Ah, that's good to know. The name is very scary and honestly, it confuses many doctors too. Many think you have to have the so called cysts to have PCOS, many don't get the endocrine nature of it etc
Your fun fact is just as true of men, as it turns out. Our distaff side begins in our grandmothers. There is of course a woman specific way of stating this fact, but it involves mothers and children, not mothers and grandmothers.
I relate to so much of this. I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 19 and spent my whole adult life worrying that I couldn’t get pregnant.
When I was ready to try at 32, my fertility doctor said my ovaries looked normal. And my OB/gyn said my hormones were normal. If I had ever had PCOS (questionable) I didn’t have it anymore.
I got pregnant on the first try. All that worry for nothing.
A great read about a confusing and underresearched situation!
I do want to pounce on the side part of the "success determined by looks" though. You were a genius girl with school olympiads (as a Russian, I know what that is) behind your belt, you heard boys appreciate it, and you ignored it? Sounds like a story that deserves more posts of its own, because, like, smart girls need to know they're wanted :3
I'm sorry if I comment on something that's not the core argument but I'm a bit of obsessive and there is something I find confusing (possibly it is literally wrong?).
You wrote: "if you are a woman, your CURRENT EGGS were once part of your grandmother" and "some of the eggs I carry TODAY were once part of my grandmother’s body".
This seems impossible but of course I want to check if it's not ME being wrong.
Since we all start as a zygote - one cell, the eggs must develop later.
And indeed it's true that a woman is born with all her eggs already, and they're there when a female fetus reach ~20 weeks.
So in a poetic sense *YOU* could be said to have been inside your grandmother, but the literal meaning must be that the egg that would much later become you was already inside your mother when she was yet inside your grandmother.
Doesn't follow your PRESENT EGGS were there, though.
What a taut, informative read. You're a wonderful writer. As someone whose partner froze her eggs, this was really helpful. Thank you for writing it.
thank you :)
FYI, https://whirlcre.edu.au/pcos-name-change/
Ah, that's good to know. The name is very scary and honestly, it confuses many doctors too. Many think you have to have the so called cysts to have PCOS, many don't get the endocrine nature of it etc
So... what are the new names suggested?
https://www.healio.com/news/womens-health-ob-gyn/20250606/name-change-for-outdated-pcos-term-backed-by-majority-of-health-professionals-patients#:~:text=Among%20possible%20alternatives%2C%20changing%20the,the%20acronym%2C%20received%20less%20support.
Your fun fact is just as true of men, as it turns out. Our distaff side begins in our grandmothers. There is of course a woman specific way of stating this fact, but it involves mothers and children, not mothers and grandmothers.
I relate to so much of this. I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 19 and spent my whole adult life worrying that I couldn’t get pregnant.
When I was ready to try at 32, my fertility doctor said my ovaries looked normal. And my OB/gyn said my hormones were normal. If I had ever had PCOS (questionable) I didn’t have it anymore.
I got pregnant on the first try. All that worry for nothing.
A great read about a confusing and underresearched situation!
I do want to pounce on the side part of the "success determined by looks" though. You were a genius girl with school olympiads (as a Russian, I know what that is) behind your belt, you heard boys appreciate it, and you ignored it? Sounds like a story that deserves more posts of its own, because, like, smart girls need to know they're wanted :3
I'm sorry if I comment on something that's not the core argument but I'm a bit of obsessive and there is something I find confusing (possibly it is literally wrong?).
You wrote: "if you are a woman, your CURRENT EGGS were once part of your grandmother" and "some of the eggs I carry TODAY were once part of my grandmother’s body".
This seems impossible but of course I want to check if it's not ME being wrong.
Since we all start as a zygote - one cell, the eggs must develop later.
And indeed it's true that a woman is born with all her eggs already, and they're there when a female fetus reach ~20 weeks.
So in a poetic sense *YOU* could be said to have been inside your grandmother, but the literal meaning must be that the egg that would much later become you was already inside your mother when she was yet inside your grandmother.
Doesn't follow your PRESENT EGGS were there, though.
Am I wrong?
sorry i'm wrong you come from an egg that was in your grandmother thanks