Reclaim the Power of PCOS

PCOS can cause intense feelings of hopelessness.

Reclaim the power it has over you.

Powerlessness is an awful feeling of helplessness or lack of control. It can make you feel that your choices are limited, you have little or no options and that your situation will never change. You might feel hopeless that you’ll never have the family that you so badly want. You may have anxiety about the future or a fear that you’ll end up completely alone. You may be angry at your body, at the health care system, or at the world. You can end up feeling resentment toward yourself and the people closest to you.

Women with PCOS may experience powerlessness for a multitude of reasons including:

Despair around fertility and the anxiety and depression that can come with it
Social stigma as PCOS is widely misunderstood
Treatment challenges because PCOS is complicated so there is no one-size-fits-all
Frustration with physical symptoms like embarrassing facial hair or unwanted weight gain.

According to Dr. Allyson Bradow, Psychologist and infertility researcher, struggling with fertility puts women at higher risk for PTSD and she contends, infertility IS trauma.

“People affected by infertility must adjust to a major shift in life expectations while being exposed to constant reminders of their condition, through questions from family members, medical treatments or interactions with pregnant women.”

“Psychologists must understand that infertility is a trauma, and often a complex trauma,” Bradow writes. “While anxiety, depression, and grief and loss are all part of the psychological impact of infertility, there is much more to the experience which is defined by the individual.”

It’s no wonder you may be feeling powerless.

Let’s shift our thinking a bit and consider PCOS from a different angle.

It’s powerful. It’s powerful enough to disrupt your endocrine system and menstrual cycles, maybe your skin and hair. It’s powerful enough to induce these feelings of rage and depression. It has a power of its own, emanating from within you. Which means that that power is actually yours to harness.

Do you remember from a previous email the quote from Dr. Felice Dunas PhD, about being diagnosed with infertility? She called it “holy, sacred, divine”. It’s the moment of choice when you get to take control of your life. Before you developed PCOS, you probably were smooth sailing, unaware of what was on the horizon. But it’s here now and you get to decide how to proceed.

So here are some tips on how to overcome a sense of powerlessness in the face of a PCOS diagnosis. (And by the way, PCOS does not equal infertility. It only means that fertility takes more effort).

Identify the source of your powerlessness: Try to pinpoint what is making you feel powerless. Is it irregular menstruation? Repeated negative pregnancy tests? No clear ovulation?
Focus on what you can control: This might be your attitude, your behavior, or your choices like how many hours you sleep or how much water you drink or how regularly you take your vitamins. By focusing on what you can control, you can begin to feel more empowered.
Set small goals: Setting small, achievable goals can help you feel more in control. Start with something simple, like going for a walk or making a snack plan. As you achieve these goals, you will begin to feel more confident and empowered.
Seek support: Get encouragement from someone you trust, – a friend, family member, a therapist or acupuncturist.
Take action: Once you have identified the source of your powerlessness and you’ve focused on what you can control, it’s time to take action.

PCOS can be managed and fertility restored. I know. I’ve managed my own PCOS for almost 20 years and I’ve helped many women do the same. The power that PCOS has over your body, is coming from within you.

Take that power back and make it yours.

If you’d like to learn more about how to manage PCOS and how to start immediately boosting your fertility , schedule an appointment with me today.

Don’t let yourself or anyone else continue the narrative that you’re powerless in the face of PCOS. There’s so much you can do. You have all the power you need within you to have agency over your own health and future. To start your journey call or text Float Euphoria at 509-940-1888