Lauren's PCOS Story
By Lauren Tench
Lauren Tench is the woman behind popular Instagram awareness account @endolauren, an account where she’s been raising awareness and sharing her journey with endometriosis - for which she has had seven surgeries. On top of her endometriosis, Lauren was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is a hormonal condition which affects approximately one in ten who are of reproductive age, symptoms may include: an irregular menstrual cycle, excessive facial or body hair, hair loss, acne, reduced fertility, as well as depression or anxiety. Lauren shares her PCOS story with QENDO in the hopes of raising awareness and supporting others who have also been diagnosed with this common gynaecological condition.
My journey to get diagnosed with PCOS was a long and very confusing one.
I had GPs look at me and make comments like “well your weight fits the criteria for PCOS, so you have it”. That would happen a few times and I would be beyond confused. This happened between the ages of 19-21.
I only officially got diagnosed with PCOS 2 years ago when I had an emergency surgery done relating to my endometriosis and the surgeon told me I had PCOS, as I had cysts all over both my ovaries. It was so scary for me at the time, I remember sitting in the surgeons office wanting to cry thinking: “how can I have both endometriosis and PCOS?”. All I could think was “now I will never get to be a mum”, because all I knew about PCOS was infertility and I was already worried about that with my Endo! But it made sense that I had PCOS as my periods have always been extremely irregular and I would have extremely heavy bleeding, not knowing why.
The next week I booked in to see my doctor as I wanted to get a lot of information about PCOS as I did not know much about it and what it means to be diagnosed with it. I wanted to better understand it, so my doctor explained to me that I have high testosterone levels, which showed up on a blood test due to my fertility being such a concern for me. She started me on metformin to help me ovulate but unfortunately it made me feel extremely sick so I came off it after 2 weeks. This is apparently a common side effect of Metformin, some people just don’t tolerate it.
My biggest struggle with PCOS is my skin, hair growth and irregular periods, particularly not knowing if or when I ovulate - an even bigger struggle when dealing with fertility.
It was very scary finding out I had PCOS on top of endometriosis, as I have had 7 surgeries removing endo and dealing with pain almost daily having. Having to then manage another chronic illness really scared me, it seemed like such a lot to deal with.
I suffer depression and anxiety as well, which can make it hard sometimes to cope, but making my Endo page has given me a platform to raise awareness and normalise tricky and sometimes scary conversations that some people struggle to have. I found it very lonely when I was diagnosed with both Endo and PCOS. I will always advocate and spread awareness about PCOS and endometriosis so no young people ever have to struggle the way I have.
You can follow Lauren on Instagram @endolauren