I wish this guy was just a strawman to prove a point, but unfortunately he’s not. I’ve had this conversation over and over with the same damn people.
Having PCOS is probably one of the most frustrating parts of my life because people, male and female, doesn’t understand that being overweight is part of the illness, and being overweight is such a stigmatized thing in our society that everybody think they know what’s wrong with me and feel a need to tell me how to fix it. And to make it worse, PCOS is a bit different from person to person, so some PCOS patients might not be overweight but suffer from oily, spotted or miscolord skin for example, so if someone knows another person with PCOS they might say “The other person I know isn’t overweight, so…”
Exactly all of this. I am so damn tired of saying that I take metformin and having everyone assume that I have diabetes. No, I don’t. I have insulin resistance due to the PCOS, which means that I need to take metformin to not develop diabetes. I have an endocrinologist, who, no lie, knows damn well that weight gain is a side effect of the disease, and still keeps insisting on talking about bariatric surgery, despite the times that I have told him point blank that that is off the table, never going to happen, because I don’t have a problem with overeating, I have a problem with every bit of sugar I eat turning straight to fat, because I have fucking PCOS.
And since the comic doesn’t cover this, let me explain the reason I take birth control, not that it’s anyone’s damn business, but just to increase understanding. I take birth control, because otherwise I don’t get my period, again due to the fact that PCOS is a hormonal disease, which means that I develop endometrial polyps that could eventually turn into cancer without birth control. The only other remedy for this is to have a hysterectomy, and I’m not doing that, because, surprise, I have no desire to have surgery if I can solve the problem with a pill. I take medication to control the bitch of a disease that has decided to make itself at home in my body, and I’m so sick of explaining to all and sundry that no, I’m not diabetic, but yes, I need to watch myself just as carefully, and no, I can’t eat your cake/pie/cookies/whatever fucking thing you’ve come up with that is 99.9% sugar so stop telling me about it.
Meg's Mumbles 