At 22 years old, Ashley Martin’s body is starting to rebel. She watched her periods become irregular and she gained 35 kg (77 lbs) in just six months.
Then came the scary diagnosis: An ultrasound showed 20 “cysts” on each ovary.
“I remember being told that I might not be able to have children and that these cysts might be cancerous,” says Martin, a now 34-year-old British Singaporean born in Hong Kong, who at the time was working in the food and beverage industry as a VIP account manager, a model and an executive.
Last month, in what was hailed as a landmark victory for women’s health, polycystic ovary syndrome was given a more accurate name after a global survey of more than 14,360 women with the disease. It is now called polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS).
The change aims to end decades of delayed diagnosis, fragmented care, overlooking potential hormonal and metabolic symptoms, and even stigma surrounding a condition that affects one in 10 women globally, according to a publication in the medical journal The Lancet.
