#polycystic ovary syndrome

[lordmushroomkat]

《The strong association of PCOS with cis womanhood, the defining of it as a disorder or syndrome, and its framing as a “women’s health issue” obscures the fact that PCOS is a natural hormonal variation, an endocrine difference that is illustrated through secondary sex characteristics. 

During my initial search for resources and community, I also learned that PCOS, given its characterization as a hormonal variance, falls under the intersex umbrella. This intersex umbrella covers a wide range of “individuals born with a hormonal, chromosomal, gonadal or genital variation which is considered outside of the male and female norms,” and PCOS meets that definition. 

This is not an attempt to sway every person who has PCOS to identify themselves as intersex—though it is an acknowledgment that we have the option and the right to do so if it rings true to us. Rather, this is to say that shifting my perspective on PCOS and viewing it through an intersex lens allowed me to better understand it as a natural human variation rather than an affliction causing my body to do the “wrong” thing. 

“I believe that someone with PCOS has every right to use the term intersex for themselves if they want, but I also understand it if they don’t,” said writer and intersex advocate Amanda Saenz.

“As an advocate and an intersex person, I opt to use a definition of intersex that is open ended and expansive,” Saenz explains. “The experiences that a term like ‘intersex’ hopes to define include differences in hormonal production and hormone reception, and the phenotypic effects these differences have on the body. To me, this is inclusive of things like PCOS.”

Discussing PCOS in this way is often met with indignation and resistance. Our society has a hard time separating gender from sex. This has resulted in a widespread misunderstanding of intersex identity as equivalent to transgender identity. Many who vehemently resist the idea of PCOS being under the intersex umbrella do so because they categorically link “female” with “woman,” and therefore misinterpret any acceptance of intersex identity as a denial of womanhood. Moreover, the stigma around and marginalization of intersex communities prevents many people from feeling comfortable with embracing it. 

“You can be intersex and cisgender, transgender, or nonbinary. The ‘opposite’ of intersex is endosex, not cisgender,” explained Eshe Kiama Zuri, founder of U.K. Mutual Aid. As a nonbinary intersex person, Zuri approaches these ideas with a clear understanding of how the bodies of intersex individuals as well as many people with PCOS interrupt binary thinking about both sex and gender. 

“The resistance to PCOS falling under the intersex umbrella is due to a white supremacist society’s desperation to cling to binary genders, which we know [have been] used as a colonial tool of control,” they offer. 

The same medical and surgical interventions that legislators seek to ban trans and nonbinary people from accessing—which would be gender-affirming, life-saving care for them—are often forced on intersex infants and children who are unable to consent. This is done in efforts to align intersex bodies with social expectations of female and male, man and woman; the same logic undergirds the societal and medical pressure to “feminize” the female-assigned bodies of PCOS patients. 

PCOS is “shockingly common [and] the most frequently occurring hormone-related disorder.” However, according to Medical News Today, “up to 75% of [people] with PCOS do not receive a diagnosis for their condition.” If we were to understand and accept something like PCOS as intersex, considering how “shockingly common” it is, the dominant idea of binary sex, with intersex being thought of as nothing more than a fringe occurrence, would be shattered. 

“PCOS is only one of many conditions that could fall under the intersex umbrella, and care for people with PCOS would be considerably better if it wasn’t for the forced gendering and resistance to providing actual support for people with PCOS, even if it challenges society’s ideas of gender,” says Zuri. 

Combating myths built around the gender and sex binaries would create more space to understand PCOS traits as part of normal human variation, rather than inherent problems to be fixed, symptoms to be eradicated. As Zuri so beautifully put it, “When we start to accept that this is not a body behaving ‘wrong’ and it is just a body, we stop blaming and punishing people for how their bodies work and start challenging societal expectations.”》

I was fucking right!

[nagichi-boop]

Winter is the season of being able to wrap up warm, wear a hat to cover up the hair that you haven’t had the energy to wash, cover those legs that you haven’t had the energy to shave, put a heat pad on the part of your body causing you pain.

And then there’s summer. /neg

[strongintherealgay]

It is fucked up that no one really mentions that if you have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) you have a higher likelihood of developing diabetes and endometrial cancer. Fucking cancer! I've been diagnosed with PCOS for around 7 years and I didn't know that until I went to Planned Parenthood a couple of days ago. No one thought to tell me. All they focused on was weight gain, acne, and extra body/facial hair because that is obviously the worst thing that can happen. (Note: major sarcasm there.)

You know one of the only ways to make it harder to develop either of those? By taking some form of birth control. The pill works, but so does an IUD, an implant, or the depo shot.

This is part of why we mention that birth control is healthcare. Yes, even if birth control methods were just for preventing pregnancy they would still be healthcare, but they also can potentially keep me alive.

Anyway, I'm going to be getting an IUD as soon as I can.

[sproutflags]

Alternative PCOS flag

I wanted to try my hand at an alternative PCOS flag for fun. The current PCOS flags are fine but I don't feel much of a connection to them. For this flag I took the color associated with PCOS (teal) and distributed it through the flag. The purple stands for intersex people. I was inspired by the CAH flag and deliberately made this flag look similar to that one.

