Things NOT to Say to Someone with PCOS

It is September which means that it is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Awareness Month!  I am hoping to bring more awareness to this syndrome and help educate you along the way.  I am not a doctor or a nutritionist.  I am a woman who was diagnosed early in life and has been learning about my diagnosis ever since.  If you have specific questions, you can, of course, ask them, and I will do my best to answer.  However, I would encourage you to take them to your doctor as well.

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Do you know someone with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome?  It's a private matter, and I know lots of people don't want to blurt it out from the mountaintop.  I didn't even publicly share that I had PCOS until just two years ago.  But maybe someone in your life has shared this information with you in hopes that you can be supportive.

Here are just a few things that you may want to steer clear of in talking with her.

1.  Don't tell her that she's being moody.  Yes, we know that we can be moody.  That's a symptom of PCOS.  It's caused by our hormones being imbalanced.  So if things aren't normal, we can definitely be moody.  I know that I get even madder when someone tells me that I'm being moody.
   
2. Don't tell them to just go lose some weight.  Yes, I also know that we can be very discouraged where we are at physically.  It's hard to look in the mirror sometimes and not recognize the girl that used to be there.  But it's also super difficult to lose weight.  The culprit?  Again, it's because of the imbalance of hormones.  It is not as easy to lose weight as someone who does have their hormones in check.  It's a vicious cycle which can be very discouraging.
   
3. Lastly, and I say this for ALL women.  DO NOT ASK THEM WHEN THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE KIDS!!!!!  This can be a very hurtful question for some women.  Maybe they've had miscarriages.  Maybe they want a baby so bad that they cry themselves to sleep every night because they can't get pregnant.  Maybe they are dealing with secondary infertility.  There are a LOT of reasons you should NEVER ask a woman what her family plans are.  If you have asked this question to other women in the past, can I please ask you to reconsider ever asking this question again?  If you know them well, I'm sure they will share that information with you at some point.  Asking this question or nagging them to have kids will get you absolutely nowhere.  I like to tell my best friend that my uterus is nobody's business.  :)  And it's true...please don't ever ask this question.  You have no idea what someone might be battling privately.

There are so many other things that I could share in this post, but these are my top three.  I hope that helps!  Tomorrow, I'll share the things that you can say! ;)

If you know someone who could benefit from reading this blog, by all means, share it!  After all, sharing is caring and greatly appreciated!