Who should NOT use soy?

[Mama~Love]

Are there any situations where soy isoflavones shouldn't be used? All I seem to find are posts praising it, and recommending it to everyone. Just looking for the other side's info.

Thanks!
Edited by Mama~Love - 11/21/10 at 5:15am

[LivingSky]

I've never heard of a situation where soy actually caused a problem with conception, or the mother or child. It does have some side effects though, similar I'd imagine to Clomid. Because soy encourages your body to produce more estrogen, it tends to cause some serious moodiness. My first cycle on soy I just about took DH's head off repeatedly. I also had stronger O pains, and some headaches that may or may not have been linked to the soy.

That said, I do believe it played a big part in helpng me get my BFP, so, the side effects were worth it for me :)

[Attached2Elijah]

I second the moodiness... Ohhhhh wow. I thought "not me" before taking it.... Yeah, definitely me. I seriously went through about 20 emotions in less then an hour last night. I expected that to happen while actually taking the soy.... no, no, no it's about 3 days later that nice side effect makes it's appearance (at least for me)

However, my temperatures are more steady pre-O then they ever have been, My energy is higher, My labido is higher, My CM is already showing fertile signs (CD 11 today as opposed to my usual CD 14-15) so I think it's a good thing... I just wish I could be nicer to my husband, lol.

[Mama~Love]

Thanks for the replies. I think I might try it next cycle. I guess I'm already moody as it is, so soy might not make that much of a difference there .

[Attached2Elijah]

Originally Posted by Mama~Love 

Thanks for the replies. I think I might try it next cycle. I guess I'm already moody as it is, so soy might not make that much of a difference there .

LOL, that's what I thought too... be prepared. Seriously. I wasn't... and my poor husband just threw up his hands last night and said "I can't keep up with your emotions right now!!! GO TO BED!" I won't mind the mood swings if it does the trick.... but if not, my poor husband probably won't let me take it again next month, lol.

[Mama~Love]

Originally Posted by Attached2Elijah 

Originally Posted by Mama~Love 

Thanks for the replies. I think I might try it next cycle. I guess I'm already moody as it is, so soy might not make that much of a difference there .

LOL, that's what I thought too... be prepared. Seriously. I wasn't... and my poor husband just threw up his hands last night and said "I can't keep up with your emotions right now!!! GO TO BED!" I won't mind the mood swings if it does the trick.... but if not, my poor husband probably won't let me take it again next month, lol.

I'm sorry to , can't help it. If it's as bad as you say, there are some people at work who better watch out! I put up with enough crap from them people!

[Attached2Elijah]

LOL, don't be sorry... it's funny. Probably not so much to my husband but I woke up this morning looking back at it and thought it was rather amusing myself. The poor man... I really should be extra nice to him today when he gets home from work, lol.

[Pogonia]

After reading The Whole Soy Story by Dr. Kaayla Daniels, I realized many of my problems were related to my soy intake. It does affect hormones and I believe it's why I ended up with vulvodenia and thyroid problems. 

[Sourire]

Originally Posted by Pogonia 

After reading The Whole Soy Story by Dr. Kaayla Daniels, I realized many of my problems were related to my soy intake. It does affect hormones and I believe it's why I ended up with vulvodenia and thyroid problems. 

I have read a lot of the stuff about soy on the Weston A Price foundation website, and while I agree with their message that it's best to avoid eating unfermented soy as a part of your diet on a daily basis, I don't believe this applies to using a limited amount soy for medicinal purposes for a maximum of 5 days a month (which is how long most people take it when they are TTC).

[LivingSky]

Pogonia has a good point - kind of :) Large amounts of soy intake isn't good for you. So when you look for your soy isoflavones, CHECK THE DOSAGE! There is a big difference between how much SOY is in those pills versus how much SOY ISOFLAVONES are in them. A lot of the not-so-good brands of soy isos will have high amounts of soy for a small amount of soy isos. The ones I use have 40% soy isos in them - I've seen some as low as 2% and 5%. Then you end up taking in far more soy than necessary, to get the amount of isos you want.

[jenger]

I would be careful with soy. I, too, am pretty sure high soy FOOD intake (tofu, soymilk, etc) played a part in my thyroid condition. Also, soy (I am not sure about the isoflavins) has pseudo-estrogens... this can cause estrogen dominance/low progesterone. Again, I don't know about the isolated isflavins themselves, but I have been cut off the bean by my naturapath, and was during pregnancy with my first by my midwife. This all makes me weary of taking soy supplements.

[LivingSky]

jenger: The reason for use of soy isoflavones when TTC is precisely for their estrogen inhibitor properties. They function much like clomid - convincing the body that it isn't poducing enough estrogen so that the body will produce more estrogen than it would have otherwise.

The typical usage is anywhere from 40-150 mg of soy isoflavones for 5 days early in the cycle - days 3-7, 4-8 or 5-9. They're never taken past O, when progesterone is supposed to be high.

[GreenMamma]

Be careful about taking soy if you are medication for thyroid issues. It can interfere with the meds.

[aphel]

Ditto if there is any possibility of endometriosis . . . .I also have been banned from the bean!

[lovingly]

Babies should not drink Soy Milk that's for sure!  

• Infants fed #soy formula have up to 20,000 times the amount of estrogen in circulation as those fed other formulas!
• Vegan couple sentenced to life over baby's death
• Manganese in soy milk may be dangerous to infants

Adults may wanna read these:

1. The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food  - Dr. Kaayla Daniel
2. No evidence no evidence that soy consumption is better control to reduce menopausal symptoms -AHRQ.gov
3. Are we jumping from Hot Oil to Fire with Mock Soy Meat?

And despite dangers of soy milk, soy milk is still SOLD as babies' milk.  Soy has hormones similar to that of birth control pills that women take.

[Attached2Elijah]

With all due respect, we're not talking about soy milk or even food. We're talking about soy isoflavones taken for 5 days early in a woman's cycle.... it has helped MANY women here on MDC to get their BFPs... when taken as we are speaking, it acts like clomid. We are not taking them for long amounts of time or in incredibly high doses.... I don't think it's nearly the same thing.

[LivingSky]

Thank you A2E :)

[Mama~Love]

I guess I should have specified this was about soy isoflavones, but thought that was a given since it was in the TTC forum .

I have no known thyroid problems, no endometriosis, and I avoid eating soy. So, I'm going to try it next cycle, because I won't have a new Dr. by then.