PCOS is now PMOS

PCOS is getting a new name, which is great, but it does not change much for me

A short update for those of you who have not seen it yet - my social media feed was full of it.

After years of advocacy from patients and researchers, PCOS has officially been renamed PMOS: polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome. The new name better reflects what the condition actually is: a whole-body hormonal and metabolic condition, not just an ovarian problem.

For Western medicine, this is a significant shift. For me personally, not much changes.

In my practice I have always treated every condition as systemic. I do not look for a single cause in a single organ. I look for the pattern that exists in the person sitting in front of me. Two women can both have PMOS and need completely different treatment from me. Two women with completely different diagnoses can need the same treatment. This is captured in one of Chinese medicine's principles that guides my work:

异病同治, 同病异治 Yì bìng tóng zhì, tóng bìng yì zhì - different disease, same treatment; same disease, different treatment.

So while the renaming is a welcome step, and I genuinely believe it will help women get diagnosed faster and taken more seriously, it does not change how I approach this condition in the treatment room. It never was just an ovarian problem to me.

If you want to read more about what changed, what stayed the same, and what PMOS means for your health, I updated the full page on my website.

Questions or experiences to share? Write in the comments or reach out privately. 

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This post is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for individual medical advice.