Soy and Thyroid?
#315387 - 09/21/07 07:13 AM
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Hi everyone! Since Oprah's big news about her thyroid problem she had said she took a month off and "relaxed, used soy products, took vitamins, and got well." I have hypothyroidism and take synthroid and use soy milk and other soy products in my diet and in my thyroid newsletter I got today the author who has had thyroid disease for a long time said soy shouldn't be used with thyroid disease, something about it breaking down and inhibiting isoflavones. Now I don't know if I have been pedalling backwards for the last 3 months since my IBS-C, lactose intolerant, gas, gas, gas diagnosis or not. I'm still taking Heather's Acacia, about 3/4 tsp. 3x daily but even that isn't working as well as it used to. I'm so sick of being sick with this IBS and not feeling up to par. Sorry for venting---but that newsletter really upset me!!
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Gloria
IBS-C, lactose intolerant
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This is a point not everyone agrees on. Kandee - who used to post a lot on this Board and is a smart lady - avoids soy totally. I have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) and am taking Synthroid daily. My endocrinologist's advice with regard to soy is not to avoid it but not to overdo it. I use rice milk but I do use soy ice cream (fairly often), soy cheese (no more than once a week), and soy sour cream (no more than once a week).
The simplest thing to do is to get your endo to check your TSH number. If the soy is making your thyroid even less active then your TSH number should be going up.
Also - and this is very important - educate yourself about what the TSH number means. There is a wide normal range and some doctors are perfectly happy if you are anywhere in it. A really good endo, though, will listen to your symptoms and if you're not feeling well will adjust your Synthroid even if you're within the normal range. For example, perhaps your TSH is dead center in the normal range but you feel tired and listless, cold, constipated, etc. Your endo should at least consider boosting your Synthroid dosage enough to get you to the low end of the TSH normal range and see if you feel better there. It can be a time-consuming process but it's well worth it to feel better.
As for Oprah, I wouldn't take what she says about how she "fixed" her thyroid problem very seriously. She probably has Hashimoto's thyroiditis which means her thyroid can swing from over active to under active. The fact that she felt better after a few months could simply be a result of her thyroid swinging from overactive back to normal. And, frankly, I think we'd all feel better after a month's vacation in Hawaii whether we ate soy or not.
Here are some links for you to check out:
What do we know about Oprah Winfrey's thyroid?
Changes to The TSH Test Normal Range
Old thread on thyroid problems - I've got a couple of posts in here and so does Kandee
I hope this helps. See your endocrinologist to get *at least* your TSH retested and ask her about soy.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Sand, thanks so much for all the info. I'm scheduled to have a bunch of lab work done shortly, including my thyroid, so maybe something will show up in the testing. The funny thing is when I first went to my family dr. for my yearly physical I complained about being constipated and that was over 3 yrs. ago and that's when they diagnosed me with hypothyroidism and put me on synthroid (75mg.daily). I will wait and see what the blood work says, 3 mos. ago my thyroid was okay but who knows where it's at now?
Thanks again for all the info!
Gbride
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Gloria
IBS-C, lactose intolerant
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