Join the cysterhood Uncovering a blind spot in womens health

[Music]

all right everyone

i want you to reflect back onto the best

years of your life

take a moment you can close your eyes if

you feel the need to

you were all thinking about puberty

right

wait y’all were okay yeah your body is

rapidly changing but it

is also the time of your life you begin

having your own ideas of the world

who you want to be you see i thought

puberty would be the time i’d really

start feeling like a woman

and at such a young age i thought there

were only three defining things to

feeling like a woman be pretty

be skinny and have a cute boyfriend

boom womanhood but instead

during puberty i begin having male

pattern balding

yeah y’all heard that right extremely

oily skin

and gained about uh 30 pounds in the

span of one summer

this is definitely not how tiger beet

described puberty to me

my mother and i knew that those symptoms

were not normal

but my general practitioner and the

dietitian would say oh you’re fine

you just need to eat better take your

vitamins

and you’ll outgrow this i refuse to fall

into that checkup checklist where they

ask me the same questions

they ask all of their patients and don’t

fully hear

my problems finally at age 17

after five years of worsening symptoms

30 plus doctors appointments and

countless times i had to miss school

i was finally at the right page to see a

gynecologist

now this is pretty typical coming of age

protocol to see a gyno around

age 17 you know boom womanhood

uh but i saw it as an opportunity

to speak to another doctor i never had

talked to before and

see if they had any idea what i had in a

matter of a few moments

without a doubt in her mind she told me

that i had

polycystic ovarian syndrome

or pcos for short which is a hormonal

disorder responsible

for all of my symptoms in the matter of

five minutes

this doctor diagnosed me with something

i battled with

for five years but it turns out

pcos affects the lives of approximately

1

in 10 women and is the leading cause of

female infertility

if there are so many affected why did it

take

countless years and multiple doctors

to diagnose me with something that seems

to be so massive

often general practitioners do not know

of this diagnosis

or think to refer you to a specialist

and this unfortunately can be seen

across

all women’s health care many times when

women are describing their symptoms

they can be written off as being

emotional

sometimes flat out dramatic which can

downplay getting a diagnosis

extremely especially when the diagnosis

isn’t in that certain doctor’s

wheelhouse

federal law actually didn’t even require

the inclusion

of women and minorities in clinical

research

until the revitalization act was passed

in 1993.

now this created a gap in knowledge and

funding on knowing women’s bodies

as compared to men’s

now i don’t believe this blind spot in

the medical world was deliberate

but i do think it’s a perfect example

how women have not been treated equally

for

centuries and the effects of that are

still lingering

it’s not about individual doctors not

caring about their female patients or

not wanting to treat them the same

but it’s the fact we don’t have enough

medical research

to treat women

all right men you have to admit it

majority of you have probably never

heard of pcos

it’s all right i take no offense but

women

we all know what viagra is and what it’s

used for

now i’m not trying to point fingers at

your primary care physician and their

credibility

all that i’m saying is there’s not

enough medical research to treat

women basically only in recent years has

there been funding

for this medical research for women’s

issues and this research

is vital in helping all doctors better

diagnose women

luckily i grew up in metro atlanta

where i had access to a plethora of

doctors

and was able to go to my gynecologist

and get a diagnosis

and then get referred to my lovely

endocrinologist who actually

specializes in pcos

but what about all the other women who

may not have access to proper

reproductive health care

in fact 110 out of the 159 counties in

the state of georgia

have inadequate or no ob gyns or

gynecologists

which was the doctor to diagnose me and

most other women living with pcos

imagine having all of those terrible

symptoms and just no answers

because the doctor who could diagnose

you was

an hour away a couple counties over

and that’s just the state of georgia

imagine what it looks like for the rest

of the country

this disparity continues to break my

heart

because i still vividly remember the

countless times i sat in my mom’s car

and bawled

after another doctor told me to just

take my vitamins and eat better

the thought of so many women having

nowhere to find answers

sends a shiver down my spine because

this isn’t just something that makes you

gain an extra 30 pounds

or gives you difficulty having children

later down the road

a study published in 2015 showed that

women living with pcos

are twice as likely to be hospitalized

for mental health conditions heart

disease

diabetes reproductive disorder

and cancer of the uterine lining

this is no longer a cosmetic nuisance or

an infertility issue

but something that could lead to

long-term health concerns

when undiagnosed and untreated okay

little secret um most the facts

that i’ve told you in the last five

minutes yeah those weren’t told to me

in the doctor’s office to my surprise

i found a whole online community

of sisters

that are very knowledgeable in our

disorder

and yes women living with pcos

decided to give us the cringy name of

sisters

after reading these women’s blogs

watching their videos and hearing their

stories

i found out that it was really common

for women living with pcos

to have difficulty getting a diagnosis

and as much as that sucks for all of us

it made me feel a bit less crazy

it made me feel like someone finally

understood me after all of those years

these women made me realize that i don’t

need to be embarrassed

to find answers about the disorder or to

seek help

and advice with the difficulties this

disorder has given me

asking for help seeking advice

should not be looked upon as a weakness

because as human beings it is our

biggest strength

all right non-sisters time for you to

perk up

sit straighter in your seat why should

you care

well it could be your sister your

girlfriend

your wife your mom but all of that

shouldn’t even matter

it’s about having compassion for all

even if you cannot relate

it is already known that women are not

hurt enough and it is

compounded for women of color and those

who do not have

access to proper health care you may not

be the researcher or the doctor to help

me find the cure

but you’re someone who can still listen

feeling

heard can change someone’s life and i

know that because it did for me so what

would i go back

and tell myself when going through the

dreaded puberty

i would tell her to advocate for her

doctors to go beyond the checkup

checklist

because women’s health matters

i would tell her that she does not need

to be afraid

because there’s a whole community of

women ready with open arms to help her

through the realities of pcos

i would tell young tot that she can be

cute with 30 extra pounds and

some male pattern balding

there is no cure but this movement is

just getting started

stay informed push for equal rights

and find a community that makes you feel

sane

well i finally feel heard and i have my

voice

and we need your support so i’d like to

formally invite you to

join the sisterhood

thank you