<p>I posted all this, then somehow deleted, so here goes again. I am writing this in the hopes that noone else has to go through what my daughter went through.</p>
<p>PM it to me.</p>
<p>(that was just a check to make sure my post didn't disappear again. She is at a major U, living on her own this past 3 months and is a new vegetarian. She began having symptoms that escalated until these last few weeks they reached a crisis, and I became very worried about her. I had arranged a doctor's appointment to have her evaluated for depression, and she had already been to the doctor at school to see if she was low thyroid. Her symptoms: brain fogginess, thinning hair, weight gain, mood swings, crying jags, apathy and lethargy, pms, heavier periods. My usually perky kid was a mess, and thyroid test came back normal, even though her symptoms were suggestive of low thyroid. On Sunday on a whim I googled "Soy and depression" and found her problem. She had been feeding herself the easy way; soymilk and Kashi w/ soyflakes for breakfast, hi-pro powerbars for lunch (mostly soy), soymilk and soyburgers for dinner. I am a skeptic and I take all websites with a grain of salt - but the website had links to many science articles on soy in physician journals, and goverment websites, and as I read the testimonials section I was seeing people w/same symptoms as my daughter. I called her up and she immediately said, "That's it!", and threw out all her soy products. Tuesday she called me and said, "Mom, I haven't cried once today or yesterday!" Wednesday she said that her stomach problems were gone, she had lifted weights with a friend and brain felt normal. Thursday she sounded like her old self. Her voice was energetic, she was enthusiastic and perky and had plans next semester, etc and I felt like crying. Since then, she is fine and she is her old self - and I don't get teary phone calls. (The only remaining issue - thinning hair takes a while to grow back, and weight takes a while to lose!).
I'm sure that soy in moderation is fine, but if you know of a vegetarian who is eating a lot of soy and suffering from depression and/or low-thyroid like symptoms - PLEASE encourage them to try a few days without soy and see if that is what the problem is. Frankly, I thought it would take several weeks for my daughter to see any kind of improvement if soy was the problem - but she felt much better by the very next day.
I'm not a scientist, so can't explain the exact mechanics for how soy acts on the body; but in layman terms.... soy acts like a weak estrogen (hence her pms symptoms) soy interferes with thyroid hormone uptake (my doctor's office has a poster up warning not to take thyroid meds and other meds with soy) hence her low-thyroid symptoms even though she wasn't technically low-thyroid. The fact that she nibbled on soy products all day meant that she had soy components in her system/blood at all times. And digestive troubles and gas - soy is hard to digest for some people. I hope I save someone else the really lousy time my daughter has had especially this last month!</p>
<p>Interesting. My son is a vegetarian and eats a fair amount of soy, but has never had problems like this. Do only some kids have this reaction, or is it something that happens to everyone if they eat "too much". Could you post links to the article(s) you found most helpful?</p>
<p>take everything in moderation. I wouldn't be surprised if eating carrots all day would cause side effects.</p>
<p>My daughter is a vegetarian, as well. She was drinking enormous amounts of Soy milk. She experienced serious gastric problems and I recalled how as an infant she was could not hold the soy formulas down. I pointed this out to her and she stopped drinking the soy milk and all her symptoms went away. Whowee, thanks for this additional information.</p>
<p>I don't know if one is allowed to post links, but here is one. Check out <a href="http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/%5B/url%5D">http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/</a> If you explore all the areas you will find lots of links to science articles. (all the blue words are links to articles.)</p>
<p>I imagine soy would effect males differently than females. I have read of some concern about the "feminization" of males by ingesting too much soy, and concern about feeding soy formula to male babies. There is so much (contradictory) information out there. But definitely the problem here is in the quantity of soy this student was eating. I imagine a small amount of soy is fine for people who are not allergic to it.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the post, whowee. My DD is a vegetarian (not vegan), too. She doesn't care much for the soy products, so it sounds like we're fortunate in that respect. She recently became concerned that she wasn't eating as well as she could. I made an appointment for her to see a registered dietician who gave us some great information. I specifically remember her commenting that some of the clients she sees are losing hair, feeling sluggish and experiencing depression because of a protein deficiency. Luckily, DD gets quite a bit of protein without eating meat, but should be eating a bit more. She was eating about 40g of protein a day, but the dietician said ideally, she should be getting 45-50g per day. Here are some signs and symptoms of protein deficiency: </p>
