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22 May, 2004
At 01:07 PM 5/19/2004, Van Eyk, Madeleine wrote:
Madeleine Van Eyk
ONE WOMAN'S STORY ON SOYA ... INTERESTING FACTS
Please pass this info to your female friends.
Something to take note of.
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. I 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, soyabeans, soyabean 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 capillary 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 health food when in fact
it is only a toxic 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 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 of 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.
some references:
http://www.haelan.co.uk/Wholefood-Soya.shtml
http://www.netlink.de/gen/Zeitung/2000/000813.html
http://www.biotech-info.net/soya.html
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