// BBC HEALTH NEWS — SALUTE
Annual PMOS reviews 'step in the right direction'
Neelam Heera-Shergill founded charity Cysters to provide support she felt was missing after her diagnosis
When Neelam Heera-Shergill was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) at the age of 18, she feared it could one day stop her becoming a mother.
"I'm never going to have children. That's it, my life is over," she said.
The condition affects about one in eight women in the UK, yet despite its broad impact on health and wellbeing, Neelam, from Birmingham, said she was left with little understanding of what her diagnosis really meant.
It is one of the reasons she supports the decision to rename PCOS to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) earlier this year, alongside a recommendation for annual health checks to improve diagnosis and long-term care.
The NHS said PMOS, which affects million of women, was a health condition that could affect hair growth, periods, fertility and mood, external.
Cysters, based in Birmingham, holds monthly events to support women with the condition
For Neelam, finding out she had the condition sent her into what she described as a "rabbit hole" of fear and uncertainty.
Not long after beginning university, she started experiencing irregular and painful periods, thinning hair, weight gain and exhaustion.
"My periods were so irregular but when I had them they were extremely painful, massively fatigued," she said.