From Picture of Health to Hell and Back

Homemaker Suffers:  Soy at the Root of Serious Health Problems

Bobbie, a wife and mom screamed when she read about the Weston A. Price Foundation prison soy lawsuit on the internet. She recognized in the description of the symptoms being experienced by a number of Illinois prisoners, the same horrible symptoms that she experienced 3 years ago.

After a longtime struggle with heavy and irregular menstrual periods, her OB Gyn prescribed for her a fairly high dose birth control pill in 1996. Ten years later, the doctor recommended surgery, to reduce her periods to 4 times a year.  Bobbie, wishing to avoid surgery asked for another option. Unbeknownst to Bobbie, the doctor put her on an even higher dose of birth control medication, 9 weeks on the pill and one week off.

It was May 2006. Bobbie started experiencing ringing headaches, upset stomach, she got tired easily, it felt almost like flu symptoms.  In mid June, when she complained of these problems to the doctor, she was told to try soy milk to “balance her hormones”, 6 ounces a day.

Initially, she felt ok, then her symptoms worsened.  Bobbie felt even more tired than before, very lethargic. She was gaining weight. Her headaches were more painful than ever.

Within a month, she went back to the doctor and asked, “Could the birth control and soy milk be causing this?” The doctor was sure that it was just menopause, and assured her that weight gain was normal for a 40 year old woman.

Bobbie called the doctor’s office back at least a half a dozen times, complaining of her distressing symptoms. Each time, she was assured by the staff, that none of their other patients had ever had a bad reaction to hormone pills or soy milk, and that there must be something else wrong with her.

Then Bobbie started losing her hair, a little here and there. But one day while washing her hair, she looked down and her hands were covered in hair.  She couldn’t even see her skin for the hair in her hands. Bobbie saved her hair in bags, and put the date them. Her once beautiful tresses were all in Ziplocs.

She also began to have difficulty breathing. She often panted like a dog to get air. She experienced heart palpitations and at night would wake up in pools of sweat. She had to sleep with a wind tunnel fan next to her bed to make sure she got plenty  of air and to cool down her body.

She ended up in the Emergency Room a few times. Aside from receiving fluids, and many tests that showed nothing was wrong from a doctor’s point of view, she was left with more questions than answers.

In August, she visited her family physician complaining that it felt like someone was pinching and twisting her heart. Her body was breaking down, she was losing cognitive skills, and had difficulty functioning in her daily routine.  She suffered from diarrhea for 3 straight weeks, fainting spells, super low blood pressure, and a bad rash on her chest. She was then constipated and her abdomen was hard.

The medical professionals she saw were all stumped.  They sent her to other specialists, 2 neurologists, a surgeon, a second gynecologist, it was suggested that she needed a psychiatrist (as though the problems may be all in her head).  Bobbie had cat scans, blood work, a colonoscopy, HPV tests, and she had her gallbladder checked a couple times.

The general surgeon did discover that she had a huge amount of fecal matter built up in her system, pressing on other organs.

A dermatologist that she went to for help with the hair loss, and rashes, suggested she up the soy milk, from 6 to 8 ounces a day.  He had no explanation for the rashes and hair loss, only said that soy milk is helpful for hair loss.

After only two weeks on the higher dose of soy, Bobbie passed out behind the wheel of her car. She felt like she was having a heart attack. She managed to drive herself home and then collapsed on her kitchen floor for two hours.

Her body was bloated, her weight shot up from 127lbs to 142 lbs in two weeks time.

She became a couch potato, spending all day on the couch after her daughter left for school and until her daughter and husband came home at night. She cried constantly, her joints ached, her heart palpitations continued.  She was exhausted, physically, emotionally, and not able to process information or figure out the answers to a problem or help her daughter with homework. Her husband brought home take out dinners, because she was unable to cook.

In September, Bobbie’s stomach was burning, even the least drink of water felt like acid, it was torture.

She quit eating and drinking. She stopped the soy milk along with everything else.  It was too painful to consume anything. She would spend two hours trying to get down a Wendy’s baked potato or a junior vanilla frosty, or, she would just let a cracker melt in her mouth.

On September 22, 2006 she stopped the birth control pills for good.

No more pills, no soy.

Surprisingly, she began to feel a little better.

By November, she realized that her initial instincts had been correct. Soy was the problem. The doctor had poo pooed the idea, which had made her doubt her own judgment.

“After all, this doctor saw patients every day. This doctor must know more than me,” she thought.

In December 2006, Bobbie found a natural health doctor. Dr. Bob is a chiropractor, who calls himself, The Drugless Doctor. He has been working with her ever since to help restore her health. He discovered through a hair analysis, that Bobbie was malnourished, and her body was feeding off of its own muscle tissue.

Before all this happened, Bobbie exercised 6 days a week, ate healthy, organic food, lots of fresh fruits and veggies. She describes herself before May 2006 as “the picture of health”.

An overdose of hormone pills and the plant estrogens and anti-nutrients found in soy milk took her to hell and now she is back.  Her hairdresser says her hair is 90% back to normal. Bobbie feels 95% better, although to this day she struggles with joint pain, occasional constipation/diarrhea.

Bobbie shared this story with Hartke is Online! because she is very concerned about the Illinois prisoners, and the unwitting public, who may be themselves allergic to soy or be experiencing a bad reaction to estrogens.

Click here to learn more about the Weston A, Price Foundation Soy Alert! Campaign.

For further information about the prison soy lawsuit, visit the WAPF Press room.

See also author of The Whole Soy Story, The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, Dr. Kaayla Daniel’s website, http://wholesoystory.com.

This post is part of the Fight Back Fridays blog carnival, ALSO, read more about the Dangers of Soy on Food Renegade.