Sasha Pieterse.
Sasha Pieterseis opening up about gaining 70 lbs. within one year as a teenager due to PCOS, or polycystic ovary syndrome.
“This is part of the health issues that I was speaking of while I was going throughPretty Little Liars,” Pieterse said. “The changes that were happening to me were documented on camera.”
Pieterse said she visited “over 15 gynecologists” but felt like she wasn’t being heard, with one doctor even claiming she was lying about the weight gain and that she must be eating unhealthy and making poor lifestyle decisions.
“It was the most frustrating experience and disheartening because no matter what I did, no matter how well I behaved, no matter how great I treated my body, things were actually getting worse rather than better, it was very very confusing,” she explained. “So after a long process, someone recommended that I go to an endocrinologist.”
The Perfectionistsactress was then diagnosed with PCOS, a hormone imbalance that affects one in 10 women of childbearing age. The condition can cause symptoms like irregular periods, excess hair growth, acne, weight gain and infertility.
“I was like, ‘What’s that?’ I’d never heard of PCOS before. And it’s a disease, it’s not curable, it can be dormant, that’s — at this stage — that’s what they know,” she said. “And the most frustrating part about this is that it’s fairly easy to diagnose. And really what it is, it’s a hormone imbalance, it’s a hormone disease and it’s so easy to see because your testosterone or your estrogen will be really high, you’ll have really low vitamin D levels, you’ll be deficient in a lot of things.”
“You won’t have a regular period, but the catch is, a lot of other things look different, so every woman, everyone has a different experience with it. It could be your period, it could be weird hair growth, it could be major gastro issues, it could be crazy cysts on your ovaries, it could be weight gain,” she added. “I had a lot of those outward symptoms that everyone could see.”
Pieterse admitted that “so sad to me” that so many women don’t even know they have PCOS, which she said is “detrimental” when undiagnosed. She’s been speaking out more about her experience in hopes of helping other women say on top of their health.
Sasha Pieterse.Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock
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The formerPretty Little Liarsstar previously spoke to PEOPLE about her PCOS journey and how she and husbandHudson Sheafferwere “obviously concerned” about the condition affecting their ability to conceive.
Pieterse admitted that her pregnancy with sonHendrix Wadeactually helped her PCOS.
"My hormones have been balancing out, so it’s actually been a good thing [in that regard]," she told PEOPLE at the time. “And I’m hoping that this will maybe even help in the future too.”
“I’ve heard some really amazing stories about how pregnancy can actually help with symptoms of PCOS afterward, which would be amazing, but we’re taking it one step at a time and just thankful that we’re both healthy,” she added.
source: people.com
