The South African-born Pretty Little Liars alum, Sasha Pieterse, 29, has surfaced to talk about a decade of strange symptoms that had doctors turning her away, telling her she ate too much.
Between the ages of 12 and 17, she inexplicably gained 70 pounds, and to make matters worse, she had to hide her evolving body dysmorphia, epilepsy, and depression behind a smile while her acting career took shape.
Then, finally, she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), an ailment that affects the female reproductive system and occurs in one out of ten women.
Sasha Pieterse continued to work while the symptoms piled up
Chatting to the SHE MD Podcast hosts, Mary Alice Haney and Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, Pieterse recalled how she tried to fight the disorder that, for a long time, she could not even name.
It came with a range of comorbidities, including epilepsy.
“So I was dealing with seizures with no cause… No idea what the cause was, and I started gaining weight,” she said.
Image credits: Getty / Michael Tullberg
She was able to keep her neurological disorder under wraps.
“Nobody knew until very recently,” she confirmed.
She even boycotted food altogether to fight the weight gain
She became aware of the source of the issue at age 10. Pieterse claimed that when she started menstruating, her periods were irregular, and she recalled thinking they would even out with time.
Image credits: Getty / Emma McIntyre
Instead, she detected more unwanted and unknown symptoms, including hair loss and acne, which became particularly pronounced during her tenure on IT Girl.
“I went to 17 different gynecologists. They all said I was just eating too much or not exercising enough, even though I was doing everything right. If I ate more salads, I would’ve turned green,” she told her hosts.
Pieterse took her handling of the issue to the extreme and boycotted food altogether at one stage.
The illness even took a toll on her psychological health
“I had body dysmorphia and disordered eating, but it wasn’t changing what I looked like. If anything, it was getting worse,” Pieterse said.
Inevitably, the disorder and the medical bloc’s inability to diagnose it took a psychological toll on the actress.
“I got told I was crazy, or that I was doing something wrong so many times,” she recalled.
She went on to say that her persistence paid off. “But I kept advocating for myself, and that’s how I finally got an answer,” Pieterse elaborated.
“Once I got the diagnosis, not only was that so validating… I’m not crazy, there is actually something that’s going on with me, now I have a label.”
Pieterse is part of a surprisingly large demographic of American women living with PCOS.
PCOS is a leading cause of infertility
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the disorder as “a hormonal condition that affects women of reproductive age.”
It goes on to say that it usually starts during puberty and its symptoms may fluctuate over time.
Like in Pieterse’s case, it causes irregular periods, which are associated with hormonal imbalances and cysts in the ovaries.
The organization goes on to say women with PCOS can find it “difficult to become pregnant,” and thus, “PCOS is a leading cause of infertility.”
According to the World Health Organization, 70 percent of cases are undiagnosed
According to the WHO, an improved lifestyle, along with fertility treatments and medications, are ways of addressing the illnesses, but there is no cure.
It further notes that while the hormonal disorder’s cause remains a mystery to the medical world, it has been determined that women with a genetic history of type 2 diabetes are more at risk.
The United States Office on Women’s Health which dubs PCOS a “common and treatable cause of infertility,” notes it “affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age.”
Image credits: Instagram / sashapieterse
The WHO indicates that of this statistic, 70 percent of the world’s cases are undiagnosed.
Pieterse was able to conceive and give birth in 2020
Notably, Pieterse appears to have dodged the infertility problem. She and her husband, Hudson Sheaffer, welcomed a boy into the world in November 2020.
“After 27 hours of labor Hendrix Wade Sheaffer made his grand entrance on November 6th at 5:39am, weighing in at 7lbs 14oz and 20.5 inches tall.
“We are absolutely in love with him and we still can’t believe he’s ours,” she captioned a photo of the infant days after his birth.
The internet finds the doctor’s assumptions that Pieterse was overeating maddening
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