PUT ME OUT OF 32GG MISERY
Jenna begs for op to stop back pain
JENNA Todd is desperate to go under the knife to have her 32GG breasts reduced after years of agonising back pain.
The nursery practitioner has been bullied and subjected to cruel taunts since her teenage years but has twice been rejected for surgery she believes would change her life.
In the last 11 years, Jenna, 27, has had more than 100 doctors’ appointments. And she claims she even developed an eating disorder after being urged to lose weight to solve the problem
The Glaswegian, who is 5ft 6in and weighs 9st 9lb, said: “The back pain I experience every day is excruciating but I have been left to feel like this is how I should feel.
“I have been the target of every lad joke from the age of 13 – leaving me embarrassed and insecure.
“I just want a day where I have no pain and don’t have to change my outfit over and over because I can’t hide my chest.
“I’m exhausted from trying everything from exercise to physiotherapy and diets. It’s making no difference.”
Jenna, who lives with boyfriend James Harvey, 27, says she was picked on at school and was nicknamed “T-O-Double-D” by cruel classmates.
She added: “I have had a big chest since I was young.
“I was bullied a lot in school and felt quite depressed because of it.
“Boys at that age don’t think they are bullying you but the constant comments were hard to take.
“Because of my last name, I got the nickname – it was so horrible.”
When she started suffering back problems at 16, Jenna went to her GP with her mum to ask to be referred for a reduction.
She said: “I went to the doctors and described the pain I was having in my back and that I was getting bullied.
“My back was constantly sore, I didn’t want to take part in sport and I always felt embarrassed.
“But the doctor said I was too young for major surgery and even said some girls would kill to be in my situation.
“He said I should try to lose some weight and it should reduce the size of my chest.”
Jenna went on a diet and while BY ELLIE FORBES reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk she lost weight, her chest stayed the same size.
She added: “I lost more than 2st and never dropped a cup size. After that, I went back to my GP to try again and told him my back pain had got much worse.
“But I just kept being given strong painkillers, like codeine, co-codamol and naproxen. I was told to try physio and go to the gym to help my back.
“I started going to the gym a lot. My dad was a bodybuilder so he helped me do exercises to strengthen my back and I used to get sports massages too.”
Afged 18, Jenna was finally referred to Glasgow Royal Infirmary to see a plastic surgeon
but says she was told to talk to a psychiatrist first.
She said: “I explained I had tried to lose weight as the doctor said, how I felt about my chest, and the pain I was in.
“After half an hour she had decided I had body dysmorphia.
“I knew I didn’t – I felt happy with the rest of my body, it wasn’t in pain. I just wanted to have my breasts reduced to help with the pain in my back.
“I was denied the surgery because they claimed I had body dysmorphia, yet they didn’t offer me any help or counselling for it.
“The next two years I was back and forward to the doctor but he only offered me painkillers.
“I started to think they were right and began telling myself if I kept losing weight maybe they would get smaller.”
During this time Jenna developed bulimia – an eating disorder characterised by binge eating, followed by vomiting or taking laxatives to purge the food.
Jenna said: “I was trying to bring up everything I ate, and once my mum and dad caught on to it I started taking laxatives.
“I believe I got an eating disorder because no one would help me.
“My doctor never commented on my weight loss, it was like he was totally oblivious to what was happening to me.
“I suffered bulimia on and off until I was 25 and I never got any help from anyone other than my mum and dad.”
At 21, Jenna was referred back to
Glasgow Royal Infirmary to see plastic surgeons.
She says they noticed her right breast was significantly bigger than her left. But Jenna claims they refused her for surgery saying her body is in “perfect proportion”.
She said: “Another couple of years went by and I was still going to the GP about my back pain but they just kept saying I had an obsession and it was all in my head.
“They just made me feel like I was complaining about nothing.
“I have had about 100 doctors appointments about my chest in the last 10 years. I feel like I spend most of my life there.”
Jenna struggles to find bras to fit her and says it’s her dream to be able to walk into a “normal shop like Primark” and buy a bra.
She said: “I have dents in my shoulders from bras that don’t fit. It’s a nightmare. When I find a bra that fits me, I wear it to death.
“I end up spending £50 to £70 a month on bras from places like Bravissimo and Boux Avenue. I struggle to find bikinis that fit – I spend about £200 a year on specialist ones.” NHS guidelines say breast reduction can only be carried out in cases of massive disproportion, asymmetry or severe cases of skin condition intertrigo.
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “The NHS does not undertake procedures requested for cosmetic reasons. Breast reduction is performed in very specific circumstances.
“Eligibility is based on specific criteria. This does not include back pain as breast reduction is not a useful primary treatment for it.
“This patient was reviewed by the vetting panel and unfortunately did not meet these criteria for surgery.”
The doctor said I was too young for op and even said some girls would kill to be in my situation