YouTuber Emma Chamberlain reveals she was diagnosed with serious health disorder at the HAIR SALON

YouTube star, Emma Chamberlain, revealed the unexpected way she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) during a chance encounter at the hair salon.
In a Vogue video, released on Tuesday, the social media sensation, 23, recalled the exact moment a stranger informed her that she appeared to be suffering from a hormonal disorder, which goes undiagnosed in upward of 70% of affected women.
'I was sitting in the chair getting my hair washed and a woman was next to me and she turned to me and she said, "Do you have PCOS"?' the influencer told viewers.
'I was like, "I don't know. My mom has PCOS. She has PCOS and endometriosis and she's had a lot of challenges," Chamberlain replied. 'And she was like, "I think you have PCOS."'
The content creator, who has launched successful ventures like Chamberlain Coffee and a Spotify exclusive podcast, explained the woman 'could tell by the acne' on her cheeks, at the time.
'Turns out she was an OBGYN and she diagnosed me with PCOS,' Chamberlain said of the fateful interaction that happened over a year ago. 'It's really changed my life, to be honest.'
Since getting her diagnosis and getting medication to help regulate hormones, Chamberlain said her periods have been 'so much more chill.'
'My skin is so much more predictable. My hair is getting thicker. It's just feeling like I'm coming back to myself in a way,' she raved.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition that affects how a woman's ovaries work.
The three main features of PCOS are irregular periods, excess androgen, which may cause physical signs such as excess facial or body hair and polycystic ovaries.
Symptoms include menstrual irregularity, excess hair growth, acne, and obesity.
The condition affects around one in 10 American women of childbearing age - and can impact fertility.
Chamberlain first revealed her PCOS diagnosis in March 2024 during an episode of her Anything Goes podcast.
'I found out it's the reason that for many years I've had irregular periods, cystic acne, anxiety, depression and a slew of other issues,' she said, at the time. 'It could also possibly impact my fertility, which is upsetting. It's definitely a bummer.'
She continued: 'It's common. I know a lot of girls with PCOS and I think I have a milder version of it. I don't have the cysts, I don't have all of the symptoms of PCOS, but alas, I have it.'
Chamberlain noted that 'hopefully' she will 'be fertile' when she is 'ready to have children' in six to eight years, according to her timeline.
The YouTuber pointed out that her diagnosis was 'a little less frightening' as her mom has PCOS and was still able to get pregnant with her.
In the past, Chamberlain has openly discussed her mental health struggles, particularly anxiety, burnout, and perfectionism.
In 2021, she told Vogue when she is burnout that the best thing she can do is 'nothing and wait for it to pass and it always does.'
'I used to push through it and I would go deeper and darker into that bad spot. Now when I feel it coming, I beat it before it gets too bad,' she explained.
Exercise, like a walk, jog or doing Pilates at home, helps as well as reading, cooking and listening to educational podcasts.
Chamberlain, who began her YouTube career at the age of 16 as a sophomore in high school, admitted that she has 'struggled with anxiety ever since' she can remember.
'I've been dealing with it since pre-school when I would get really severe separation anxiety from my parents and also from inanimate objects,' she noted. 'I always felt different. People would feel fine with their parents dropping them off at elementary school and I really had a hard time.'
As a kid, she recalled getting 'really anxious about weird things' like getting in trouble.
To this day, she said that she still struggles with needing to do 'the right thing' and wanting 'every move' of hers to be 'perfect.'
'I don't ever want to make a mistake and that's just not realistic,' she acknowledged.
Chamberlain detailed that her 'perfectionist mentality' forces her to think that she needs to 'every single situation' right and that she 'can't ever be awkward.'
'It's so much pressure,' she emphasized. 'I also get anxiety about things happening to the people I love. Like, if I text one of my parents and they don't respond within the hour, I'll spiral and it's extreme.'
The star said that while she hasn't been diagnosed with OCD that she does 'have a lot of the tendencies and behaviors.'
'I get intrusive thoughts and I black out in these moments because I'm so consumed in my mind,' she stated.
During that same 2021 Vogue interview, Chamberlain noted that both her 'parents have struggled throughout their lives with different forms of anxiety and depression' so they've been able to help her through it.
In 2020, she spoke about how 'growing up' with social media and in the public eye gave her 'eating issues as a kid.'
'I literally have struggled with that my whole life. Almost every person I've met has had some form of an eating disorder. I mean, I've had...I don't want to trigger anyone, but so many,' she told Cosmopolitan.
Chamberlain's job involves her looking at herself for hours on end as she edits YouTube videos from her bed, her chosen place to do work.
Constantly looking at herself, though, has caused the influencer to struggle with body dysmorphia, which causes her to think she looks larger than she actually appears.
'I've been fully not at a healthy weight and I thought I was obese multiple times,' she said.
'It's awful. My whole family was telling me I looked terrible. They were like, "You look like you're dying." I was like, "I think I look great."
Dealing with her dysmorphia has encouraged the YouTuber to never use photo editing applications like FaceTune, which is popular for making one look thinner or smoothing out skin.

