You're listening to Mistreated. I'm Nam Kiwanuka. You might have heard of PCOS.

It's an acronym that stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome, a condition that affects 1.4 million Canadians. And globally, it impacts one in eight women.

For a condition that was identified just over 90 years ago, there's no one medication to treat it. The exact cause of it is unknown. It's not curable, and it is poorly understood.

Some experts say PCOS looks to be at least two or three different conditions that have been lumped together and there are calls for it to be separated into two different diagnoses.

Others say the name polycystic ovarian syndrome is misleading and that the name should be changed.

According to reporting from The Conversation, an independent online publication from the academic and research community, women with PCOS are 20 to 40% more likely to experience negative health outcomes during their lifetime than the general population.

This includes risks of developing hypertension, kidney disease, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and gastrointestinal disease.

It's also been associated with infertility and miscarriage, and it's common for women with it to experience pelvic and abdominal pain.

Women with PCOS are also two to three times more likely to have type 2 diabetes.

And when PCOS symptoms are missed or misdiagnosed, it also puts women at higher risk of heart failure and stroke.

And every person has a unique presentation. And that might be part of the reason why 70% of women who have it remain undiagnosed.

And our guest today describes it like a fingerprint where every person's condition and every person's needs are a little different.

Andrea Lewis is an actor and producer. You might recognize her from her role as Hazel on Degrassi the Next Generation.

She was diagnosed with PCOS in 2012. She's been open about talking about her diagnosis and what it's like to live with it. And she's been an advocate for those with it. She joins me now.

>> Hi, Andrea Lewis. Welcome to the podcast.

>> Thank you. Thank you for having me.

>> I'm so excited to be able to speak to you. Um because I'm a fan of the work that you're doing, especially with like glam culture right now. So, congratulations on that. Um, I w also wanted to talk to you about PCOS because this is something that you've been talking about for a while. Andrea, can you give us a definition of what it is?

>> Polycystic ovarian syndrome is is what it breaks down into. Um, but PCOS is a metabolic disorder and a hormonal disorder. It affects about I'd say maybe one in 10 women across North America and in the UK.

It is something that essentially affects your reproductive health. So, there's a very there's a various amount of ways that you can kind of be affected by PCOS, but typically it is by having little cysts on um your ovaries.

It usually causes you to have irregular periods, but this can also affect weight gain. This can affect um your testosterone levels. This affects um hair growth in many different ways for women.

But again, these are kind of variants of it. So, every woman I know has it in a very different way. they they it it honestly behaves a lot like a fingerprint.

It's also kind of the leading cause of um infertility in a lot of women in and and women are often diagnosed kind of later on when they realize they're going they're trying for a child and they're having a really hard time with it and then they discovered like oh they actually have PCOS.

>> I wanted to ask you how you discovered that you had PCOS. How were you feeling when you went to the doctor because this is way back I think in 2012. Yeah, 2012 is when I 2012 is when I got diagnosed, but I'd say I probably had it before that because um I I always recall I had like a year where I I don't even remember my period actually coming.

Yeah, 2012 is when I 2012 is when I got diagnosed, but I'd say I probably had it before that because um I I always recall I had like a year where I I don't even remember my period actually coming.

Um but I was younger and and you know, period health is um when when I was growing up at least, it was not treated as something that we should care about.

It was treated more like taboo. It was like you didn't really talk about it. And so when I was truly diagnosed with PCOS, it was because I was in a relationship at the time.

And I remember I just wasn't getting my period. And obviously I was sexually active because I was in a relationship. I knew I was not pregnant, but I just was not getting my period. It just was not coming.

And at the time I was struggling with my weight. I was struggling with my overall mental health and and just kind of thinking it was a lot of other factors.

I went to my doctor. I said, "I'm not getting my period." And I remember at the time he literally gave me birth control and he was like when you do get it just take this and it will just make it regular.

And I remember feeling like but I'm not getting it. So like will I ever get to take this birth control? And I honestly did not at the time because my period did not end up coming.

And I remember going back to him and that's when he eventually set me up with some appointments with some specialists.

And I went to maybe two or three different specialists and they all had very different um I guess bedside manner is what I'll call it like in degrees of care.

Because I remember going to one who was just basically like you have to lose weight and um and then it will just kind of come and I was like oh okay and and it was like always everybody was like you'll struggle to um conceive.

And then I went to another that was like oh don't worry about it you're young it'll figure itself out.