<p>Physical: Hair loss or brittleness, Slow-healing wounds, Muscle weakness/atrophy
Mental/Emotional: Irritability, Moodiness, Depression, Apathy, Anxiety</p>
<p>I am so happy to hear your D is feeling better, whowee. I know it is very concerning when your child doesn't feel as well as they can. Thanks again for sharing the information.</p>
<p>"I specifically remember her commenting that some of the clients she sees are losing hair, feeling sluggish and experiencing depression because of a protein deficiency." </p>
<p>SplashMom: I don't know if dieticians or traditional medical doctors are aware of this soy problem. I'm just a regular person, and didn't even think of soy as being an issue until right before I googled those words. I wonder if the dietician IS seeing protein deficiency or if she is seeing people consuming too much soy. The overlap of symptoms is incredible - they all overlap (except maybe muscle weakness/atrophy and slow-healing wounds). In my daughter's case, I know she was getting plenty of protein, soy all the way! I would hope that the dietician would make that link, but I don't know. (Oh my gosh - she might even recommend that her veggie clients start drinking soy protein shakes. eek!) I know a couple who are both dieticians, and they are coming over to brunch tomorrow. I am going to tell them the whole story and get their reactions to it, then I'll let you know if this is something that a) they know about or b)believe to be the cause.<br>
All I know is - she seems perfectly healthy, happy and strong now, and a week ago at this time she was in constant tears and falling apart emotionally and physically.</p>
<p>If it mimics estrogen I'm going right out and buying all I can get my hands on...</p>
<p>(Just kidding - Wow, glad your daughter is feeling better!)</p>
<p>I've been reading a book entitled, "The Omega RX Zone" by Barry Sears. He makes a strong case for the human need for Omega 3 fatty acids, and talks about implications its lack in a variety of illnesses, including autoimmune disorders (arthritis, multiple sclerosis) and mental/behavioral disorders (i.e. ADHD, Alzheimer's, depression, schizophrenia etc.) Some of the symptoms you describe, irritability, moodiness, apathy and anxiety, are similar to what happens when there are low levels of Omega 3 (EPA, DHA) in the brain. Since Omega 3s are mostly found in fish, I think it would be very hard to meet that requirement on a vegetarian diet. I have found eggs that are supposed to have Omega 3s, but I'm sure supplementation would be required. Some vegetarians take flax seed, but apparently it is difficult to metabolize into EPA and DHA. You might google "Andrew Stoll" to find info on a study of Omega 3s and depression.</p>
<p>This is very interesting. I can see how this would happen to many vegetarian kids. At home they have mom and dad to cook the nutritious, balanced vegetarian meals. They they go away to school and maybe the transition to "college food" is harder.....less choices....turn to soy. Sounds like this is serious enough for colleges to include some info about this in their freshman orientation packages and the "transition" info we parents receive. </p>
<p>Thank you for sharing. My son's HS has a large population of vegetarian families...so much so that school events were pretty much vegetarian centric. This might be worth them addressing with senior parents each year in the "how to get your child ready for college" meetings.</p>
<p>Well, I had brunch with my dietician friends, and one of them didn't think the soy could have caused it. (He attributed her problems to low B vitamins.) The other one knew about the estrogen effects of soy, and mentioned that people with cancer are supposed to stay away from soy, and that women who are menopausal take soy or blue cohosh to help with the symptoms. She is going to ask her dietician friend who stays abreast of current research what she has learned about soy and my daughter's symptoms (gas, diarrhea, depression, heavy periods, thinning hair, mood swings, brain fog, apathy, lethargy). I know it sounds nutty - but my duaghter is fine now, and her symptoms stopped as soon as she stopped drinking/eating her soy products. Please counsel those new vegetarians you know to be moderate with their use of soy products.</p>