I had a BHR in 2007 in my R hip and 2009 in my L hip. I began having issues after the first was implanted, but didn’t relate it to the hip as it didn’t seem connected. I had a difficult time thinking straight, was unable to complete my dissertation, fatigued. I couldn’t lift my leg because the tendon running from my stomach into my thigh was weak and sore. If I stubbed my toe I went through the roof with pain. I lost a huge amount of my range of motion and could no longer bring my ankle to my knee or even come close to it. It squeaked and would grind if I bent a certain way. I thought it was just something that I would need to get used to and figured no implant would be as good as the original. With the fatigue and problems with memory and putting my thoughts together, I thought I was depressed or something because I had just relocated and I hadn’t wanted to, but had made a huge sacrifice to follow my husband, leaving my job and the house I loved in Florida. When the second one was done, that was when the really major issues began. Within days after the surgery I began having bloating and gas issues, which was humiliating for me. I had had a gastric bypass in 02 with no problems and had maintained my weight for 9 years easily and suddenly I began putting on weight, even though I wasn’t eating any more than I had before. The bloating was so bad I felt like I couldn’t breathe and nearly called 911 several times, but couldn’t bring myself to go through the humiliation of being carted off by ambulance only to find it was gas buildup — which was made worse because of the limited space in my stomach. It was suggested by someone that I may have a yeast infection in my gut and so I told my PC this and he humored me and gave me a month of diflucan, which gave me instant relief, however he had never heard of a yeast infection in a gut. I went to doctor after doctor over the gas issue and all blew me off and then the PC took me off diflucan and I was utterly miserable. I stopped eating gluten and that helped and took naturopath yeast products and finally managed to get it under control as long as I followed a strict regimen. Unfortunately every time I had to take antibiotics, it would rear its ugly head again and it seemed I kept getting urinary infections over and over, as well, which meant I was always battling either one infection or the other. No doctor in my area had ever heard of it because it is normally only relegated to AIDS patients so none would believe I had it. Then I began sweating profusely. It was so bad it would drip in my eyes at all hours of the day, all day long. I had to carry a towel around my neck because it was so bad and my hair was always plastered to my head, looking like I just showered. I couldn’t remember simple things any longer and had a constant feeling of being unwellness, where it got to where I could no longer work. After gaining 50 pounds and being told by a bariatric surgeon that I was being irresponsible with the gift of a gastric bypass by not following directions in my eating habits (I WAS following directions!), it was finally found that the gas had stretched a part of my intestine from the size of a thumb to the size of a fist. A portion of food was no longer digesting at all and was forming a hard rock-like mass that was destined to get larger over time. When they did a colonoscopy they found a thumb-sized mass that ended up being caught just in time because it was cancerous, although it hadn’t yet spread, luckily, and was removed. Then it was found I had a thyroid issue and I was put on levothyroxine. My hair began falling out and became thin and brittle and I couldn’t seem to get anything done during the day as it seemed to pass by so quickly. I wasn’t sleeping and still the day went by so fast but I just couldn’t seem to get myself together. Finally, I saw something about chromium and cobalt poisoning symptoms and it was like looking at my life for the last several years when viewing the symptom list. I immediately had my PC do a test and lo and behold, my levels were very high. I took them to my surgeon who was alarmed, ordered another test, and an MRI, which showed fluid around the implants on both sides. He immediately scheduled me for surgery and I had the R hip revised with a ceramic full replacement in March. I feel so much better. I can think again! The sweating has decreased. I am due to have the L hip done next month and even though it has been painful, I can’t express the difference in my well-being adequately, as it is truly miraculous. I feel like I can get my life back again. In the meantime, I have been told that S&N cannot be held liable even though they knew about all of the dangers involved because of a Premarket Approval by the FDA. I am angry and I have asked the FDA to rescind the PMA, but until we all band together, it probably won’t happen. Contact me if you had this implant because maybe if we all band together we can achieve something to make S&N own up and pay restitution for destroying my life for five years that I can never get back.

I had the BHR implant done in 2009 by Dr. Bose and it has failed. I am waiting to get an MRI. I had the surgery done after watching the 60 minutes expose recommending medical tourism and Dr. Bose. Has anyone else used Dr. Bose and problems with the BHR?

You may want to read the minutes of an FDA meeting held in Washington, DC on September 8, 2005. The main reason for this meeting was to approve the birmingham resurfacing hip device manufacturerd by Smith and Nephew. You will see there were major concerns and questions raised at this meeting about this device and YET it was approved by a 3-2 vote??? The partial inventor of this device worked for Smith & Nephew in one breath and then he became a consultant?? he controlled the patient group of 2385, he had a financial interest that reportedly was worth in excess of $150 million dollars, there were serious concerns raised about lack of data on metal shavings (caused from friction of components rubbing together) entering the human body and what the outcome could be, the controlled group was taken from non USA citizens, and there were other issues raised.