Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Blood Test – Clinic visit – £90

#STORIES, how women experience PCOS

Like every year, on the occasion of PCOS Awareness Month, we try to spread knowledge and awareness by trying to give a voice to all the women in the community who fight every day against the signs and symptoms of the syndrome. An opportunity to find strength again thanks to the sharing of stories and experiences of the community because the path that starts with the appearance of the first symptoms is complex, very often, the diagnosis can be long and difficult, and women with PCOS can feel isolated and alone.

For this reason, this year, we wanted to give voice to your words because we know how much it can make a difference not feeling alone on this journey, especially for those who have just discovered they are affected and are taking their first steps.

Discovering the syndrome is not always easy, as you told us, and often, the diagnosis arrives close to trying to become pregnant.

  “I’ve never had a regular cycle. Even when I was of normal weight, I skipped for up to three months. Then I started to gain weight inexplicably, and the cycles were longer and longer, up to 9 months of total absence. I had had gynaecological visits previously, but my previous gynaecologist hadn’t noticed. Shortly before getting married, given a future pregnancy, I decided to have a new check-up. Polycystic ovary and insulin resistance”.

  “I discovered I had PCOS exactly 2 years ago at the end of August 2021, after a series of tests and irregular cycles, all while I had just started trying for a child (two months). I was 29 years old.. 5 years earlier I had done the same tests for irregular cycles and the solution was to prescribe me the pill, no one had ever told me about pcos. I thank that doctor for giving a name to what I had.”

  There are experiences that you have shared with us and with the community in the search for a diagnosis that does not arrive…

  “It always seems so absurd to me every time you interface with professionals who are supposed to help you and not constantly point fingers at you because I’m screaming at you for help while you browse through everything your colleagues have written or reported. Then she arrived, a doctor who, just looking at my face, said to me: you have a polycystic ovary, don’t you? I have imprinted that moment in my mind, those tears that fall without control, the disbelief… finally someone had read it on my face, without saying or showing anything, it was there to see… I had become PCOS itself. Unfortunately, I never saw that doctor again, but if you ever read this message, Doctor, I thank you because, for once, I felt understood and not wrong.”

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) not only represents the leading cause of female infertility but also a four times higher risk of developing metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases compared to the healthy population.

About 50% of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) develop a prediabetic state or type 2 diabetes before age 40. Most PCOS women are resistant to insulin stimuli (insulin resistance). Insulin resistance causes an increase in insulin production by the pancreas. In conditions of insulin resistance, what occurs rapidly is an increase in blood sugar levels due to the high presence of glucose in the blood, called type 2 diabetes.

“Thanks to you, I got to know the CMSO of Salerno. They had me follow a therapeutic ketogenic diet with only pharmaceuticals for about 7 weeks; then, I slowly started introducing normal food. Now I eat everything except potatoes, paying some attention, for example, fruit only as a snack and away from meals, pizza and dessert only once a week. I mainly eat fish, vegetables and legumes. I have formed habits, I always walk home from work (a minimum 25 minute walk) then I return home and have a gym membership doing exercises from home in such a way as to have the flexibility and convenience of doing gymnastics with all my my comforts. It makes me feel good, very good! Over the years, we no longer talked only about weight gain and blocked periods. Still, I had constant migraines that were getting worse every week, excruciating pain in my bones (I had a vitamin D deficiency), high cholesterol since I was 16, and pregnancy despite it. We tried for a year and a half, and it wasn’t coming. I now understand that it is enough to dose the food according to the needs of your body and that each person is different; that is, what is good for me could be bad for others, and we must not feel “different”. I understood that doing gymnastics is good for the body and, above all, for the mind! It takes strength and perseverance, but the RESULTS ALWAYS ARRIVE!”

To give strength to those who feel alone, wrong and misunderstood at this moment, we want to use the words of one of your testimonies:

  “I thank PCOS for making me accept and listen to my body when it needed a break. To all women, I would like to say that you are not alone, that each of us is different and perfect, but to never stop fighting to find what makes us feel good because sooner or later we can achieve the right balance.”