by Kimi Pollett

Created on: September 19, 2008

Before you read any further let me just say that this is going to be the most personal things I've ever written and may be one of the most graphic as well. Even though I am very outgoing, this is out of even my usual comfort level, and were it not for the importance of the subject I wouldn't go there. But it is important and I am writing this

September is PCOS awareness month. PCOS is Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome- an endocrinology disease that affects anywhere from 5-10% of women worldwide (the statistic varies depending on who is paying for the study!) Most people have never heard of it, those who have think it is either a menstrual disorder or an overblown, overused diagnosis like chronic fatigue used to be. PCOS affects a woman's hormones. Hormones affect pretty much every function in a woman's body. Some more information on what it is, and what it does to you are found below.

I was diagnosed with PCOS in 1996, after my second miscarriage. It was a relief to finally know what was happening to my body, and to realize that I wasn't crazy or sickly, but that all of these seemingly unrelated problems were actually symptoms of a bigger issue. However, in the twelve years since I was diagnosed there has not been *one* decent advancement in treatment, reliable diagnoses or even understanding what causes PCOS. We have several new pills to help men get an erection, but no new research into a disease that affects over 5 MILLION women.

There are a ton of symptoms of PCOS, not everyone has them all and you may have some a little and others severely. For me most are minimal- cosmetic inconveniences or minor discomforts, but there are a few that are unbelievably difficult to live with.
->$600 worth of laser hair removal sessions took care of the excess facial hair that I used to be hyper sensitive about.
->I've come to grips with the fact that regardless of what I do I will never wear jeans in the single digit sizes, it takes heroic efforts to lose weight (Atkins anyone?) and as soon as I return to any semblance of balanced eating it all comes back.
->Insomnia is usually tolerable, I'll go a month or so on 3-4 hours of sleep in the morning, spend two days in a row unconscious for 12 hours at a time, then start the cycle all over again. Some times are better than others and I am keenly aware that stress of any kind aggravates this issue so I try to stay positive and calm as much as possible. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but it is livable for the most part.
->Luckily

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