Women's Health: Women's Health Stories
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Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) - Kathryn's Story

"I felt so segregated, I felt alone...I felt like one of the only people dealing with this..." Kathryn talks about her diagnosis, how she felt and what she was able to do to be happy again. This is Kathryn's story.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) - Kathryn's Story Transcript

My name is Catherine Marshall. I'm actually from Tampa, Florida Area. I have been training in dance, ballet, tap, Jazz, all sorts of stuff like that and I was pretty hard-core into it, had big dreams and then I got diagnosed, actually with a minor disease called PCOS, a lot of the physical outward symptoms are major weight gain. There's a lot of like facial hair in women, there's increased levels of testosterone. A lot of times when this disease is full blown then you absolutely cannot have children, so that was something that really, really scared me. I felt so segregated. I felt alone. I felt like I didn't know exactly what I was going to do next. I felt like one of the only people dealing with this. Much like patients with diabetes, I have problems with my pancreas producing the right amount of insulin and combating that with the food that I intake, so it's kind of a big deal. I read a couple books on it. I was convinced that I was going to get rid of the symptoms completely. I wanted to try this prescription called Glucophage, or Metformin and that is actually prescribed to patients with Type II diabetes, which I'm prone to, which I - I don't completely have. But my medication helped me quite a bit. It helps your pancreas to produce insulin properly and as a result of that, all my symptoms have decreased. I lost about - gosh, 40 pounds and got back in dance. I actually auditioned for the Radio City Rockettes today, so that was a big help to me. So I owe a lot to that medication and I'm happy now.

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