Navigating a PCOS Diagnosis #67

How to do it?

Hello everyone,

How was your week? Today, I wanted to discuss the experience of receiving a PCOS diagnosis and some advice I would give to anyone who is going through it.

Discovering you have PCOS can come with a range of emotions - anything ranging from shock, overwhelm or feeling alarmed. For me, it came as a relief. Many of us experience the symptoms, do our research and self-diagnose way before we hear it at the doctor’s office. The level of education on women’s health is so limited that we are all left to figure it out by ourselves.

What was your PCOS diagnosis story? Leave a comment below!

For many women, including myself, the diagnosis served as validation, reassuring me there's nothing inherently wrong with myself and that much of my symptoms are rooted in hormonal imbalance.

This is not everyone’s experience. I have spoken to women who have been on the pill from such an early age that once they stopped taking it, their PCOS symptoms re-surfaced. This can be pretty shocking, especially if they stopped taking the pill to conceive due to the implications PCOS can have on fertility.

Research on this shows that establishing connections with others facing similar experiences can provide a sense of validation and comfort. This is of course no surprise and I am assuming this is the reason why you are subscribed to this newsletter.

The advice I would give to anyone who is navigating a PCOS diagnosis:

1. Do your research → I am a big advocate for taking control of your health and body. We only have one, and we need to dedicate the right time, financial investment and dedication to get to know what’s happening to you. Be patient, and work through the overwhelming feeling.

2. Take control over your diagnosis → No one cares more about your diagnosis than yourself. As a result, you need to be the one in charge of what is happening. Whilst that is quite hard to hear, I think giving control to others over our diagnosis can put us in a vulnerable place where we might be falling into the wrong type of advice. I am thinking of the predatory diets out there, supplements companies, taking a pill that you don’t know how it works etc. Follow the people who use evidence-based practices and always check yourself if what they are saying has validation (including what I say - I want you to scrutinise everything that comes your way)

3. Ask questions → ask the annoying questions to your doctor, nutritionist, or friend. Be curious, and don’t settle for half answers.

4. Discuss your fertility with your partner → Unfortunately, we can’t ignore the fact that it might be more difficult for us to conceive. Discussing this with your partner from the get-go can help set expectations for both sides.

5. Work with your body, not against it → I am sure we all went through a phase of frustration with our own body. Learning to love it with its imperfections can help us take action from a place of compassion rather than punishment. Doing so ensures that we stick to things for much longer.

6. You don’t control the output; you control the input → PCOS comes with an increased risk of a lot of diseases. We hear it a bit too often. However, what will happen is uncertain. We might get those horrible diseases, or we might not. This is why I focus on the foundations of good health: eating nutritious foods, moving my body, prioritising sleep, managing my stress and investing in my wellbeing. I am making sure my input is consistent and have the belief that it will all be okay.

7. Be grateful—having this diagnosis has taken me on the most beautiful journey of health. I now know how to eat well, move, react to stress, love my curves, embrace my period when it comes, and more.

Lastly, I want to say YOU ARE NOT ALONE. If you are in a room with 10 women, 1 one of them will likely have PCOS. We come together in our womanhood and I love discussing my period and PCOS with anyone that is willing to listen.

My Calendar is open to anyone who would like to chat about their diagnosis, their condition and all of the beauty that comes with it → https://calendly.com/francesca-the-pcos-clinic/pcos-research-call

See you next Sunday,

Francesca