TIPS FOR OVERCOMING PCOS, etc

[Jaslene76]

I found the main culprit of my pcos and every other ailment I had in my body. It was from soy. In 1998 I decided to start eating soy as a replacement for protein. While my diet had very little protein as I was a vegetarian, I could now finally have the protein I always craved and I found it in soy frozen food products. I also developed a love for coffee to keep me going with all the issues I was going through at that time. So here I had my soy food to finally eat and coffee with cream and sugar to keep me feeling good. I'm a short girl, but I was drinking 3 to 4 cups of coffee at work every day. I also went on an all ice cream diet that summer after a breakup with my boyfriend and gained 15 pounds. pshhh! That was nothing. I could lose it anytime I want just as long as I cut it out. Well, I was wrong. Though I was only 20 years old and stopped eating ice cream, I still eating my soy foods like soy patty sandwich from subway and I had my coffee. Soy is good for you they say and coffee, 'why that just helps your metabolism burn off calories like that!' they say. Here I am 12 years later, 60lbs overweight and half my hair on my head. I lost all my thick hair that had grown in so beautifully in 1998. The last hairstyle I had that year in 1998 was a beautiful light brownish color to go with my golden skin. It was awesome. I don't know what happened along the way. When I first started losing my hair, I downed vitamins religiously. I ate more soy. I kept drinking my coffee. I drank protein liquid supplements. Just last year 2009, I  was having problems staying away at work no matter how much sleep I got. My hair disappeared from the back of my head around the nape area and in between the hairline in the front of my scalp. I already had surgery for fibroids in 2004. My energy was nil now and the fibroids still persisted, but not to the point of emergency surgery. I now had PCOS and lupus-like symptoms. I went to the hospital on seperate occassions and was diagnosed with illnesses related to inflammation like pancreatitis, tendonitis, and fibroids. Other pains I suffered with in silence like tennis elbow, pleurisy, pericarditis (went to the hospital a few times for pericarditis, but I didn't know what it was then and they could never find the problem, but I tell you, being jolted out of your sleep and feeling like you were having a heartattack with your back arched and grabbing the sheets because you could not move and you felt your heart would pop is not anyone's imagination by any means. Thus everyone knows not to jolt me out of my sleep and I only away to soft music. I probably would be dead by now if I was awakened by a regular jolting alarm clock.) Some of those inflammations don't occur anymore, but some do. The inflammation travels from one spot to the next. Just earlier this year, I was in pain all over and I was at my wits end and really wanted to end it all from the pain I suffered througout the year. Not just mental, but physical pain I suffered through. I didn't eat much at all, but that didn't do anything for my wasteline as I was still big as ever. The 25lbs I lost the previously from not eating at all came back. I couldn't go on starving myself just for weightloss and my hair came out in clumps even more now than before. I just so happened to look up "allergy to soy" and I saw the typical about itching, hives and breathing problems. But in my search, I also saw "intolerance to soy". Boy was I blown away by what I saw. I couldn't believe that soy was causing me to lose my hair! I stopped eating soy immediately and within 4 days, I had a shot of energy I had not had in a long time. Then after about a week, I was getting run down again. Well, I started taking vitamins again to keep up the energy you see and they had soy too! Soy was in everything I found out. I couldn't eat a processed food without soy or "hydrolyzed protein". It was making me sleepy. Well, now that soy was out of my life with more scrutinizing, I was starting to get IBS really bad. I needed my coffee after all to keep up my energy and I could rely on almonds too for more protein. Wrong! You see, now that soy was out of my diet (as soy absorbed all the nutrients and kept vitamins and minerals from being absorbed by your body) that meant my intestines were damaged and the harsh chemicals from the coffee could really penetrate my intestines and cause extraordinary IBS. Not to mention that my intestines were so delicate now that I could not digest almonds which really caused it to act up. That was so embarrassing at work. I just wanted to crawl under my desk and die. So, I cut out almonds and started feeling even more better, but my stomach was still acting up. At least my hair is not falling out in clumps anymore and my stomach noise was kept to a minimum, but why is my hair not growing back. Nooooo. Not my coffee! That's the only thing left that's keeping me happy. I need it. It's my friend when I'm sad and I really can't part. It makes me happy. It makes me happy! Ok, I finally cut down (not completely out) on coffee and well, what do you know. In two weeks, I have more hair growth in the sleek bald areas in the back of my head. More hair growth! You see, while soy blocked vitamins and minerals, coffee is a direutic and washes your intestines clean of vitmains and minerals. It also overworks your adrenal glands! Maybe that's why I had that stubble growing on my chin.  I was an overweight malnourished woman! No wonder my hair fell out. I gave it a one two punch to kill it off. However, I do feel a bit more better. After taking a round of probiotics to replace the none existing probiotics in my intestines I had nearly nil IBS problems. My intestines (if not completely destroyed) is like a baby now. I must eat mush to allow the vili to grow back or be restored if possible. I have to allow my liver to start working again. I have to allow my pancreas to create its own insulin so I can stop eating every sugary thing in sight. I have to be careful. But, I have less body pains, the itching has lessened, my hair stopped coming out in clumps (4 to 5 hair clumps in the tub whenever I washed it), and my hair is growing back around the nape (waiting for growth in the front side hairline). I've taking a couple of aspirin around that time of the month to try to get my ovaries to release more eggs it was holding on too. I must say, if you try that, do it with precaution as I almost fainted twice, but I think I shedded a lot more that my body was clinging on to from all the insulin craziness caused by coffee. So, I'm taking it one day at a time now and will update on how I progress as time goes on. I will let you know if I start losing weight when my pancreas heals more and my liver starts working more on it's own. I do take vitamins now, however, I just make sure I read the labels for soy. I'm sure other intolerances like almonds are temporary. But, once I'm off of coffee completely, I'm not going back.  Did I mention that coffee increases bad cholesterol?

