Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a complex hormone imbalance in women that

leads to other health serious issues. PCOS affects 1 in 10 women, which is about 15% of women

in the United States alone (BioSpace, 2019). Although PCOS has a wide reach, it is “one of the

most critical, under-diagnosed, underfunded and neglected areas of health, which can lead to

infertility, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer” (PCOS Challenge, 2020). The

scariest part of this disease is there is known cause for what causes someone to have PCOS. By

the time doctor’s catch PCOS in a patient, they are presenting with 2 or more health issues.

For a doctor to determine if a patient has PCOS they have to play detective. Various

blood-tests and physical exams are preformed to rule out other potential causes first until

landing on PCOS. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the

common signs/symptoms of PCOS are irregular menstrual periods, infertility, obesity, excess

hair grown (face, chest, abdomen, or upper thighs) which affects 7 in 10 women with PCOS,

acne or severe acne that develops post adolescence, oily skin, patches of thickened velvety,

darkened skin, being insulin resistant, or multiple small fluid-filled sacs in the ovaries. When a

patient comes in with two or more of these symptoms, doctors have to be sure before giving

the diagnosis of PCOS.

Further research needs to be conducted about PCOS because “pre-teens and teens can

develop PCOS. Earlier diagnosis can give them the opportunity to better manage the emotional,

internal and physical effects of PCOS” (PCOS Challenge, 2020). Early stage diagnose is critical to

have a prognosis and better lives for these young girls and women. There should be a push to

educate teenage girls about their bodies and to be aware of PCOS. I know for me personally; I
had no idea PCOS even existed until I was in my twenties. I just assumed that my mood swings

and sudden weight gain were a part of being a teenager. These types of symptoms should not

be written off as ‘normal teenage behavior’. Especially with such a huge risk of women with

PCOS developing serious health issues such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes,

endometrial cancer, sleeping disorders, and depression (ACOG, 2020).

The current health promotion campaign I am looking at is the #ipledgeteal. The PCOS

Awareness Association’s “Monthly Giving Program”. According the PCOSAA website, the

Monthly Giving Program ensures that the donation goes straight from your account to the PCOS

Awareness Association. The incentives for donors are receiving a welcome kit, a tax break, staff

member to answer questions, and ability to increase/decrease/cancel pledge. I love the hashtag

the PCOS Association has come up with. A strong hashtag is great for getting the word out on

social media. Unfortunately, I never saw this hashtag circulating on any platform. I only found

this campaign from doing research for this paper. This campaign did not reach its full potential,

in my opinion. I think it is great that there is an opportunity for people to donate to the cause of

bringing awareness to PCOS. I think that donating and getting funding is a huge hurtle that this

campaign is trying to tackle.

I want my campaign to focus on the infamous question women get asked: “when are

you going to have kids?” This might seem like an innocent question, like ‘what is your name?’,

but I want people to realize that asking a woman about her fertility status is insanely invasive.

There is no telling, from appearance, the struggles that woman is going through trying to

conceive or how viciously her body is working against her daily. I want this campaign to dispel

the stigma that getting pregnant is easy. My health campaign, Don’t Ask Her, will be focused on
taking away societies power to invade a women’s health. This campaign can be in conjunction

with so many other issues that women face. I want this to be a battle cry and uplifting for

women who struggle with infertility.

For this campaign, I plan to start with Social Media. Social Media is a great tool. I chose

three words because it would fit great as a hashtag for social media. Also, the shorter the more

punch the tagline becomes. Drawing in a buzz on this type of cause will be more beneficial for

my type of campaign. This campaign is more of conversation starter and changing how we all

interact with each other. I want the campaign to bring awareness to PCOS but to share stories

of the many women who are suffering in silence. The best way to bring awareness is to have

real women using their voices and telling their own stories. Public platforms allow for everyone

to read the personal accounts being shared and allow readers to start their own conversations

about PCOS.

For my two advertisements, I wanted to capitalize on popular items. Avocados have

become a staple, so I chose to include them in my flyer/poster. Not only are avocados a staple

in the healthy eating world, but they visualize represent in/fertility. I wanted to use something

that people are familiar hearing about and seeing (in kitchens, at restaurants, etc.) and apply

that to infertility. That way people can conceptualize, ‘yeah when I do cut into an avocado one

side has a seed’ and possibly connect that to women trying to get pregnant with each half.

There are a bunch of underlying causes for pregnancy, but this flyer’s goal is to illustrate that

pregnancy sometimes is beyond a woman’s control. I chose to do a radio ad because I really

enjoy listening to them. Commentators voices during radio commercial ads are strong,

impactful, engaging, and packed full of information within a few lines. For the radio ad, I went
for more of a call to action. I wanted to follow the scare tactic for this commercial ad, so that

when radio listeners hear the ad, they attention is grabbed.

 Radio Announcement

“The leading cause of infertility for women is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS. 1 in

10 women have PCOS. This disease is spreading like wildfire among teenage girls and women,

yet is the must underfunded, under researched disease that is sweeping the nation. It is time to

bring awareness to this national issue. Please join us this September in celebrating PCOS

Awareness month. If you currently have PCOS, please share your stories using the hashtag

Don’t Ask Her on social media platforms. Visit www.pcoschallenge.org to get involved with the

annual walk/run, learn more about PCOS, and donate to further research. It is time we all and

step help up our women and show them that there is life after diagnosis.”
 References

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2020). Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

(PCOS). Retrieved from ACOG https://www.acog.org/patient-

resources/faqs/gynecologic-problems/polycystic-ovary-syndrome.

BioSpace. (2019). PCOS Challenge National Campaign Comes to Houston to Bring Attention to

Women's Health Epidemic. Retrieved from BioSpace

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/pcos-challenge-national-campaign-comes-

to-houston-to-bring-attention-to-women-s-health-epidemic/.

Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2019).

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Retrieved from Women’s Health

https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/polycystic-ovary-syndrome

PCOS Awareness Association. (2020). #ipledgeteal. Retrieved from PCOSAA

https://www.pcosaa.org/givingtuesday.

PCOS Challenge. (2020). What is PCOS? Retrieved from PCOS Challenge

https://pcoschallenge.org/.