Birmingham women welcome yearly health checks for PMOS

Women with the condition formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome say plans for yearly health checks could make a real difference, after years of feeling dismissed and left to manage it alone.

The condition, which affects about one in eight women in the UK, was renamed earlier this year as polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, or PMOS. Supporters say the new name better reflects the way it affects the whole body. The NHS says it can affect hair growth, periods, fertility and mood.

"Left to figure it all out"

Neelam Heera-Shergill, from Birmingham, was diagnosed at 18, soon after starting university. She had irregular and very painful periods, thinning hair, weight gain and exhaustion, and kept going back to her GP, where she was told to exercise more and lose weight. Her symptoms caused her to miss lectures and re-sit exams.

When the diagnosis finally came, she had never heard of the condition. "It was the comment of 'it'll be difficult for you to have children, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it'," she said. "It was just dropped in a conversation and I was kind of left to figure it all out by myself."

"I'm never going to have children. That's it, my life is over," she remembers thinking. She later had a daughter, which she called a "really big surprise".

The experience led her to set up Cysters, a Birmingham-based charity which works to tackle inequalities in menstrual, maternal and menopausal health. She supports the new name, but says there is still a "long way to go". "PCOS itself wasn't even understood. So PMOS is also something that's going to be really misunderstood as well," she said. "If that name change means those conversations come more to light, then I'm all for it."

Annual reviews

In July, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published draft guidance recommending an annual review for women with PMOS, to monitor symptoms, treatment and longer-term health risks. The final guideline is due on 27 January.

Marie Anne Ledingham, a consultant clinical adviser at NICE, said: "Recommending a simple annual review is an important step towards ensuring people get the ongoing care and monitoring they need."

Dr Rima Smith, clinical associate professor of reproductive medicine at Birmingham Women's Hospital, said the condition was "so much more than an ovarian or gynaecological condition". "It's a cardiometabolic condition," she said, describing it as "a multi-organ, lifelong whole-body condition". She said women were often cared for by fragmented services, and annual checks could include diabetes, thyroid and menstrual function tests. "We know a large proportion of women with PMOS have a healthy weight, so it's not entirely weight-driven. It should be a holistic approach."

Rochelle Lewis, 31, from Wolverhampton, said she was first dismissed as a teenager and only diagnosed in 2025. "It was emotionally draining, not to be listened to, not to be heard," she said. She believes yearly reviews would have caught symptoms that were missed.

Ms Heera-Shergill said checks would be welcome if they looked at "the wider picture" rather than simply telling women to "lose weight, or go on the pill, or eat better".