If you're an avid reader of PCOS information, you likely know that PCOS affects 1 in 10 women. Did you know that it affects more than that? Studies are now estimating that the prevalence is closer to 20% This change is likely in large part due to the publication of the Rotterdam Criteria for diagnosis, created in 2003. This criteria broadened the definition so that more women could be identified and treated, and allows for a diagnosis to be made without the presence of cysts on the ovaries.
The good news is that more women can be identified. The bad news is, there are an awful lot of people out there looking to cash in on the trend. Supplement sellers, fertility clinics, nutrition experts, etc…all of them make money off of women with PCOS. Not all of them offer valid solutions. Many of them know that the diagnosis, especially if it comes during an infertility workup, renders women fearful and more easily parted with their money in hopes of finding an easy solution.
Be sure not to let that desperation get to you. Even if you're just passing through here and you have a PCOS provider you're satisfied with who is not part of our network, be sure their information is valid, reliable, and research-based. Be sure, if you choose to try a possible solution that is a little more off the radar, that you know exactly how to use that supplement and you use it exactly as told to, for as long as you're told to, in order to achieve the expected results.
And remember what Beth Wolf, organizer of the Power Up For PCOS Walk-a-Thon, has told the members of our Facebook fan page — women with PCOS who are committed to good nutrition, activity, and lifestyle practices, are some of the fittest women around. They are even fitter than women WITHOUT PCOS!
There is a whole lot you can do, on your own, to be in control of your PCOS. It will also prevent you from being targeted as a profit center for a drug company or a food company or anyone, for that matter. You're not a revenue stream. You're a human being and a woman. A woman who has been given a very special opportunity to change her life for the better.
Don't ever let anyone take that away from you.
March WA, Moore VM, Willson KJ, Phillips DI, Norman RJ, Davies MJ The prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome in a community sample assessed under contrasting diagnostic criteria. Hum Reprod. 2010;25(2):544.