March was a busy month, both for freelance work and over at Hysterical Women, where we had a month-long focus on endometriosis, followed by a Mothers’ Day spotlight on the damaging stereotype of the ‘neurotic mother‘.
I also wrote an Endometriosis Awareness Month piece for Refinery29, looking at why women with the condition still struggle to be taken seriously. Also for Refinery29, I looked at the links between sexism in medicine and the rise of the wellness industry. And, finally, I wrote for Patient about whether PCOS can cause type 2 diabetes.
“My first period looked like a murder scene. It started when I was 10 years old, and I was rolling around in bed in so much pain that it woke me up,” recalls 33-year-old Bridie Apple, founder of the Flow. Grow. Glow. yoga community.
“When my mum turned on the lights, the blood was all along the wall. It had soaked through the whole mattress, and when I put my hands down to my tummy and around my pelvis, it was everywhere,” she says.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an incurable endocrine condition affecting up to one in ten women in the UK. It’s most commonly associated with hormonal symptoms, such as acne, excess hair growth, weight gain, irregular periods, and reduced fertility.
However, it is also associated with seemingly unrelated long-term health risks, like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In fact, women with PCOS are as much as 40 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than women without the condition – so what exactly is the link?