Tagging for ID help: @accessmogai

[tawneybel]

*walks you out of the sun*

Song of the day:  “Destroy Everything You Touch” by Ladytron.

Working on Ross Humboldt request. Hopefully it’ll get posted this or next werk.

On season six of The Walking Dead. Never thought I’d love a piece of zombie media as much as I love this show. It’s not exactly rewatchable, but it’s so hard to resist binging. But some things bother me:

Where are the vultures? I guess there are no maggots wriggling inside the walkers because they’d just eat them. But all those corpses and no scavengers?? (╯*□*)╯︵ ┻━┻ I

Where’s the homemade armor? If I were in the zombie apocalypse, I would dress like after Tweedledum and Tweedledee decided to do battle.

Why is the walkers’ style so drab? Look up any screenshot of a walker herd/horde. I understand why production would want to avoid logos, but why bland everything? If I was ever zombified, my only hope is that I would be less generic than everyone else. Also, if they’re going to shoot me, I want Carl Grimes to take the shot. Because Carl will put me down clean.

Just started watching The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy to fill the Tuca & Berta-shaped hole in my heart. Horsejack Boman wasn't doing that.

So far Drs. Klak and Plowp are my faves. Keke Palmer was great in Scream: Resurrection and Nope, plus she’s talked about being a member of the PCOSisterhood.

Klak is relatable, but I decided to ween myself off Lexapro. As an anxiety med, it worked great for years. Until I got cavities from dry mouth despite drinking water all the time and avoiding added sugar. Plus it was getting harder and harder to fall asleep.

Now I’ve made great strides with my mental health. It’s sunny enough for me to comfortably go outside. I’m going to the gym once a week, not just walking my dog only in the evenings and avoiding sitting. (Reading while standing in place on break worried my coworkers for some reason.)

[headpainmigraine]

Tired and exhausted and angry that so much focus around PCOS is placed on fatness or babies.

How about how about people start treating it like an actual illness.

Honestly hoping for more research to happen about cismen with PCOS so that we can finally uncouple it from ***OvArIeS*** and actually get some medical attention on it that isn't -

'you're fat and its your fault, just work harder than everyone else to lose half the weight they would doing the same thing even though the root cause is PCOS that we don't treat, seriously or medically'

-and-

'you can't have a baby and it's your fault, just spend all this money, time and medication trying to overcome infertility, even though the root cause is PCOS that we don't treat, seriously or medically'

Take metformin for your blood sugar, take statins for your cholesterol, take x for baby, lose weight because you have fatty liver and kidney stones, try electrolysis for hirsutism, take hormones because your periods are out of control

HOW ABOUT!!! The medical field does some actual research into the mechanics behind PCOS instead of just slapping a band aid on all our symptoms, blaming us and blaming our weight???

[aroaceconfessions]

I’m mortified I’m only aroace because I have hypothyroidism and possibly PCOS. If I keep continuing my treatment, will I lose that piece of my identity?

[macapacaalpaca]

One year on since I made the post that I had been terrified to make, yet it reached such a wide and wonderful audience.

Since it’s PCOS awareness month for 2023, I just want to send the biggest hug to every single woman who is fighting the same battle. I know it’s exhausting. I know that it physically and emotionally hurts like hell. I know that it feels like nobody will ever fully understand. But if I can get through it, so can you.

I finally got to work with an endocrinology consultant who I owe so much to, for listening to me and taking every symptom and detail on board. We’re working on a treatment plan which has been trial and error (at times there was a lot of error, and that’s totally okay) but I’m finally starting to see small changes that indicate that I’m responding to treatment, which is such a relief.

The amount of hospital and GP visits, tests, stress and times where I’ve been left in so much pain that I wasn’t able to move taught me that I really need to enjoy every moment of this life. So that’s what I’ve been doing as much as I can. So far this year I’ve got a city apartment, appeared on national TV for my work in social innovation, travelled to some of my bucket list destinations and achieved some life goals that at one stage felt like they would only ever be dreams.

Also, today I finally got to meet and hold one of the newest additions to my (very large) extended family. It’s moments like these that make me pray one day I’ll become a momma and be able to hold my own little miracle in my arms, because there is nothing more precious than the gift of life, or the amount of love a little one can fuel you with.

I wish the same for everyone else who shares the same dream. Nobody could ever describe the hurt that comes with being told you’ll struggle with your fertility, but I’m a strong believer in miracles. One day, they will be ours, and until then we will continue to fight 🙏

If anyone has any questions about the help and treatment I’ve been getting, or just wants somebody to talk to, because I know how easy it is to feel isolated, please reach out to me. There is nothing I’d like more than to support and help others, because I know just how hard it is. But I promise you’re never alone 🩵

[self-dx-culture-is]

Self dx intersex PCOS culture is feeling for a long time a weird connection to being intersex and being mildly obsessed about actually being intersex, finding out you probably have PCOS, getting it confirmed later on (no idea if it's actually written down), then finding out because of your PCOS you're considered intersex (which makes sense)

-CCC

.

