ZMZaakirah MuhammadAfrica travel and remote-work trips, rooted in local connection

How To Manage PCOS Symptoms (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) | Black Menstrual Health Summit

1 Sept 2024 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:59

In this presentation, Zaakirah Muhammad, fractional chief of marketing and events at Sanagro, shares her lived experience with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) that began at age seven, describing irregular and prolonged menstrual cycles, hirsutism, ovarian cysts, and voice deepening. She connects PCOS to broader period poverty, emphasizing its mental, reproductive, and relational impacts, especially for Black women. Zaakirah advocates for ending period poverty through open conversations, community engagement, and informed research. She highlights the role of technology—online groups, forums, and health‑tracking apps—in finding information and managing symptoms, and stresses the importance of attentive, listening medical professionals. She calls listeners to take action by discussing PCOS and related conditions (endometriosis, menorrhagia, autoimmune issues), accessing resources such as podcasts, books, and the website sanico.us, and becoming advocates for women’s health.

Chapters

My name is Zaakirah Muhammad, and I am the fractional chief of marketing and events at Sanagro. I am passionate about ending period poverty because I am a polycystic ovarian syndrome warrior. What that means is I have had polycystic ovarian syndrome since I first received my menstrual cycle at the ripe age of age 7. That means I've also had irregular menstrual cycles. Sometimes I've had very long menstrual cycles that last more than a week. Sometimes I've had menstrual cycles that have not shown its face in 11 months. This also contributes to hair, extra hair all over my body, and cysts on my ovaries, in addition to the deepness of my voice. What you can do to raise awareness for all areas of period poverty is by having a conversation. A conversation starts with understanding that polycystic ovarian syndrome starts inside the body and can trickle out to the outside. It can affect your mental health and your reproductive health and can also contribute toward the relationship that you do have. I am big on the tech industry. And growing up, in order to get the answer that I needed, I turned to Facebook groups, Quora groups, forums. And now, Summits. It takes you to be able to make that change and make the be of an impact and actually protect the woman, specifically the Black woman in your life, especially when it comes to the medical care. I am blessed to say that right now I have a doctor that's not going to just prescribe the immediate medication for me. Instead, I have doctors that are willing to listen to me. And also because I'm good at having all the apps that help me take extensive notes to keep regular journals about what's going on with my body because I'm the one living inside of my body on a day-to-day basis, day in, day out. So being able to, one, be heard and be seen when it comes to going into and trusting the Western medical doctor facility, but also it starts with the community, starts with the partners and the guardians in your life and in my own life. So I challenge you to be committed to ending period poverty by being willing to have that tough conversation. Start by doing your research, start by having the conversations, listening to the podcast or reading the book that talk about the various autoimmune differences, whether it's polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, menorrhagia, or anything that you know that could be affecting the woman in your life. So visit sanico.us to learn more about how you can continue to be an advocate for period poverty. I'm Zaakirah Muhammad, and I am the chief of marketing and events That's Annika.