Danica Patrick reflects on her battle with breast implant illness: ‘I went down a pretty deep rabbit hole’

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Danica Patrick is urging others who are struggling with their breast implants to get them removed.

The former NASCAR driver went under the knife in 2014 because she thought "it would pull my whole look together and make me feel more feminine and sexy." However, it wouldn’t be until 2017 that the 40-year-old started experiencing changes in her body, including weight gain, hair loss and fatigue, among others.

"I thought maybe my hormones were off," Patrick told this week’s issue of People magazine about her persistent symptoms.

Then a year later, one of her breasts turned rock-hard. The other one soon followed.

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Former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick had her breast implants removed in March of this year. The star said she has zero regrets. (Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic)

"For so many years, I didn’t hug people tight because I didn’t feel like pushing these little balloons into them," Patrick reflected. "Whenever I was with a guy, I could not stop thinking that they knew they were fake."

"I went down a pretty deep rabbit hole," she admitted. "I had every test that could be done."

According to the outlet, it wasn’t until early 2022 that the star saw several videos on social media about breast implant illness. BII symptoms have been reported with all types of breast implants and could occur either immediately after surgery or years later. The FDA noted that some of the most common symptoms associated with BII include brain fog, joint pain, anxiety and hair loss.

The FDA also identified a possible connection between breast implants and the development of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the outlet revealed.

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Danica Patrick went under the knife in 2014. She started experiencing persistent symptoms in 2017. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for NBC)

Patrick realized that her implants could be to blame for her ongoing health woes that wouldn't go away. In March of this year, she decided to have them removed. She said the results were instant.

"On a scale of one to 10, I’m probably a six right now," she explained. "But I take better care of myself now than I ever have. Chasing perfection is a dead-end street. Learning how to come home to yourself is a beautiful thing."

She now hopes her health journey will inspire others experiencing similar symptoms to do the same.

"Trust your intuition," said Patrick. "Get them removed and see how you feel."

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Danica Patrick learned about breast implant illness after watching a series of videos on social media. After realizing the symptoms were stemming from her implants, she quickly had them removed. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Back in May of this year, Patrick told Fox News Digital she wasn’t worried about facing pressure to look a certain way after removing her implants.

"I think it was more my own pressure at the beginning of how I felt like I should look," said Patrick at the time. "I felt like I wanted to be more feminine. I wanted to have what, in my mind, felt like an ideal body. I wanted to have it all at a young age. I thought, ‘Let’s just get it all when you’re young enough.’ In my mind, I thought I was going to be more ideal-looking. But getting them out felt more like freedom. I feel better about my body."

"I feel like I look better, to be honest," Patrick continued. "I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. I’m glad they’re out. I feel more like myself. I can give people hugs and not have these implants in the way. I also can’t wait to do yoga again and not have to worry about whether they’re going to lay on the floor while I do these crazy cool poses. I won’t have to feel any of that weird stretching that I felt before. I’m excited to have it all be natural again."