And then finally at the time I found a nutritionist who also specialized in PCOS and she was probably the first person who really made me feel like oh I can manage this thing. I can figure this thing out.

But I I felt all the emotions. I felt a bit embarrassed. I felt a lot of shame. I I felt confused with it.

I was really challenged by what you were supposed to eat or not eat. By the way you were supposed to exercise or not exercise.

Because again, the emphasis is on lose weight, which it's a hormonal disorder. So if your hormonal if your hormones are out of whack, weight challenges are like that's all you're experiencing.

You're gaining weight, you're losing weight, you're not moving with your weight. That's the that's what happens when you have a hormonal challenge.

And so anybody whether you have PCOS or not, whenever I meet somebody and they tell me like, "Oh, their their hormones are the issue." I'm always like I I completely can empathize with where they are at because it affects so many parts of our lives and feeling very out of control in your body is a big thing with PCOS.

So oftentimes when they emphasize like lose weight, the women tend to go really hard on on weight loss, like it's like, oh, I have to do highintensity workouts. I I have to be not eating anything.

And that actually affects you even more. That is too stressful. So, in truth, why PCS is so challenging is because it's it's something that requires really low stress. Like,

>> I want to talk more about that, but I want to go back to something that you said. Um, why did you feel embarrassed and ashamed when you found out that you had PCOS?

Um, I think because you're you're you know, I think anything that is uh when it comes to reproductive health that sounds different to other people, like that sounds different to your friends.

It's like, yeah, like I said, when I was growing up, your period was taught in like the most basic way. It was like, okay, now that you have your period, you can get pregnant at any at any given moment, and you're going to have PMS and just like a bad attitude or something like that.

And so to kind of deal with something that your period is not coming on a regular basis even though you are trying to function like every other woman around you or that maybe you are going to have a challenge to have a child things like that.

And then on top of that like that your body is not feeling like it's your own. You're you're gaining this weight. You're feeling really sad all the time or really depressed or really anxious.

and to know that it has to deal do with this thing that almost sounds made up to people. I I had a friend who had PCOS and she was had really challenges with her weight.

And I remember um talking to her mom about it and saying that I too had the same thing as her and her mom literally said, "Oh, I didn't actually think it was real. I actually just thought my daughter was eating too much candy. That's why she kept gaining weight."

And I was like, "Oh, no. It's it's it's very real." And and so I think I'm the first woman in my generation of my family to experience it.

So it's like my mom didn't have it. My cousins that are older than me didn't have it. My grandmother didn't have it. And maybe they do have a uh degrees of it, but I'm the first one to like be diagnosed and like have it.

So you feel very alone in the process, which can feel uh shameful that you're just not your body is not functioning the way people tell you women are supposed to function.

That like you're that you should be just working out and not eating whatever you're eating. that's causing you to have this problem. And often times it's not that.

It's like it's so many more things. It's so complex and um and people are not necessarily uh empathetic to it. And and so yeah, at first I remember when I had it and and like I said, I was in a relationship, I used to feel like the symptoms sounded fake.

It was like, well, she could be really sad because she has PCOS. Oh, well, she's just not losing any weight because she has PCOS. Or she shouldn't eat that chocolate because she has PCOS.

It's just like it just didn't sound like something that people could really get behind, especially because, you know, it doesn't have like the you don't wear the physical issue on it, right? It's something that's so inside.

I remember having a doctor's appointment um and going in and telling the nurse that I had PCOS and she was like, "You don't look like somebody that has PCOS. You don't look like that at all."

And I was like, "Oh, well, what does it like look like?" And and often times, like I said, they kind of stereotype it. They think, "Oh, well, you're supposed to be obese or you're supposed to be larger. You're supposed to be something like that."

And then women who really do have like a larger body mass, they are now not empathetic with those women. They're like, "Oh, well, no, it can't be PCOS that's got you this size. It has to be something else."

And so, it's very it it has like I I don't find that people outside of the PCOS community necessarily understand what it is that you're dealing with. And it's only kind of very recently.

I had a friend who recently had a conversation with me about PCOS saying that his wife was recently diagnosed and so he was doing a lot of research and learning about it.

But like, yeah, we're in 2025. When I was diagnosed, it was 2012. And no, I did not experience people being that empathetic to it.

