This is my true story, nothing altered. These are facts, as they relate
to my experience, my opinions based on what I have read and felt am
relating them to warn other young health-conscious women who are
unwittingly harming themselves.
In 1989, I graduated from high school in Texas and couldn't wait to
hit the big college city. One of the changes I wanted to make was to
eat healthier.
Once I moved to health-conscious Austin, Texas, I began to fortify my
body with the best and healthiest foods I could find. Tofu was the
main ingredient in every healthy dish and I bought soya milk almost
everyday.
I used it for everything from cereal to smoothies or just to drink for a
quick snack. I bought soya muffins, miso soup wth tofu, soyabe ans,
soya-bean sprouts, etc.
All the literature in all the health and fitness magazines said that
soya protected you against everything from heart disease to breast
cancer. It was the magical isoflavones, the estrogen-like hormones
that all worked to help you stay young and healthy. I looked great,
I was working out all the time, but my menstrual cycle was off.
At 20, I started taking birth control pills to regulate my menstrual
cycle. In addition to this I began to suffer from painful periods,
began to get puffy, it was as though I was losing my muscle tone,
began to suffer from depression and getting hot flashes. I mistook
all this for PMS since my periods were irregular. By the time I was 25,
my periods were so bad I couldn't walk. The birth control pills never
made them regular or less painful so I decided to stop taking them.
I went on like this for another two years until I realized my pain
wasn't normal.
At 27, my gynecologist found two cysts in my uterus. Both were the
size of tennis balls. I went through surgery to have them removed and
thank God they were benign. The gynecologist told me to go back on
birth control pills. I didn't.
In 1998, he discovered a lump in my breast. Again, I went through
surgery and again it was benign.
In November 2000 my glands swelled up and my gums became inflamed.
Thinking I had a tooth infection i went to the dentist who told me that
teeth were not the problem. After a dose of antibiotics the swelling
still did not go down.
At this point I could feel a tiny nodule on the right side of my neck.
I told my mother I had thyroid trouble. She think I was being silly. No
one in the family suffered from thyroid trouble. Going on a hunch I
saw a specialist who diagnosed me with papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.
After a series of tests he told me it was cancer. My fiance and I sat
stunned. We were not prepared and I was so scared. We scheduled
surgery right away.
The specialist told us that it would only be after the operation that
apathologist would be able to tell us for sure if it was cancer. They
found a tumor at my right lobe composed of irregular cells and another
smaller tumor growing on the left, so the entire thyroid was removed.
They told me that after undergoing radioactive iodine I would be safe
and assured me that I could live a long life.
After treatment I began to search for the cause of all these problems.
I never once thought it could be all the soya I had consumed for nearly
ten years. After all, soya is healthy.
I came upon a web page that linked thyroid problems to soya intake
and the conspiracy of soya marketed as a health food when in fact
it is only a toxic by-product of the vegetable oil industry.
This was insane, afterall; the health and fitness magazines had said
nothing about soya being harmful.
I visited a herbalist who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1985.
She nformed me that soya was the culprit. She had a hysterectomy
due to cysts and other uterine problems. A few months later another
acquaintance who had consumed soya came down with thyroid cancer.
A girl in England I met through the Internet in a thyroid cancer forum
had just undergone surgery and she was only 19.
What was going on????
Breast cancer is linked to estrogen. What mimics estrogen in the
female body, SOYA!
But I never suspected soya because until now I never once found a
single article that stated soya could be dangerous.. Women who took
soya prior to thyroid problems will continue to take it after if they
are not aware of what soya actually does, what it contains and how
it reacts in the female body. I think this is the reason that women
with thyroid cancer often develop breast cancer later.
My co-worker is big into soya and I see her losing hair and gaining
weight despite a walking workout during her break and after work,
and apples and oranges for lunch.. She just had cysts removed from
her uterus too. I warn her to stay off soya. I refer her to websites
but evening news on all four networks, women will suffer. Since the
thyroidectomy!. I do not touch soya, haven't for two years.
Dear readers, please use my story in any way you can. There are so
many young girls who are consuming soya because they think they
are taking care of themselves, and women taking soya because they
want to be healthy. It is so unfair that the information about the
dangers o! f soya isn't more widely circulated. It is sad. There are
many out there who feel this way and it is a terrible blow when you
realize you are not as healthy as you thought and that the information
that you depended on was wrong.
