I was told my weight gain, facial hair and fatigue were normal. Really, they were all signs of this condition that women suffer with for years before getting a diagnosis
At 27, newly engaged Bethany Backhouse should be happily lost in wedding plans with her partner, Neil. Instead, she's worrying about her health and whether she'll ever have children.
At 27, newly engaged Bethany Backhouse – a medical researcher from Staffordshire – should be happily lost in wedding plans with her partner, Neil. Instead, she's worrying about her health and whether she'll ever have children.
Bethany has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition that affects about four million women in the UK – yet as a new report reveals, it is frequently overlooked and misdiagnosed.
The consequences can be severe, even life-threatening, because the condition can lead to pregnancy complications including pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure), miscarriage and pre-term birth if left untreated – as well as serious health problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and endometrial cancer.
PCOS is also the leading cause of infertility in young women: studies show more than 40 per cent of cases are linked to the condition.
Bethany had first noticed something was wrong four years ago when her periods stopped. Doctors had induced a temporary medical menopause, halting her cycle, to ease the severe period pain caused by endometriosis, which she'd been diagnosed with at 17.
But when the treatment finished, her periods never returned.
'I was told this was normal, but I knew it wasn't,' she says. After two years of asking her GP for help, Bethany was finally referred to a gynaecologist, where an ultrasound scan revealed she had PCOS.
Her diagnosis finally shed light on the unexplained symptoms she'd endured for years, including weight gain, stubborn facial hair and chronic fatigue.
Newly engaged Bethany Backhouse, 27, has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and says her diagnosis was 'frustrating, challenging and emotional'
PCOS affects about four million women in the UK but is often overlooked and misdiagnosed
But at the age of 25, it also came as 'a huge shock'. 'I knew I wanted children one day,' Bethany adds.
While getting the right diagnosis had been 'frustrating, challenging and emotional', she says what makes it worse is that there's little help available.
Her experience is far from unique. More than a third of women with PCOS wait more than four years for a diagnosis – and up to 70 per cent remain undiagnosed, according to a recent report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, which lays bare widespread failures in NHS care.
Its first report, produced in conjunction with the PCOS charity Verity, concluded that the condition receives 'minimal attention in GP and nursing training'.
Part of the problem is that PCOS is 'a complex hormonal and metabolic disorder', as Dr Raef Faris, a consultant gynaecologist at the Lister Fertility Clinic in London, puts it.