PS - If you wondering why I didn't take go to the doctor again or a specialist, well, I just didn't have the extra dough despite the fact I had insurance and I was trying to keep my job. Also, I knew I would only be diagnosed based on symptoms, never truly getting to the root of the problem. I know if I was somewhat more on the fine side of health when I was in my late teens up to 20 years of age then I didn't just get a disease overnight. If I didn't have cancer then something else was wrong. And it was. It was the foods I ate. Not only that, but I didn't want to take steroids and become dependent and bloated. And I didn't want to rely on metaformin that only helped with 25lbs of weight gain and that was pretty much about it. By no means do I think soy should be anywhere in our diets and truly believe that's the root of hypothyroidism (documented by doctors) fibromyalgia or other inflammatory disorders.

[lilpersianangel]

I have Endometriosis now and had a laparotomy surgery to remove large cyst and left ovary....I had been eating TONS of Soy products (soy milk, soy meat, soy energy bars,etc) and after lots of research I discovered that Soy is processed in 2 possible ways, but the only 'safe' and healthy way is RARELY used in America. In this country almost all soy products are manufactured with a process that sprays on unnatural chemicals and alters the natural molecular structure. STAY THE HECK AWAY FROM SOY!!  I know it's hard because so many products have some type of 'soy' derivative but you just have to switch to unprocessed foods (at least mostly) and cook items like rice instead, have lots of fresh fruit, veggies, etc.  I hate soy now, because it 'fed' my cyst and endometriosis. Seriously, kick products that mention "Soy" out of your diet.

[msniki412]

Everything in moderation is OK. I drink an Iced coffee just about every day and I have no problems. Drinking 3-4 cups a day is not healthy for anybody. As well as the soy. You can eat soy, but not all day everyday. It's like eating Mcdonalds. People say it's bad for you because it has a high fat content...but if you eat it maybe twice or three times a month...it's not going to kill you. Also if you suspected you had PCOS, then you don't need a specialist...just a regular gyn. They would of ran blood work and ultrasounds to determine it.