I I'm still like trying to process someone like something being called something as serious as PCOS being called the lazy girl disease because

>> um

>> if you have PCOS you're at risk of developing hypertension kidney disease uh eating disorders, depression, anxiety, gastrointestinal disease um along with what you were talking about infertility, uh miscarriage.

also women with PCOS are also two to three times more likely to have type do diabetes um experience heart failure and stroke.

This has nothing to do with whether or not you can jog 5 miles in the morning or not or you're going to sit on the couch and eat a bag of chips.

>> Yeah. No, absolutely right. And that's what's unfortunate because I think as well if people took a little bit more time to understand even their own family history.

So within my family both on my mom and my dad's side is diabetes. And so when I eventually kind of understood that, I was like, "Oh, well, my PCOS is is a direct result of the diabetes that's in my family."

And so, yeah, like that has absolutely nothing to do with if I can run, if I can't run, all of those types of things.

I had a conversation with somebody last year telling me that they trained for the New York Marathon and they have PCOS. They were like, I I probably lost one pound in my training for a marathon.

your average I get I guess your your average person whose body let's say functions completely normally would not experience that. They would experience more weight loss. They would experience their body, you know, going through more changes.

But a PCOS woman could truly be doing all the things right and still not see any real change to their body.

So oftent times um I think you have to process it as like well I'm doing these things for my mental health. I'm doing these things because it brings me joy. I'm doing these things because it just feels good to me versus worrying about how your body will change or not change.

Um because if you're comparing yourself to say your friends or the people around you, you'll just find yourself very frustrated and and I'm finally in that kind of place when it comes to my own PCOS.

I I understand how to manage it for me and how to give my body grace.

But um as you said, it's like yes, the amount of oh, you'll be fine. Oh yeah, just lose some weight. Oh, no. When it comes time for it for you, like when you want to have children, it will be easy.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've had those kind of conversations and they make me sad. They make me very frustrated.

But I just realized I'm like it is hard for people on the outside looking in to understand the importance of reproductive health and the and the ways that that people who um experience these things PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, anything like that, the way that we are navigating through the world, it's it's not um

yeah, it's not so easy as people would like to think. Um, the WHO uh says that uh up to 70% of women with PCOS don't even know that they have PCOS.

U I want to go back to when you first were talking to your doctor and you said you probably had it before 2012. Um when I had fibroids and u my friends with endometriosis when I speak to them we are the opposite.

We bleed a lot and um the doctors

>> the common thing is like oh it's just a period um you know just take some Tylenol and you know buy some extra pads it's just a period. Um but you were experiencing the opposite and when you don't have uh if your period isn't coming you're at a higher risk of developing uterine cancer.

Um but you were experiencing the opposite and when you don't have uh if your period isn't coming you're at a higher risk of developing uterine cancer.

>> So when you went to your doctor and you you said I'm not having my period and they were like well just take like take me back to that.

>> Yeah. Take take me back to that because it's like the doctor themselves uh don't seem to understand the severity of PCOS.

and did you ever have conversations with doctors who were just like well at least you're not getting your period like you should be happy you're not getting your period.

Well, basically they were h they were like, "Well, at least you know you're not pregnant." Like at least it's like, you know, like you're not getting your period, you know, you're not pregnant. Like it's not that big of a deal kind of thing.

Like I said, where I don't think the doctor was processing what I was saying that I'm like I was at this point maybe 8 months in of not getting my period. I'm in a relationship with somebody. I am I have tested I am not pregnant and I'm not getting my period.

And he's like, "It's okay. When you get it, just take this birth control and it will make it regular."

And it's like, "But I'm not I'm not getting it." And so some this needs to be taken a little bit more serious.

And just like you said, I have met before women who would tell me they weren't getting their period on a regular basis or it was very irregular or something and I'd say, "Oh, you should probably get that looked at. That sounds like PCOS."

And they'd be like, "Oh, it's not that big a deal. I actually prefer it because it's like, oh, well, I'm not getting cramps or I'm not." And I am always in shock.

But I always go back to, like I said, when I was growing up and I I can remember being in grade seven or six. I can't remember one of those grades, but like the the period conversation that we had at school and it was literally like a bunch of young girls and they take us to the side and they kind of tell us, "All right, yeah, you can get pregnant now. You might have P PMS and you should have pass."

Like it was like boom, boom, boom. Just those things.

>> Check mark, check mark, check mark. Yeah. And like, okay, done. Go off, girls.

And I remember too, like because, you know, at that time, it it it was almost like a it has a little bit of a badge of honor of being like, oh, I'm growing up as a little girl.

