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You Deserve More Than a Diagnosis: Turning PMOS Knowledge Into Better Care · Clearly Hormonal

• 0:06
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: ​Welcome to Clearly Hormonal, the podcast where we stop googling our symptoms at midnight and actually start understanding what's going on in our bodies.
• 0:14
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: I'm Dr.
• 0:15
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Komal Patil-Sisodia, an endocrinologist, internist, obesity medicine specialist, and a Menopause Society certified practitioner, which is really just a whole lot of words to say hormones are kind of my jam.
• 0:26
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: I've spent 17 years watching women try to navigate their hormonal health without ever having been taught the language for what's happening in their own bodies, and then meeting clinicians who want nothing more than to help them figure it out, but are up against 10-minute appointments and a system that just wasn't built for it.
• 0:42
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: This podcast is my answer to that gap.
• 0:45
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: We'll cover menopause, metabolism, hormones, and everything in between with real evidence, not trends, and without the overwhelm.
• 0:53
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: A quick disclaimer.
• 0:54
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: I'm a physician, but this is education, not personalized medical advice.
• 0:58
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Take what resonates and discuss it with your own healthcare team.
• 1:01
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Now, let's get into it and talk about what's clearly hormonal and what's not.
• 1:08
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Before we get into today's episode, I want to give you a number: one in eight.
• 1:13
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: About one in eight women lives with this condition.
• 1:16
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: It's associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors, like high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol.
• 1:25
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: And for many women, the first signs appear decades before menopause.
• 1:31
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: You would think a condition that common, with consequences that can reach across a woman's lifespan, would be recognized early and treated comprehensively.
• 1:42
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: But if that condition is PMOS, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, formerly called PCOS, that often isn't what happens.
• 1:53
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: PMOS is one of the most common hormone conditions there is, and it is still one of the most misunderstood, both by patients and honestly, by a lot of clinicians, too.
• 2:04
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: This is Clearly Hormonal, and I've made September my own PMOS awareness month here on the show.
• 2:11
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: So today, I want to talk to you about why awareness actually matters, what many patients are never told, and what you can do if you think this might be you.
• 2:22
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Let's start with the name change, because some of you are new here.
• 2:26
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: PMOS stands for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome.
• 2:30
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: It was previously called PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome.
• 2:35
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: That name change came out of a major consensus paper published in The Lancet earlier this year, and it wasn't simply a rebrand.
• 2:43
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: The goal was to give the condition a name that better reflects what it actually is.
• 2:48
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: The old name put the focus on ovarian cysts, even though cysts aren't required for diagnosis, and the condition reaches far beyond the ovaries.
• 2:57
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Many people first notice PMOS through irregular periods, acne, or new hair growth, often that starts in your teen years.
• 3:06
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: But those reproductive and skin symptoms are only a part of the picture.
• 3:11
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: PMOS also carries important metabolic implications like insulin resistance, blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, and long-term cardiovascular risk, all of which deserve attention even if those problems aren't obvious when someone is first diagnosed And too often, that part of the conversation gets missed because the visit stays focused on periods, acne, or hair growth.
• 3:40
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: That's why I want you to think about PMOS as a condition that can evolve across a woman's lifespan.
• 3:46
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: It may first show up in adolescence as irregular periods or acne.
• 3:50
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: In the 20s or 30s, fertility may become part of the conversation, and the story doesn't simply end when the reproductive years do.
• 3:58
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: The hormonal and metabolic pieces can remain relevant through perimenopause and beyond.
• 4:04
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Here's why awareness matters.
• 4:06
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: In one of the largest international studies of diagnostic experience, about one in three women waited more than two years for a diagnosis, and nearly half saw at least three healthcare professionals before getting a diagnosis.
• 4:23
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: I was one of them.
• 4:24
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: My symptoms started when I was 18, and it took years.
• 4:28
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Honestly, it took getting all the way through my own medical training before I had the language and the confidence to push for real answers about my own body.
• 4:37
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: If that sounds familiar, you're not alone.
• 4:41
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Delayed diagnosis and having your concerns brushed off are incredibly common experiences for people with PMOS, and we know that many people who have this condition are never diagnosed at all.
• 4:54
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: There are also disparities in who gets diagnosed.
• 4:57
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: In one large safety net health system study, Black women and patients covered by Medicaid or charity care were significantly more likely to meet criteria for PMOS without having the diagnosis documented.
• 5:12
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: How messed up is that?
• 5:14
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: So this isn't only a knowledge problem.
• 5:16
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Access and inequity are part of the story too.
• 5:19
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Some people are told just to lose weight.
• 5:22
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Some are told that their labs are normal when the labs that were run weren't even the right ones.
