- I remember going to the doctor that first time and having
to push so hard for her to do the ultrasound
and it was like pulling teeth to get them to
just do a little bit of a further evaluation.
I came back to get the results and she said,
yeah, it does look like you have PCOS,
it could affect your fertility.
This is my story.
(upbeat music)
PCOS stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome.
It's the number one reason for infertility
in women in reproductive age.
So I knew from the moment from the...
Actually my first period that something was wrong.
I was 13 and I remember my...
When I told my mom,
okay mom there's this weird thing happening
and I'm bleeding and she was like, oh, no worries,
that's just your period but it would come at the beginning
even every couple of months.
Into my 20s I continue with the same irregular periods
but my symptoms started to get worse in the sense
that one day would come, it was like a bloodbath.
And I had to double up on tampons and pads
and just be scared to go outside
because I could have an accident.
For a long time I thought that this was just
how my life was gonna be until I hit menopause
and then, you know (indistinct).
Maybe then things would be better,
maybe if I never got my period things would be better,
maybe if I just did remove my uterus,
things would be better.
But I thought it was normal sadly,
and I know that many clients feel the same way too.
When you know you get told for so long,
I mean, you feel like you're isolated.
Do feel like it's just you but there's millions
of women going through the same thing, looking for answers,
looking just to feel a little better in their body,
looking to gain some control on their life.
It wasn't until I met my husband that I really started
to reconsider like my fertility.
That's when I started to just look for answers on my own.
The story is pretty similar back then
when I was 13, I'm 37 now.
It's normal, this is common,
there's nothing else to do about it.
This is something you're just gonna have to deal with.
It makes you feel like you're not in control of your body,
it makes you feel like you're not in control of your life
and it's a hard situation to begin.
In the beginning when I started kind of trying
to manage it on my own, I think the biggest motivator
was just this desire to want to be a mom
and I wanted a healthy pregnancy and I wanted...
I wanted to be a mom.
And I wanted...
We didn't know whether I had a daughter or a son,
it didn't matter, I just, I wanted them to be healthy.
I wanted, as a mom you want to give your children
just the most beautiful opportunities that you can.
And if I had the chance to really prepare my body
and my life to give them the best that I could,
I was gonna be damn sure that I did that.
I started changing my diet.
So I started eating more green vegetables,
drinking more water,
being more aware of reducing processed foods.
I took a period of about a year
of just really a lifestyle overhaul
before the period started getting very regular.
I decided to just study more.
So I went off and I got a master's
in Nutrition Education at Columbia.
And I wrote my thesis on nutrition education
for women with PCOS.
And we ended up turning that thesis
into one of our key programs for helping women with PCOS,
so that's cool.
If there's one thing that I had to tell women about PCOS
is that you're the boss of your body.
I never imagined in my 20s that I would be living the life
that I am today that I would...
After going to almost like a decade of just
like so many symptoms and hormonal issues
and that in my late 30s which is really what's considered
when your fertility is declining and dwindling
that I would be in the best health that I've ever been in.
I never imagined that at 35 when I decided,
all right, now's the time to have the child,
that it would have been so easy and so effortless
and that it would have been just such a...
It was such a beautiful pregnancy.
(upbeat music)
So my daughter is the boss of the house.
And I can't wait to teach her about her period
so that she can have like a beautiful relationship
with her body from the very beginning.
I can't wait to like have a party
and just have her be really confident
about what's happening in her body
and feel like empowered throughout her life as a woman.
So I'm excited for that.
Every woman's body is different
and we all have different concerns surrounding our periods.
We needed a community that could address these issues.
I started My Wellness Solutions with my mom and my sister.
One year, my mom decided she wanted
to expand her supplement shop that she owned in the Bronx
and she said, what do you girls think
about incorporating some holistic services?
And we both left our corporate jobs
and 10 years later here we are.
And really what we offer clients is just a natural approach
to helping their body do what it already knows how to do.
(upbeat music)
I honestly wouldn't change anything about my journey
because it's gotten me to where I am today
without having gone through just feeling very hopeless
and scared about my future and my fertility,
I wouldn't get to do the things I do today.
(upbeat music)