soy question.....

not sure where to post this. before my surgery i had endometriosis, and had read that soy was one of the things I needed to avoid.

Now, after my surgery, I dont have uterus, ovaries or tubes, and I still have some deposits of endo on my large intestine. My doctor believes this will dry up and not bother me any more, since I am now on a lose dose of estrogen, so without the cycling the deposits will not grow and cause me pain.

Here is the question, do I still need to avoid soy?

moderators, feel free to move this if it needs to go elsewhere, i was not sure where to put it

Hi LovetheOcean.

I would ask my doctor if I were you, especially considering your gynecological history. I can only tell you my limited experiences with soy products. I still have everything --no hyster--but am in perimenopause so I went to one of the menopause websites for support for my symptoms and ordered the organic soy. It sent my body into heavy bleeding and swollen breasts and everything that we hate about our monthlies multiple times throughout the month. One of my gyns almost did an emergency hyster on me but I stuck the bleeding out--I think I bled for two weeks and was very, very weak.

If I take soy products my period starts within at least one hour of me consuming it and I clot really large and bleed uncontrollably. Scared me so bad I won't even eat the soy beans anymore. I still have lots of the soy shakes powder that I can't consume. Lots of people do well on soy but it's not for me and my body yells at me for trying to consume the stuff.

Take care and I hope it goes the way that you want it to go.

I'mstill wondering too. I had cancer and was drinking soy milk before to ease menopauseal symptoms. My doc says since I don't have ovaries, I can drink soy and should since I cannot take hrt. I plan to see a nutritionist though and see if he has any advice.

(((LovetheOcean)))

Let me see if I can help a bit!

One reason suggested for avoiding soy if one has an endometriosis diagnosis is that soy (and yams and black cohosh) contain plant estrogens. Those estrogens can fuel the endometriosis in some women. Additionally, if someone has an estrogen dominance issue, which many of us with endo have, the soy and other plant estrogens can increase those symptoms as well.

Since you are using estrogen replacement, using or not using soy isn't really an issue except that it could increase the amount of estrogen in your system. However, any estrogen, especially without progesterone or progestin, can cause any remaining endometriosis to grow and spread.

Why does your doctor feel that the endometriosis on your large intestine will dry up, especially if you are using ERT? Personally, I have never heard of the lack of cycling allowing endometriosis to dry up. In fact, there is research and studies indicating that unless endometriosis implants are removed, they can plump back up once estrogen is introduced.

From personal experience, endometriosis was left on my bowel walls. My GYN didn't think it would be a big issue. I did keep both of my ovaries so I had plenty of estrogen. However, that also meant I had progesterone, something you haven't indicated you are using. (Progesterone can be used to try to keep endo at bay.) The endo on my bowel walls did spread and also allowed for an adhesion between that endo and my vaginal cuff. It also allowed for IBS issues and symptoms that landed me in the office of a gastroenterologist and I had to undergo a lot of GI testing.

My best advice for you would be to get a second opinion regarding what would be best for you. Personally, I would avoid the soy to keep the estrogen level lower, but I would also be using progesterone along with the estrogen replacement. I would also find an endometriosis specialist and ask about the endometriosis that has been left behind. Find out from a specialist if that endo will dry up and if not, what your options are for either keeping it at bay or removing it.

If you have specific endometriosis questions, feel free to pop over to our Endometriosis Support forum!

Best wishes! s

thanks for the info....i can not think about this today, but when I am in a better state of mind I will dig into this and talk with my doctor some more...

thank you for your encouragement ad hugs!

found the link...thanks