I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2015 when I was just 14 years old. It had been very tough for me because I had just started my teenage life. I felt I was different because I had this going on. I didn’t know what it was and PCOS wasn’t normalized in the brown household. I started gaining a crazy amount of weight; I started getting cystic acne and many other symptoms that were related to PCOS. I lacked self-confidence and I really started judging myself; because of my acne scars, I wouldn’t go out without wearing makeup. With time, I realized how normal it was because so many women were going through it. I didn’t feel different after that. Some women were lucky enough to know about it, some weren’t! At the age of 17-18, I ended up meeting another gynacologist because of my periods and how irregular it was. She clearly told me it was because of my weight and how inactive I was. She also told me to lose A LOT of weight and gain CONTROL of my diet in order to control my PCOS. I decided to work on myself and that is the best thing I have done. I gained back my self-confidence, I started seeing a difference with my acne and I am really happy. For those dealing with PCOS, it is very necessary to stay fit and eat healthy food.
What is PCOS? Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) has become a very common disorder in women that is caused by the imbalance in our reproductive hormones. 1 in 10 women are affected by this after they hit puberty.
Symptoms of PCOS :
● Irregular Periods
● Excessive Hair Growth
● Acne
● Weight Gain
● Hair Loss
● Darkening of Skin
How PCOS affects our body :
● Sleep Apnea causes pauses of breathing in our sleep during the night which eventually interrupts our sleep.
● PCOS can cause infertility. In order to get pregnant, women need to ovulate regularly but women dealing with PCOS don’t ovulate regularly; the number of eggs they produce are lessened therefore the chances of the eggs fertilizing becomes less.
● Women dealing with PCOS who are overweight are at a higher risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, low cholesterol and high cholesterol.
● In PCOS, you are at a higher risk of getting endometrial cancer. If you don’t ovulate each month, the uterine lining can thicken which can cause cancer.