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 every day used it for everything from cereal to smoothies or
just to drink for a quick snack. I bought soya muffins, miso soup
with tofu,soybeans, soybean, 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. I began to
get puffy, it was as though I was losing my muscle tone. I 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 thought 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 a pathologist 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 by-product of the vegetable oil industry. This
was insane, after all, 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 informed 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 warned her to stay off soya. I referred her to websites but
until it is on the 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 of soya isn't
more widely circulated. It is sad.
Here are some references:
http://www.haelan.co.uk/Wholefood-Soya.shtml
http://www.netlink.de/gen/Zeitung/2000/000813.html
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