Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) affects as many as 5 million Americans, according to the CDC, and has no cure. While it's difficult to diagnose due to its wide range of symptoms which present differently in each patient, many celebrities have opened up about their struggles and how PCOS affects their lives.
"This is part of the health issues that I was speaking of while I was going through Pretty Little Liars," actress Sasha Pieterse said of being diagnosed with PCOS while starring on the teen drama. "The changes that were happening to me were documented on camera."
The former child star gained 70 pounds at age 17 before receiving her diagnosis. "There was no explanation for it," she added. "It was the most frustrating experience and disheartening because no matter what I did, no matter how well I behaved, no matter how great I treated my body, things were actually getting worse rather than better, it was very very confusing."
According to Sasha, it took visiting more than "15 gynecologists" to finally get answers about her body.
"I was like, 'What's that?' I'd never heard of PCOS before. And it's a disease, it's not curable, it can be dormant, that's — at this stage — that's what they know," she added. "And the most frustrating part about this is that it's fairly easy to diagnose. And really what it is, it's a hormone imbalance, it's a hormone disease and it's so easy to see because your testosterone or your estrogen will be really high, you'll have really low vitamin D levels, you'll be deficient in a lot of things."
Sasha is not alone in struggling to find a diagnosis, other stars like Victoria Beckham, Lea Michele and Maci Bookout have also opened up about PCOS.
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