Women hope yearly health checks will improve PMOS diagnosis and care - BBC

Women welcome annual check for debilitating condition27 minutes agoShehnaz Khanin BirminghamBBCNeelam Heera-Shergill founded charity Cysters to provide support she felt was missing after her diagnosisWhen Neelam Heera-Shergill was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) at the age of 18, she feared it could one day stop her becoming a mother. "I'm never going to have children. That's it, my life is over," she said. The condition affects about one in eight women in the UK, yet despite its broad impact on health and wellbeing, Neelam, from Birmingham, said she was left with little understanding of what her diagnosis really meant. It is one of the reasons she supports the decision to rename PCOS to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) earlier this year, alongside a recommendation for annual health checks to improve diagnosis and long-term care. For Neelam, finding out she had the condition sent her into what she described as a "rabbit hole" of fear and uncertainty. Not long after beginning university, she started experiencing irregular and painful periods, thinning hair, weight gain and exhaustion.