A few weeks ago, I saw a mother and daughter shopping together at the mall. The mother looked like a typical mom; the daughter, however, was slightly overweight and had a touch of a shadow around her upper lip where women should never have shadows. Her hair was frizzy and her skin was in turmoil; this was a girl whose hormones were out of whack.
She looked remarkably like I did when I was her age – knowing she is not quite up to par and with no idea why she couldn’t look like the other girls. I felt for her immediately.
I tailed them into a store, and when the daughter slipped off to the dressing room I tapped the mother on the shoulder and struck up a conversation. I tipped her off about PCOS, and suggested it might be the root of some of her daughter’s symptoms. She seemed offended at first, but once she heard my story she softened up.
This woman had never suspected anything might be happening to her daughter aside from the basic puberty woes. Perhaps I was wrong, and the girl wasn’t at risk but was still trying to grow into her body. But if I wasn’t wrong, if this young girl does have this disorder, I may have saved her years of uncertainty just by planting this seed with her mother.
Any woman who recognizes these symptoms as something they experience may want to consider getting tested at a local endocrinology clinic. It can be scary to face a syndrome of that magnitude and to consider that something may be wrong with you, but knowing exactly what you’re up against can make all the difference in the world when fighting the disorder.
Article comments
1 - Sheri
I wish I had someone tell me about PCOS when I was younger. I was admitted into the hospital with stomach pains, told I had cysts that were 'no big deal' and put on the pill at 17 years old. Now, another 17 years later, I am struggling with one miscarriage and infertility. Very well written article. Thanks.
2 - Lisa Solod Warren
I was diagnosed with this more than 30 years ago, told I would never have kids, suffered a lot...but lo and behold, I had two kids, both wanted, and only one with the "help" of clomid. Now that I am menopausal the disease seems to be causing some problems, but, it is manageable. Good luck with it! I had to tell my then husband about the possible no children thing, but it worked out in the end. Treatment is possible. If it gets too bad, the cysts can be "popped" (sounds awful, I know, but is minimally invasive and I had worse things than that done. Good for you for writing the piece.
3 - katie
This article was really helpful for me. I am in college too and just got diagnosed last semester. I'm IR but my doctor wants me to try controlling it with diet for now but I get so frustrated because I'm eating 1200 calories a day and working out an hour everyday and nothing seems to change. I've tried going to PCOS support websites but most of them focus on infertility/pregnancy. It sounds shallow but I just want to be pretty. My sister weighs like 120 lbs and is three inches taller than me. I feel like the ugly troll sister. Sometimes I leave the gym crying because while I know what I'm doing makes me healthier, I'm still really overweight!