Woman turns health struggles into advocacy for PCOS

At age 19, when Shere­sa Rahim start­ed ex­pe­ri­enc­ing un­ex­plained weight changes, in­creased pe­ri­od pain, and fa­cial hair growth, she was un­aware that she had Poly­cys­tic Ovary Syn­drome (PCOS). Oth­er symp­toms in­clud­ed men­tal strug­gles and fa­tigue.

Rahim, orig­i­nal­ly from Rio Claro, said she was re­lieved to learn her di­ag­no­sis but had no idea about the syn­drome. She spent the next 10 years learn­ing about the hor­mon­al dis­or­der.

“I re­mem­ber sit­ting in the doc­tor’s of­fice feel­ing re­lieved and con­fused at the same time, wor­ried about what it meant for my fer­til­i­ty and long-term health. It took a lit­tle while for the news to sink in. Af­ter­wards, I felt mo­ti­vat­ed to learn every­thing,” she said.