online and on social media. They have many resources and often act as a collective think-tank. I owe many parts of my recovery to knowledge obtained in such groups. Search keywords to join these groups and find your tribe!***