You know, when you're 12, when you're 11, you're 13, when you're those ages and you're kind of getting your period. And I remember my friends like, I got mine and I got mine and a couple of us within the school year.

And then the ones that didn't now in hindsight I'm like oh they must have felt a lot of anxiety thinking you know oh is mine coming or not coming.

Um and so yeah I find that the idea of what a period is supposed to be for women that I read that it's like it's supposed to be the report card.

It is supposed to be the thing that indicates like your body is functioning the way it is supposed to function and that it's not taken as seriously as it should be.

So I I have a best friend that we used to live together years ago and she has fibroids. And I always used to say I was like, "Yes, in this house, one of us has too much period and the other has no period because she experienced all the things um with her fibroids."

And I just and and I was like, I can't even believe that we we are also trying to find joy knowing that our bodies were functioning in this way that was really hard for us and really challenging and we were both every single day just trying to kind of manage through it.

But I'm like, she's having to bring an extra pair of pants with her somewhere because she may bleed out of her pants.

>> I'm fighting for my life just to get like a period to come on a regular basis.

And so, yeah, I think people and I always say I'm like, I wish that somebody had told us when we were 13 years old that this is one of the things that could possibly happen, that you should be thinking about your body overall and how it should be uh working and that every little thing is something that is important to talk about like and I wish that a doctor took me more seriously at the time, but I remember feeling yeah, incredibly frustrated um because it really depends um on I guess even their own level.

And I wish that a doctor took me more seriously at the time, but I remember feeling yeah, incredibly frustrated um because it really depends um on I guess even their own level.

And you know, not to kind of do this because I I do know that there are men who take this very seriously, but at the time all the doctors that I dealt with for my PCOS were all men.

And so I think maybe there was something with that and why they just kind of like kind of dismissed the issue versus seeing it as like, oh, hey, this is something to call out.

Mind you, it's like I was much younger and like I said where the idea um of periods in my life, the way it was taught was like, oh, if if a period's not coming, you're pregnant.

And because I knew I wasn't pregnant, I didn't I was just like, okay, well, I guess it will show up when it shows up.

And it's like now I track my period very intensely, but I always think when I was younger, I'm like, did I even pay attention to when it was coming, when it wasn't coming, what was happening to me, what wasn't happening to me? I have no idea if I did those things.

So, at the time, I remember I had moved to a new city. I was in my first serious relationship.

Um, I was figuring so many things out in my life. So, also my period not showing up was just like a long list of things that I was kind of going through that was stressful.

So, it was one of those things that it's it's very easy for you to kind of put it to the okay, put that to the to the end of the list like this is this can be dealt with a little later as long as I know I'm not pregnant because of some you know. Okay, I'm fine. Cool.

>> Did you ever did a doctor ever tell you to um maybe have a try to have a baby right away to because that's something that's been suggested to people with endometriosis in order to treat their endometriosis. But that's not

>> Oh, yeah. like to have a baby immediate like just to be like, "Oh, get a baby out of the way right now."

>> Try to have a baby because that would stop the pain from the indomeiosis.

>> No way. Oh my gosh. No. I'm I'm like PCOS women are I think treated like as if we are just completely barren and not able to have a baby at all.

And um and I think that's probably the most painful part of PCOS. even even to this day as somebody who speaks about PCOS very frequently.

Um I had somebody and I had to really correct them because it really hurt my feelings that they sent me a bunch of information on um on women who are infertile and miscarriages.

And I was kind of like, "Oh, this isn't like this isn't uh PCOS. This is actually something else." And they're like, "Oh, well, I just thought that you could relate."

And I was like, "Oh, well, not all PCOS women are unable to have babies." Like, it's just maybe a little bit more challenging for us and kind of trying to explain that.

But when I was first diagnosed, no, it was spoken to me like as if I was just unable to have a child.

>> How did you why did you decide to speak up again about PCOS? because you did it at a time when very again the the stigma is still around period pain now in 2025 but when you started to talk about it not very many people were talking about anything that had to do like with women's business

>> yeah you know what I I think it was honestly just because I always felt like I needed a little bit of grace.

Like I think as somebody who's like in a front-facing business I'm an entertainer I've been in entertainment since I was a little kid like the pressures that are put onto entertainers, onto actresses specifically, in terms of your weight, in terms of your um your joy, like just like the the the the continuous like pursuing of a really hard industry.

