September- PCOS Awareness Month

PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

Although I was diagnosed years ago, I failed to really look into it until the last two years. When you look up the traditional PCOS you will find one of the biggest complaints/side effects is weight gain... while that can be true for some, L-PCOS is different (the opposite). I have always hated when people say to me: "it must be nice to be naturally skinny" ... because most people don't understand exactly how hard it is for me to gain weight. Being told it can be damaging to even then over exercise can be confusing and hard to regulate.

After the girls were born, I was so focused on making sure their health was good (as they had multiple health issues at a young age) that I put less of a priority on understanding my own. But there are other joys that I did notice physically...like the hirsutism (hair growth from the excess androgens, that I have found can't even be fixed by laser) - essentially I can shave my legs and the hair start growing again by the end of the night (delightful), and the bursting cysts. Then there are other parts of your body that hair starts thinning. For a while I was ashamed of these hairy side effects (pun intended), but at some point I just started to accept that some of us are naturally "bearded ladies" haha. I didn't have this exactly when I was young but I did grow a lot more hair than most of my friends... I wish I could go back to little me who had darker facial and leg hair when I was younger, and tell her that is it isn't her fault, and when a boy said something a long the lines of: "ew you have lots of hair", and went on to tell all of his friends at school and they laughed at me...If I could go back, I would say something like "Buddy, you wish you could grow hair like I can." But ironically, that boy later admitted to having a crush on me (how flattering). But perhaps that is also why some may be more attracted to men with beards? I prefer goats to dating at this point in my life- them goats and their "goat tees" are what I believe is the real flex and prize;)...buuuut I will save the rest of this goat-loving ADHD side rant for another time, and get back to the serious stuff:

My doctor said that most people aren't often aware how easily that beyond physical issues cosmetically, this can develop into other serious things, like certain cancers; saying that people don't usually think to ask questions until it happens to them or someone they know.

One of the best ways to prevent things is by talking about them; this is something I wish I learned earlier on, so spreading awareness during PCOS awareness month is something I have been trying to do more of. In doing this, a recent project of mine has been recognized and I look forward to sharing it more in the future; in hopes to help others.