Wednesday, January 02, 2019

The PCO misdiagnosis epidemic.



There seems to be an epidemic of PCO ( polycystic ovarian disease) today, but I think this is a myth.
This is because making the diagnosis has become so easy today - all you need to do is order a "PCO panel of blood tests" from a medical lab. In fact, lots of online portals will allow you to self-diagnose yourself, and order the tests yourself ( through their portal of course, where their preferred partners are happy to give them a kickback for the tests).
Also, these labs spend so much money on "creating awareness" about this "disease", that every second teenager has started believing she has PCOD ! Have a little bit of acne ? Oh - then make sure you don't have PCO ! Put on a little bit of weight ? You may have PCO ! Find a few extra hair on your face ? Make sure you dont have PCO !
This is why there is so much overdiagnosis and over-testing .
Now PCO is not a new disease - it's just that we're able to apply the diagnostic label with much more ease !
Thus, it's very common for hairdressers and beauticians to tell a client who has a little extra hair or some acne or oily skin that they may have PCO, and they need to test for it !
They are then happy to "refer" the customer to a friendly skin specialists, who is happy to order the tests. There is a high probability that the test results will come back as abnormal, and once a diagnostic label of PCO has been stuck onto a patient, it remains for life !
This is the real tragedy , because it's not really helping anyone - and it just ends up creating  more anxiety when they read about PCO on Dr Google !
You can read more about how we treat PCOD at 




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