Um I always felt like one, this is very hard. So, um, that was a challenge for me in itself, but then to also add in there that you had a reproductive challenge, that you had something hormonally that you were dealing with, a metabolic challenge, it just felt like, oh, if I could talk about anything kind of casually, PCOS just naturally came up.

Because I felt like, oh, I I need to explain why I need some grace. if you see any changes or if you don't or if you do is because I'm also navigating this thing.

And um and I think also because I didn't really see it the conversation that often and um and I always think about it like that.

Like if that there's something that you're looking up and you're not really seeing a lot um it's probably it's probably your turn to start to talk about it.

And I remember at the time I used to find just kind of forums and the forums were so sad. Like all of the women were just talking about how depressed they felt or their bodies or they're trying to have a baby or they were really shockingly like, "Oh my gosh, like this is what the next 10 years or 20 years or 15 years of my life is going to look like."

And um and so I think when I started to talk about PCOS, it just felt like a documenting of a journey of trying to figure it out.

And I still always tell people that like I I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve. I have a lot of things that I figure out. I I have a lot of moments where I understand how my body is functioning, but I don't know everything.

I've just had m I've just had moments of being able to do a lot of research on myself and um and so I'm always really open to speak about the things I've learned just because I see

>> that PCOS is so much like I say, I describe it as a fingerprint. Every person I know may have a little bit of this and a little bit of that like this one and but it's so uniquely, you know, made for them.

Um but I also think PCOS is such a special disorder because while it has all these challenges, it has forced me to pay attention to my body uh very early in a way that I didn't see my peers having to pay attention to their body.

My friends didn't have to pay attention to their body in this way. And and I I honestly think like as I've aged, I'm like, "Oh, it's it's it's allowed me to have to care for myself in a way that I wasn't before, mentally, physically, emotionally, even spiritually.

Like really having to think about what it's like to be a woman in this world. Also, what it's like to have a body that is truly in flow.

Um, and how to just have it like that all the time. time and I and I and I and I am grateful. I'm grateful that I've had that journey because I would not have just like I said to you early on in my before my diagnosis. No, I was totally nonchalant about my body.

I was completely like doop like life happens.

>> I I think it's so great that um you've turned it into because I I kind of feel the same way too about uh fibroids.

Because yeah I think before I had all this stuff I was really disconnected from my body I just didn't even when I was pregnant I think the first time that I felt one of my kids kick I was like what is happening I am the alien.

I think the first time that I felt one of my kids kick I was like what is happening I am the alien.

but I wanted to talk to you a little bit um what you said about being a forward- facing person um how you look uh is a part of the gig and considering like your age being uh younger.

Um I wanted to just talk a little bit about that because I'm sure there were days when there were frustrations that maybe your body wasn't doing what you wanted it to do or maybe somebody said something about how you looked at you have long hours, maybe you can't um eat certain foods that you would normally eat to manage your PCOS.

Um, so what what would you say has been the most challenging part of learning how to manage PCOS?

As you said, it's a thumbrint. Doctors don't really seem to know what causes it, how to manage it, while you're trying to build a successful career in an industry that's so obsessed with uh women looking uh a certain type a certain way.

>> Oh my gosh, I'm still navigating that. You know, I shot I did a film a few years ago and um we had a chunk of the shoot that was overnight and for anybody that doesn't know, it it was basically like 7 to 7.

So, it's like we'd start at 7:00 p.m. and we'd basically be ending by 7:00 a.m.

And um and it was really hard. It was it overnight is hard period. This was very hard. We were in a fairly controlled environment.

Um, and I remember feeling really worried because I just kept thinking, well, the stress of this, no matter what I eat or how I work out or how much sleep I try my best to get, is going to take a toll on my body and I may experience a flare up just because of the stress of it.

So, I had to kind of really focus on uh I did a lot of meditation during that time. I did a little walks during that time. I did a lot of like low low and slow is what I called it because I was aware that that may shift how my body shows up regardless of what I'm eating, uh, sleeping, all of those kinds of things.

I've also had um an experience that I had not this long ago that that I was filming, but I was doing a lot of travel.

So, with this filming, was doing a lot of travel, wasn't really sleeping as well, and I didn't bring kind of like what I say my go-to supplements.

So, it's like I always have magnesium with me. I always have vitamin D with me. Um, I always have zinc with me. And I wasn't I didn't have any of those things with me.

