PCOS Awareness Month: What is it and why does it matter?

PCOS is a common hormonal disorder and the most common cause of anovulatory infertility. Despite its widespread nature, there are still a lot of stigma, misconceptions, and myths around this condition. Not to mention, other issues such as late diagnosis and a lack of standardized diagnostic criteria.

To address these issues and raise awareness, people across the globe are holding an annual healthcare event called PCOS Awareness Month. The event is held in September and the official PCOS Awareness Month color is teal. The core goals of this initiative are to:

• Educate the public and healthcare professionals
• Encourage women to receive early diagnosis and treatment
• Eliminate stigma
• Reduce the emotional toll and empower women with PCOS

Polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS is an incredibly common hormonal condition affecting roughly between 6% and 13% of females across the world. Despite its widespread nature, as many as up to 70% of PCOS cases still remain undiagnosed. What’s more, there are still a lot of misconceptions, myths, and stigma around this topic.

The core goal of PCOS Awareness Month is to educate more people about this condition and reduce the social confusion and pressure that have shaped around it. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about this initiative and its importance in today’s world.

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Understanding PCOS and Current Challenges Existing in It

In order to understand the importance of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Awareness Month, it’s important to recognize what this condition stands for and why we need to talk about it in the first place.

In a nutshell, PCOS is a chronic, hormonal condition that affects women of reproductive age. The condition affects female ovaries, causing the development of multiple fluid-filled sacs (cysts) on them. As a result, PCOS hinders ovulatory function and hormone production, resulting in the following common symptoms:

• Hormonal imbalance
• Irregular or missing periods
• Irregular ovulation
• Fertility challenges
• Weight gain
• Hair thinning or loss
• Excess hair growth
• Acne

Why do we need to spread awareness? Apart from a wide range of unpleasant symptoms, it’s important to note that PCOS remains the most common cause of anovulatory infertility–as many as 90-95% of anovulatory women who are treating infertility are also diagnosed with PCOS. This fact alone makes this issue incredibly prominent and requires us to discuss it and spread awareness.

Additionally, we need PCOS Awareness Month to address existing issues associated with this condition, such as:

• Late diagnosis
• Lack of standardized diagnostic criteria
• Lots of misconceptions
• Restricted treatment options
• Lack of proper medical training on women’s hormonal health
• Social stigma

How Awareness Could Help?

Although the challenges surrounding PCOS are real, holding events like PCOS awareness color can help overcome them. Namely, by discussing PCOS and its challenges, we can encourage early diagnosis and empower women with PCOS to seek professional help. Also, spreading awareness can help stimulate further research and development of appropriate diagnostic criteria and medical training to improve PCOS treatment.

Lastly, raising awareness can help reduce the stigma that surrounds this matter. This is an important step in helping women with PCOS live fuller lives and reduce anxiety associated with their diagnosis.

PCOS Awareness Month: Brief History and Purpose

Understanding the existing challenges and a lack of understanding of this condition, healthcare professionals and enthusiasts came up with the idea of a healthcare event that would raise awareness and understanding of PCOS. It started back in 2018 as World PCOS Day. However, soon it developed into a full month dedicated to this cause.

Today, PCOS Awareness Month is an annual global healthcare happening, recognized as a federally designated event. So, when is PCOS Awareness Month? It’s traditionally held in September with the purpose to shed light on PCOS and issues associated with this condition.

Throughout the month, females with PCOS share their own stories of this condition and tell how it has impacted their lives and families. During this time, people also discuss existing diagnostic and treatment issues, explore potential remedies, and share helpful resources. Multiple organizations across the globe also use this month to raise funds and support women with PCOS and further research on this matter.

Like many other global events, this one also has its own symbols. The official PCOS awareness color is teal. If you happen to see a little teal ribbon during this month, this is the general symbol of PCOS.

The Significance of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Awareness Month Today

PCOS is a condition that’s chronic and can’t be treated completely. By affecting the female ovarian function, it frequently leads to serious inner changes in women and is accompanied by a variety of symptoms. Nevertheless, there are still many unknown to this condition, which is the primary reason why it’s so significant to hold PCOS Awareness Month.

As was said earlier, education is the primary goal of this event. In particular, it’s meant to educate:

• General public - To shed light on the existence of this condition and help females affected by it and their families find ways to cope with it.
• Healthcare professionals - To ensure that healthcare professionals will be able to diagnose this condition more easily when women come to see them for irregular periods, fertility issues, and other associated symptoms.

Another big goal behind holding Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Awareness Month is to encourage women across the world to become more attentive to their health and receive early diagnosis and treatment for PCOS. Similarly to breast cancer awareness month held every October, PCOS Awareness Month tells females that there is such a condition as PCOS that can affect their health and encourages them to recognize its signs.

Last but not least, there is an emotional background to holding PCOS Awareness Month. As you may know, by affecting the levels of your essential hormones, PCOS frequently affects your mental health and can cause anxiety. Additionally, certain changes in your body, such as weight gain or hair loss, can add self-consciousness to women with this diagnosis. A global awareness month helps us show the public that PCOS is a real thing and that there is nothing to be ashamed of. This event also shows that it’s possible to live a full and exciting life with this condition. By addressing these questions, this event also empowers women to embrace their condition and seek help.

Possible Ways to Participate in PCOS Awareness Month

Now you already know answers to general questions, such as: what is PCOS Awareness Month and what month is PCOS awareness? Regardless of whether you are diagnosed with this condition yourself, know someone with PCOS, or just want to serve a good cause, you might be as well wondering how you can participate.

If you want to be involved, there are several ways to do this:

• Awareness events - During awareness month, different organizations hold walks, webinars, social media campaigns, and other awareness events that typically involve experts and stories from real people. You can research upcoming events in your area (if they are offline) or participate in online campaigns.
• Charity - If you want to support future research or PCOS advocacy, you can also make donations or organize fundraising yourself. This is also a good way to support this event.
• Personal stories - If you have PCOS or know someone with it, one more great way to be involved is to prepare and share personal stories about this condition. This greatly helps reduce stigma and support females with PCOS.

FAQ

What is PCOS Awareness Month?

It’s a globally recognized healthcare event dedicated to polycystic ovary syndrome. It’s held annually and is meant to raise awareness about PCOS and help people around the world understand this condition better.

What month is PCOS awareness?

September is globally recognized as PCOS Awareness Month. It’s considered to be a significant month for women’s health across the world as it strives to educate more people about PCOS and the challenges that still surround it. 

What is the PCOS Awareness Month color?

Teal is considered the color of the PCOS Awareness Month and the little ribbon in teal colour is a globally recognized symbol of PCOS in general. This color was selected for a reason–teal is a blend of blue, which symbolizes stability and tranquility, and green, which is the color of optimism and healing. Eventually, teal is thought to be the color of mental balance, relaxation, and strength.

Conclusion

PCOS is one of the most prominent, yet, not fully explored chronic conditions found in women. It hinders your inner hormonal balance and comes along with a variety of unpleasant symptoms. Not to mention, it is one of the most common issues leading to infertility.

Although this condition is so widespread, there are still many challenges associated with it, and PCOS Awareness Month is meant to help address them. Now, you should have a better idea of this healthcare event. Use this knowledge to spread awareness, seek professional help, and participate in awareness month to serve a good cause!

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