Just this past week, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) became polyendocrine metabolic syndrome (PMOS)—and Keke Palmer, the actress, podcaster, and television host was very happy to hear the news.
“This, to me, feels more fitting,” she said on a panel at the 3rd annual Women’s Health Lab on Monday.
In conversation with Gayle King, editor-at-large of Oprah Daily, Keke opened up about why PMOS is a much better descriptor for the condition. According to Keke, the original name puts an emphasis on cysts in the ovaries, but plenty of women—herself included—don’t have any. The result: Years of wondering what’s going on in your body, while not getting any treatment for the very real symptoms people with the condition deal with every day. Now, the updated name encompasses the other systems affected by the condition, which helps explain other common PMOS symptoms.
For Keke, the main symptom was always her skin.
She had “crippling” and “unbearable” acne, and the toll was both physical and mental. “It hurt emotionally in a way that you can't describe,” she said.
While she did her best to cope, Keke knew that her acne was on another level. “I had it all my life and it was a burden I learned to wear, but I didn’t want it,” she said. Standard treatments—and all the common acne advice—just didn’t cut it. “It’s not just me needing to drink more water, because people kept saying that,” she said. “I’m like, I’m drinking a lot. At this point I’m a fish.”
Ultimately, it was the acne that drove Keke to search for more answers. “I remember just reaching a point where I said, ‘I got to solve this. I've got to fix this. This isn't just acne; this is my body telling me something more is going on,’” she said. So, she took to Google and learned about different causes of acne, like hormones. When she learned about insulin resistance (a common symptom of PMOS) and connected the dots that she has a family history of diabetes and thyroid problems, she asked her doctors if she might have PMOS, which was then called PCOS.
Docs dismissed the idea because she didn’t have cysts.
“I was telling doctors, y'all are wrong,” Keke remembered. This situation is one of the main reasons the medical community updated the name to include both the endocrine and metabolic systems, compared to just ovarian cysts: people were having all the other signs and symptoms of PMOS—and still not getting their diagnosis.
Finally, Keke turned to an endocrinologist for help. The doc looked into her hormones via multiple blood tests. The results: “extraordinarily high” testosterone and androgen levels that were “all out of whack.” This is what caused her to have a “beard”—another telltale symptom of PMOS. It was also enough for docs to confirm something she had known for a long time: that she had PMOS.
The treatment for PMOS is “lifelong,” but Keke is in a much better place with hers.
PMOS, particularly when it takes a long time to diagnose, can have a serious mental health toll on people living with it. “Everybody was on that glass skin and I'm over here with cracked glass,” Keke said. “It is a very heavy thing on your mental health because [I felt like] if I do it right, I should have the results. I'm eating right. I'm doing the things. I'm exercising. I'm drinking water. Why is my body betraying me?”
PMOS treatment is individualized, since everyone had slightly different symptoms, and ongoing, since there is no cure. (In addition to acne and excess body hair, other common PMOS symptoms include weight gain, fertility challenges, and irregular periods.) Keke took medication to get her acne in a better place (she said in 2020 that she had taken isotretinoin, often referred to as Accutane, twice), and also adjusted lifestyle factors like diet and exercise. She also got super into her cycle. “Not to be TMI—but this is a place to do it—but I started getting really good with my cycle, meaning really measuring the time, really on that sitting by the moon vibe, really just getting into the body,” she said.
Even with those lifestyle changes, Keke credited her doctors and medicine for making a big difference in her condition. “As somebody that's always tried to do things holistically, there is a reality where sometimes Western medicine is there to help you,” she said. “There's always going to be side effects and stuff, but sometimes that's why science is there. I'm always going to have hormone dysfunction. Getting that diagnosis helped me understand, well, sometimes you need more help, girl, and there's nothing wrong with you going and doctors getting more help.”
The 3rd annual Women’s Health Lab was hosted by Hearst Magazines in partnership with Northwell's Katz Institute for Women's Health. Lilly served as title sponsor, with additional sponsors including Altra, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Ipsen, L’Oreal Paris, Organic Valley and WaterWipes.