And yes, by the end of that shoot, I saw the difference. I looked different. I felt different. All of those kinds of things.

And so it it is one of those things that you are um you are aware and and I think that's why it's like my journey has ha has had to have space for me to just be the human to not always be the entertainer to not always be the person who's like shiny like a billboard but to also recognize that I am a human.

And so that that doesn't always look perfect and there's I can do my best but that's just the space that I am in.

And so I have had times when I can look on something and be like, "Oh, a flare up was happening here." Or, "Yeah, this is when no matter what I was trying, my body was just not reacting to it.

And so, it is challenging because yes, you are in an industry that would naturally pick yourself apart even if you didn't have these kind of disorders.

But I've been forced to give myself some care. So, I I used to do a lot of content on self-love and at that time was because I was in the the early stages of discovering my PCOS and I was trying to navigate what my PCOS journey looked like.

And it just the every time I would research, every time I would feel really frustrated, it forced me to have to get back to self-love because um it's so yeah, it's so complex.

And and to see how much of your physical can be so out of control because I'm fortunate. I I don't suffer from the skin issues, but there's a lot of skin issues that come with PCOS.

There's a lot of um you know, hair that you have out of control. There's women who are experiencing chin hair or loss of hair and hair is such a focus for beauty, right?

>> It's literally like for so many it's it it really is.

And so to experience those types of challenges but still kind of have to show up every single day is is really hard.

And so the women that I know that are still navigating even those spaces um and still figuring out ways to show up, to feel beautiful, to feel very excited about themselves.

Yeah. Um I can't I can't I can't even explain to someone uh the nuance of what it's like to also have to be on camera and do those things.

>> Oh yeah. When I had um my in the midst of my fibroids, my hair fell out and Yeah. And uh it went bald in certain places and it was horrendous.

We have about five minutes left. I mean, I could talk to you for like five hours on this. Um, but I wanted to ask you two more questions.

Um, you've said that PCOS is framed in a negative way. The focus is that you're not going to have children or you'll have trouble getting pregnant. Why do you think it's important to flip that and to talk about the positives?

>> Because I think this world is already so hard. So, you're like, if if I was to also think about all the negatives for my body, I can't even imagine how it would function because you're all of these things meet, right?

like the way I think in here is the way I feel in here is the way my body also shows up.

Um I had a fertility doctor say this to me. She was like, you know, no women with PCOS actually have tons of eggs. She was like, you have tons of eggs. You just have to find them. That's all. You just have to get to them.

And she was like, and I was like, oh, okay. You know, and I was like, I I can rock with that. Like that you have it's there. All the stuff is there. I just have to I just got to piece it together.

And and that's how I see PCOS that is as unique as it is. As I've said, like that it's like a thumb print. It is like this puzzle. It's this unique puzzle for you.

And so whenever I see stories of uh people who do have PCOS, but they are having their first child or they're having their third child or they are functioning like their body is really working with them right now or they're managing it or they feel really good or they've controlled their skin.

Um it's it's never just that they did that. It's also that they felt better about themselves that they started to treat themselves overall better.

So I think like you said fibroids, endometriosis, these things are challenging and we get to learn about our body in a way that nobody else does.

Even so much so as going to a doctor, somebody that you should trust, a professional, and sometimes them not even caring about your body as much as you do.

And so I think you are you you realize that your true survival is in positivity in really seeing this thing as all the ways that you can um that you can experience joy.

All the ways that you can actually flip the way it's talked about, flip the way that it's treated and say, "Okay, this is not this is not this thing. This is this for me. For my experience, I need it to look like this."

And so PCOS, in order for me to manage it, I have to only think that this is just a unique body for me. Everything about my life is unique and so is my body.

And the the fact that, you know, I have to go on a slow walk every single day is not a bad thing.

>> That's actually a good thing.

And and that I have to pay attention to what I put in my body. that, you know, I I I have to think about my diet a little bit differently than everybody else, but still get to enjoy myself. That's not a bad thing. It's sometimes frustrating, but it's not a bad thing.

>> You're not broken. Um, I should I should also mention because you've said it a few times about why you can't run or you shouldn't run. It's because the stress that your body causes, right?

>> Yeah, technically. So, really, it's like high intensity. High intensity workouts are not your friend.

And I had to say to her, "You that that is a a PCOS problem. You might not have PCOS, but that is something that PCOS women deal with. The stress is too much.

You actually would probably see more results if you slowed everything down. If you did focus on weights and lifting, but just slow. if you did focus on a long walk instead.

