Florence Pugh froze her eggs at 27 after being diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis: ‘My life has completely changed…’ | Health

Academy Award nominated actor Florence Pugh spoke candidly about her journey with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis, and how the diagnoses affected her life and her views on fertility. The 28-year-old actor sat down for an interview with the She MD podcast and shared her recent diagnosis to encourage more women to take their health seriously.

(Read also | Shamita Shetty undergoes surgery for endometriosis; everything about the condition and how it can be treated)

‘My life has completely changed…’

Speaking about her diagnosis, Florence said in the podcast“My life has completely changed since I discovered this information… and in a great way, because it means I actually have to be on the board, and I really have to take it a little more seriously than I would have.” The actor discovered she had PCOS last summer (when she was 27), when she “suddenly felt” that she needed to be examined. “I suddenly had the feeling that I had to have everything checked. I had had some strange dreams; I think my body told me,” she said.

Florence then met with a gynecologist, Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, also the host of the podcast, to address her concerns and have some tests done. It was at the gynecologist that Florence first learned she needed to have her egg count checked. “She (Dr. Aliabadi) asked if I had ever had an egg count done, and I said, ‘No, what do you mean? I’m so young. Why do I need an egg count?’” she revealed.

When Dr Aliabadi conducted the egg count, she confirmed that the 28-year-old actor had PCOS and endometriosis and urged the actor – who was 27 at the time – to freeze her eggs if she planned to have children in the future to get. Pugh further stated that the diagnosis came as a surprise because, “It was just so bizarre because my family are baby-making machines. When my mother was having babies in her 40s, my grandmother was having babies all the time. I just never assumed that I would be different in any way and that there would be a problem with it. It just wasn’t really a red flag for me.”

‘This is such a simple conversation’

The diagnosis helped Florence educate herself and tell her friend about it. “I was able to tell my friends what I’m going through. And since then, I think two or three of my friends have come forward because of my findings, and they’ve also discovered that they have the same thing,” she said.

The Oppenheimer actor also expressed her sympathy for women who were diagnosed later in life. “I’ve wanted kids since I was a kid,” she noted, expressing her happiness at discovering PCOS and ways to deal with it. “This is such a simple conversation we should have when we get our period or when we start having sex. It really shouldn’t take this long for someone to discover this diagnosis and have no idea what it is,” she stated.