• 5:28
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Some are never told about the metabolic or cardiovascular risk at all because the conversation stayed focused on periods, acne, or hair growth.
• 5:37
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: And an awareness month isn't about hashtags.
• 5:40
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: It's about closing that gap.
• 5:42
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: It's about making sure that if you have this condition, you actually understand what you're dealing with, and you know it early enough to do something about it.
• 5:51
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: I want to shift now from the medicine to something a little more practical, because I think that this is where a lot of PMOS content misses the mark.
• 5:59
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Knowing the science is one thing.
• 6:01
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Knowing what to actually do with that information in a doctor's office is another.
• 6:06
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Here's what I see over and over again in my practice.
• 6:09
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: A patient comes in, she's done her research, she understands a lot about PMOS, but she still left all of her previous appointments feeling unheard because she didn't know how to turn what she knew into a real conversation that got her somewhere.
• 6:24
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: That's a real skill, and it isn't something most of us are taught.
• 6:29
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Nobody hands you a script for how to ask whether you need a metabolic screening instead of just focusing on a hormone panel.
• 6:36
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Nobody teaches you which questions are reasonable to ask and what information you should be tracking over time.
• 6:41
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: And nobody prepares you for the appointment where you bring up your risk for diabetes or heart disease and the response is some version of,"Let's not worry about that right now." I want to be really clear about something.
• 6:53
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: You shouldn't have to become an expert just to get appropriate care.
• 6:57
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: But knowing what questions to ask, what information matters, and when to ask for a second look can make those conversations more productive.
• 7:07
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: And that gap between understanding PMOS and actually knowing how to navigate your care is exactly why I built what I'm gonna tell you about next.
• 7:17
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: PMOS Awareness Month, and the struggle that I realized was not just me having difficulty getting a diagnosis, but so many other women who don't have the same tools to navigate the healthcare system, led me to develop a course about PMOS.
• 7:33
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: It's called The PMOS Conversation You Deserve, and it's a six-module course designed to help you understand your condition, and most importantly, how to use that knowledge in real life.
• 7:44
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: We talk about what PMOS actually is, the connection between hormones, metabolism, and cardiovascular health, and how the condition can change across different stages of life.
• 7:55
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: But the heart of the course is practical.
• 7:58
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: What questions should you ask?
• 8:00
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: What should you be tracking?
• 8:01
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: How do you build a plan with your healthcare team?
• 8:04
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: And what can you do when you ask a reasonable question and you don't get a useful answer?
• 8:09
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: There's an entire module devoted to that last one called When You Hit Pushback: What to Do Next.
• 8:14
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Because if you've lived with PMOS for any length of time, there is a good chance you've experienced that moment.
• 8:21
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: I know I have, and it sucks.
• 8:24
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: The course also includes a comprehensive workbook designed to go with you to your appointments and not sit forgotten in some download folder.
• 8:33
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: And you'll have three months of live monthly question and answer sessions with me, where we can go deeper into the concepts and questions that come up as you work through the course.
• 8:44
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Because PMOS doesn't look exactly the same in every person, and the education shouldn't be one size fits all either Here's the timing.
• 8:53
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: The course opens for pre-order on October 7th with introductory pricing available through October 13th.
• 9:01
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Enrollment will then move to the regular price on October 14th, and our first live Q&A is October 21st, and I can't wait to meet with you all.
• 9:10
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: If you've been listening to this podcast or following along on social media this month and thinking,"Okay, I understand more about PMOS now, but what am I actually supposed to do with this information?" That's exactly the question I built this course to answer.
• 9:24
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: And it's not another explainer.
• 9:26
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: It's a tool designed to help you walk through your next appointment better informed and better prepared to participate in decisions about your health, and to give you something you can keep coming back to afterwards.
• 9:39
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: You'll be able to find the link in the show notes when the pre-order opens up on October 7th.
• 9:45
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: So here are my final thoughts.
• 9:47
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Awareness about a health condition is a starting point.
• 9:50
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: It's not a finish line.
• 9:52
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Knowing the name matters.
• 9:54
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Understanding the risks matters.
• 9:56
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: But the real goal is knowing what that information means for you and feeling equipped to have a better conversation about your health.
• 10:05
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: That's what PMOS Awareness Month has been about for me.
• 10:08
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Not just helping more women recognize this condition, but helping you know what to do once you recognize it.
• 10:14
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Because you deserve more than a diagnosis.
• 10:17
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: You deserve to understand what comes next.
• 10:21
  Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia: Thank you all for tuning in to this last episode for PMOS Awareness Month, and I will see you on the next episode of Clearly Hormonal