If you want a little bit more uh resistance, get a weighted vest, things like that. I love running. I do run, but I always tell people I'm actually a very slow runner.

I intentionally run slow because I just enjoy running. It makes me feel good, but I am not zipping through because that's too stressful for my body.

I am truly doing a jog. I am doing something light. I'm doing it because I enjoy it. um and not because I am pressuring myself to lose a ton of weight with it.

And so, yeah, I I have running journeys all the time. If I lose 2 lbs, if I lose 5 lbs by the end of months of running, I'm excited.

>> as long as you're as long as you're healthy, um finally, uh you're from Canada, but you're building your career in Los Angeles. I wonder if there's any difference when you get treatment in Canada as opposed to the United States. um and what you would say to policy makers about what it's like to live with PCOS.

um and what you would say to policy makers about what it's like to live with PCOS.

>> I think living with PCOS is is challenging because you have to do a checklist every single uh day.

You know, it's like am I feeling sad because of life or am I feeling sad because my hormonal my hormones are completely imbalanced and I'm doing something that's off and I haven't gotten enough sleep and my body's not functioning the way I need to.

I'd say the difference that I've seen in you in the US uh obviously specifically Los Angeles where I live is probably the use of GLP1s um ompic anything like that is is a lot more emphasized in the US in terms of management of these kinds of disorders because of the weight problems that people often have.

um ompic anything like that is is a lot more emphasized in the US in terms of management of these kinds of disorders because of the weight problems that people often have.

Whereas in Canada, no, I I have to suggest it to the doctor for them to um think that it's something I should take.

But and I had the tiniest stint on Ompic and had that I that I was diagnosed from Canada or rather prescribed from Canada and you're not even going to believe I ended up gaining weight on it.

So I was like, "Oh, this is not for me at all." like my body did not react to it well in any way.

And and I always think I was like if I had gotten it in the US would I have had that experience? I have no idea.

But again and it was something that I had to bring up to my doctor h as something to help me to manage my PCOS and um and they were kind of like ah I guess so.

versus in the US I think it is actually a lot more um talked about and and more freely prescribed. Um, so I'd say that that's the difference.

but I definitely think I think that, you know, it's, as I said, to to hear it being described as the lazy girl disorder and um, and something that is not thought about as, well, what is your family history or how did this thing kind of come about that is is stumping us.

I had a friend who was later diagnosed with PCOS after trying to have a child for over a year and I they called it like mystery infertility and it was actually PCOS that was that was doing it but at first they diagnosed her with mystery infertility.

Um and I just thought that was crazy and so PCOS is still this thing where it's it feels like people are trying to avoid actually understanding it.

um the people who can really make a difference and and so that's why the community for it is so important. That's why you will find all these pages online and people like myself that talk about it because in the community is where we've had to figure it out because if you were to go to the professionals, it's kind of it's kind of dismissed.

It's it's dismissed till this day. Um well next on the next episode of mistreated we're speaking to a researcher on p uh who researches PCOS and she also has it and I'll ask her about and about some of the treatments that are coming up.

But Andrea this has been a wonderful conversation. Uh thank you so much for making time to speak with us and also for what you're doing for the PCOS community. Really appreciate it.

>> Thank you so much. Thank you for having me and for you. This is great. I think there should be more conversations about women's reproductive health and the things that we go through and you know and and truly like if there's a link or if just the challenges between PCOS, endometriosis and fibroids and how challenging they are especially for women of color.

and and truly like if there's a link or if just the challenges between PCOS, endometriosis and fibroids and how challenging they are especially for women of color.

>> At least we're talking about it now. So, it's a start. Yeah.

>> Yeah. Thank you, Andrea. Appreciate it.

>> Thank you. Bye.

>> This was Mistreated for October 28th, 2025. You can follow our show on Apple Podcast so you can get notified each time a new episode is available.

We would love to hear your feedback. You can write me an email at mistreatedodcast at tvo.org or reach out to me on my social channels.

We'd love to hear your stories and you can send us a voice memo if you'd like to share your story on the podcast.

This week's episode was produced by Matthew Amara and me and edited by Colin Kish. Digital shorts by Ariana Longley.

production support from Jonathan Hallowell and TVO's digital media services team. Lorie F is the executive producer of digital.

John Ferry is vice president programming and content. Special thanks to our studio crew here at TBO. Thanks so much for listening.

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