The condition predominantly affects insulin and androgen hormones – not just the ovaries – with wide-ranging effects on metabolism, fertility, mental health, and reproductive health.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many people, this means spending years feeling like something isn\u2019t quite right before they finally receive a clear diagnosis and, by that point, the effects on their physical and mental wellbeing can be substantial.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the name better reflects what the condition actually is, we\u2019re more likely to see earlier diagnosis, better support, and people being taken seriously sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many women, that delay in diagnosis can have serious long-term consequences.<\/p>\n
Aimee Dalton has struggled with the hormonal disorder for years and says care should be patient-focused. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Aimee Dalton, a competitor in last year\u2019s Miss New Zealand, has been struggling with the disorder since a mass was located on her ovary when she was 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve now had over five surgeries, and every single one has been emergency surgery due to the lack of intervention and support in the earlier stages. <\/p>\n
\u201cI truly believe that if there had been better monitoring, education and care earlier on, some of the damage and trauma could have potentially been prevented.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sue Claridge, a spokeswoman for the Women\u2019s Health Council, said the \u201cfar more holistic description\u201d was overdue.<\/p>\n
\u201cYears of research showed that the term PCOS was confusing and in many cases harmful to women, and potentially hampered diagnosis\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there will be a better understanding of the condition, that will hopefully lead to faster diagnosis and better care, in large part because the new name acknowledges the variety of symptoms, including hormones, metabolism, mental health, skin, and the reproductive system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dalton believes changing the name alone won\u2019t fix the underlying problem: \u201cWomen with PMOS are still fighting to be heard, properly supported, and understood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Women’s Health Action General Manager Isis McKay has applauded the change, but says there is still more work to be done. Photo \/ Women’s Health Action<\/p>\n
Marginalised groups are particularly impacted by barriers to healthcare access because of systemic discrimination and bias, McKay said.<\/p>\n
Studies show M\u0101ori and Pasifika women experience longer delays in diagnosis on average, are more likely to perceive their symptoms as normal, and are more reluctant to seek healthcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also know there are systemic inequities at play. Racism, size and weight-based discrimination, geographical isolation, and the many ways ableism shows up in healthcare all have a real impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
She agreed that people like Dalton living with PMOS needed to be involved in shaping healthcare responses.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople with PMOS are the experts in what it\u2019s like to navigate this day to day, and their insights should be shaping how we design services, policies, and where we invest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The condition predominantly affects insulin and androgen hormones – not just the ovaries – with wide-ranging effects on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[35114,74,9442,536,57023,124,796,63059,19724,134,194,13617,117,111,139,425,69,70399,13263,217884,223415,5659,25093,5390,810,1533,2248,2834,80],"class_list":["post-436630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-advocates","tag-after","tag-better","tag-care","tag-clearer","tag-could","tag-diagnosis","tag-faster","tag-given","tag-health","tag-kiwi","tag-name","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-now","tag-nz","tag-ovarian","tag-pcos","tag-pmos","tag-polycystic","tag-say","tag-speed","tag-syndrome","tag-up","tag-will","tag-women","tag-womens","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}