What happens when you stop fighting PCOS
Kayla's PCOS story
Hello everyone,
Today, I bring you Kayla who has kindly accepted to share her PCOS journey with the rest of us. Her story resonates deeply with my own, and I think it will with you, too. This is her message to her younger self:
You are not broken. Your body is not broken, and it’s not all your fault. You do not need to white-knuckle it to feel better. You are in complete control and you have the power to change this for yourself!
Research call
Anna Benzley, an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, is conducting a study on the Lived Experiences of Perimenopausal and Menopausal Women with Polycystic Ovary.
She is looking for women in the United States with PCOS to
participate in an interview about their experiences (Age 45+, English speaking).
If you fit the criteria or know someone who does, please consider participating. We can’t advance PCOS research if we don’t participate. You will also receive a $30 Amazon gift card. You can register your interest here:
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this study, please contact Brianna Magnusson, Ph.D., at brianna_magnusson@byu.edu.
Over to Kayla 👇🏻
Hi friends!
I’m so excited to share more about my PCOS journey today. I took the jump to share a bit about my experience in a recent article (These 3 habits changed my life), so I’m going to paraphrase myself here to give more context:
Here’s a little TLDR on my story:
I grew up anxious, overweight, riddled with acne, and struggling (and I mean really struggling) with binge eating. In my teens, my period was irregular or nonexistent. I remember thinking that once I hit my twenties, it would all figure itself out and that this was just a phase. Spoiler: it was not.
To this day, I have literally not gotten one single helpful answer from my doctors. I’m also such a holistic wellness girly that I kept hearing my gut tell me that there has got to be something that I can do on my own (that’s not to say western medicine doesn’t have a place, and I actually hope to create a well-rounded practice that includes both western medicine and holistic habits).
There was a stint in my twenties where I went hardcore (like, 5 times a week emptying the tank hardcore) into high-intensity workouts. I was so desperate to transform my life that I also hacked together a diet that I thought was so good for me - I think I was literally eating 1,200 calories a day at one point (I’m 5’8…).
Looking back, I want to give that girl the biggest hug. I have so much empathy and grace for that past version of me.
I lost 50 pounds. 50! And guess what? I gained it all back. Every single pound. Not to mention that all of my other symptoms persisted, if not worsened. Combined with a job that stressed me the F out and a life that was fueled by go-go-go, safe to say things were not going well.
Diagnosis
To be fair, I’ve never been formally diagnosed with PCOS. In my teens, my OBGYN ran an ultrasound test that came back negative. She told me that I had no cysts on my ovaries, so I was free and clear, and that the only thing to do was to continue birth control (the most disheartening news I had heard). Newsflash: you can have all of the symptoms of PCOS, without ever having cysts on your ovaries. I’d like to formally file a petition to change the name!
In the subsequent years, I repeatedly asked a new OBGYN how to manage my symptoms and whether she thought it was worth a hormone test. I was met with the classic: “Just lose weight. Eat less and exercise more.”
Coming off medication
By this time, I was on Spironolactone and hormonal birth control. The combination was great for my skin and excessive hair growth, but did nothing to regulate my period. And then, something really bad happened. I got a blood clot in my lung. I was 23.
Let me tell you: I do not wish that type of pain on my worst enemy. I was incapacitated for months. There was one period where it got so bad that I literally couldn’t lie down to sleep at night. I slept in a chair.
I am so beyond blessed and grateful to say that I recovered 100% and can now live a full, normal, healthy life. Safe to say, though: this incident got me off of hormonal birth control really, really quick (and honestly? Thank god!).
Something amazing happened when I got off the Spironolactone + birth control mix: my period came back naturally, and more regularly than it ever had before.
This was the first time a lightbulb went off: even though I was dealing with this condition, my body was not totally broken and it could function normally on its own.
Fast forward to February 2025. My 30th birthday was coming up in August, and this year felt like such a pivotal moment. I was feeling so much anticipation and excitement, but also a little sadness about this next chapter because I wasn’t where I wanted to be - health-wise, but also across the board when it came to relationships, career, finance, and home.
The biggest changes which had an impact
My mission this past year has been to feel as good as I can feel using the lowest-hanging fruit. I’m talking the biggest bang for my buck practices that just felt good in my body.
I have really, really dedicated the last year to learning as much as I could about healing PCOS naturally. You can read more about the habits that have had the biggest bang for my buck here. These include most notably: eating breakfast before coffee, switching out afternoon coffee for matcha, and lowering the intensity and volume of my workouts.
I have re-focused a lot of my efforts on addressing the root cause of PCOS - insulin resistance. Making small switches like eating my protein and veggies before my carbohydrates, and walking 10 minutes after meals has gone such a long way.
Note: I keep finding that the simplest, most sustainable habits have been the ones that have shown me the biggest change.
Here’s what I wish I could go back and tell my younger self:
You are not broken. Your body is not broken, and it’s not all your fault. You do not need to white-knuckle it to feel better. You are in complete control and you have the power to change this for yourself!
Go find examples of other women who have 180’ed their PCOS symptoms. Some of my favourites are calliewellness on TikTok and pcos.weightloss on Instagram. Sometimes all it takes is just seeing someone else do it to show you that you can, too.
I’m still a work in progress and learning as I go. But I like to think that everything happens for a reason.
Fran’s incredible newsletter is allowing us to connect with other women on a deeper level - maybe that’s just the point of it all. And for that I’m grateful.
Kayla