[myneurodivergentlife]

You wanna know what I hate most about having PCOS? It's not that I'm going bald, or that my mustache is thicker than my fiance's, or the headaches, or the acne, or the fact that it gave me diabetes, or made me obese, or the ovarian cysts, it's not even that it makes it harder for me to have a baby, or the fact that I can't keep a job becuase for a whole week I'm unable to come into work, it's the deception. It's that I can deal with all of these symptoms all the time and then pretend I'm fine, and than boom, I get my period and Im miserable. It's the fact that PCOS makes me go months and months without a period so I forgot just how awful it is, and then as soon as I get to thinking, hey maybe having PCOS isn't so bad, it hits me with the crippling period pains. The ones where I can't get out of bed and medicine barely helps but what else can I do, and I have to have someone else take care of me for a week. And than it ends, and after a while I forget how bad it is. And then it comes back. I hate the deception and false sense of security that PCOS gives me.

[nagichi-boop]

Hey uhh, I’m probably not chronically ill but I’m wondering if people have suggestions for chronic pain products?

I’ll pop everything under a readmore. I’d appreciate it if you’d read it as I’d like some advice/suggestions.

My frequent pain issues are:

• Stomach pain (almost daily, mild-severe)

• Period cramps (monthly, mid-severe)

• Neck pain (almost daily, mild-severe)

• Lower back pain (almost daily, mild-severe)

• Migraine headaches (multiple times a week, mild-severe)

Current things I have:

• Migraine cap (whole head, helpful)

• Cold gel eye mask (forehead, meh)

• Hot water bottle (helpful, but I’ve burned my skin from overuse before)

• Electric square heatpad (somewhat unhelpful)

• Body-length water bottle (never used)

• Coverless duvet (not used long enough)

Interested in:

• Mirror/prism(?) glasses (to watch tv or use my phone in better resting positions)

• Long microwave pack (for my neck since I don’t have anything that shapes my neck well)

I’m curious to know how people have found different pain products (incl the ones I listed as being interested in). I’m also open to new suggestions.

[sentientnudist]

PMS symptoms that get every damn time

-cravings (my stomach becomes a black hole)

- anxiety and depression

- unaliving thoughts increase🥺

- irritability on steroids

-cramps

it feels like this body isn't mine, like someone else has stepped in and I'm suddenly displaced

[fanboyistransboy]

September is PCOS Awareness month and I’ll be real earlier this month I was wondering if I was allowed to consider myself disabled or chronically ill. But I can so I will. So whoever has weird little guys on their ovaries or are at risk of them I care you deeply and I hope that your birth control is helping and if it isn’t I hope your Acedimetophin is extra strong and works extra well.

[brightgnosis]

All of the annoying shit that keeps me going.

Or about 80% of it, at least, anyways; there's still like 6+ bottles left on the shelf that I only take / use when specific symptoms flair up- which is not currently, Baruch HaShem. This is just my morning medications. Hooray!

[tawneybel]

Song of the day: “Season of the Witch” by Donovan. Dark Winds used it. :D 

I’m going to try to post personal updates more on Sundays lol. On Hailey Fe now. I miss Junel Fe, except Hailey comes with iron instead of sugar pills. Hailey is keeping my skin clearer than Lo Loestrin Fe did. 

Speaking of PCOS, Delicate Condition is the first book I’ve read where a character has that. :D She doesn’t show up until the ending, though. There are some characters I headcanon as having polycystic ovaries. They’re just that: headcanons.

After hearing how Angelica Ross was treated on-set, I’m even more pissed by American Horror Story: Delicate’s casting. Despite the novel’s anti-misogyny, -racism, and -ageism messages… Well, those first two could have used some more work. Editing wasn’t great. Anna came off as an out of touch rich woman more than once. (Like this season’s cast.) 

I felt horrible for her publicist, who was fired due to misunderstandings. It’s understandable why Anna thought she was being stalked. It’s the whole point of the book. But poor Emily never gets an explanation, much less an apology. Siobhan also claims resurrecting the dead is unnatural. Being part of an immortal coven capable of body hopping/genetic memory à la Dune isn’t??

Long story short, there are already reviews that remind me of The VVitch. Protagonist joins a coven that hurt her. Some fans claim female empowerment. Siobhan’s coven isn’t malevolent. But Anna was left ignorant that magic was being performed on her, which was the cause of her pain and hallucinations. 

Danielle Vega did a great job at exploring ageism with number1crush’s attitude toward Anna. That has to be said. Fan (or anti-fan) entitlement is a pet peeve. 

I haven’t read Rosemary’s Baby in a while and haven’t seen the movie, but the doctor’s name was also Hill. Dr. Carla Hill makes me think of Carl Hill from Re-Animator. 

Right now I’m reading the Joe Leaphorn series after watching Dark Winds. Also, the Rev. Clare Fergusson Mysteries and almost done with Dr. Ruth Galloway. Mysteries are more my cup of tea book-wise.  

[headpainmigraine]

Oh, also.

🎼TWOOOOO

MOOOOOOOONTHS!🎶