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The Guardian

5 hours ago

• The Guardian

I was diagnosed with PCOS – and was soon drowning in misinformation

I suspected I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) long before it was confirmed. The signs were there: the acne scars that littered my back, the irregular periods, the hair in places on my body that I didn't see on many of my friends. I suspected it from the moment that one of my best friends, who as a girl taught me about bleaching my body hair and waxing my legs, was diagnosed with it as a teenager. Admitting all this publicly feels like an unburdening, but also an invitation to more shame. But I write this because my experience is far from unique. As many as one in 10 women have PCOS, a condition associated with hormonal disturbances that can range from weight gain, 'unwanted' body hair and hair loss, to irregular periods and struggles to conceive children (including an increased risk of miscarriage). It can leave women more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. It is not clear what causes PCOS, but it is known to be passed down generational lines and can be influenced by lifestyle. I was finally diagnosed with PCOS last year, at 30, and have been on a journey to understand what that means ever since. The thing that leaped out at me early on (and has since been uncovered by the BBC) is just how much information, and misinformation, exists around the condition. My Instagram feed is filled with medically unqualified influencers. Sorting through all that to figure out which nutritionists and health professionals to pay attention to, in the absence of adequate support from the doctors and nurses who gave me that initial assessment and diagnosis, has been a battle. I've been encouraged to adopt unrealistic diets (so-called 'PCOS nutritionists' often suggest cutting out gluten, dairy and carbohydrates, despite a lack of evidence to show this is sustainable or useful for the condition); take unregulated supplements that can have significant side-effects; and sign up to expensive health plans and apps. I've been told to stop doing cardio and focus instead on weights and walking, because of the misguided idea that high-intensity exercise will cause my cortisol levels to rise to the degree that it will worsen my symptoms. In reality, all types of exercise can be beneficial. Medical misogyny has been well documented, and women's healthcare is rarely taken seriously. I first asked my GP about symptoms during the pandemic, when, after a blood test, I was told that my hormone levels were normal and I didn't have the condition. Later, having an ultrasound for an unrelated matter, I was unceremoniously told that I had lots of follicles on my ovaries and probably had PCOS. When I mentioned the earlier blood test, the sonographer told me that this is not a good way to diagnose the condition, especially if you are using hormonal birth control. Confusingly, PCOS does not cause cysts on the ovaries. 'They're not actual true cysts,' says Helena Teede, an Australian endocrinologist and expert in PCOS at Monash University in Melbourne. 'They're follicles or eggs that are just developing along a pathway, but they stop developing normally because they don't like the hormones that they're floating around in.' There has long been chatter about renaming PCOS to something that is more representative of the breadth of symptoms it causes. The current name, Teede says, 'completely misses the fact that this is a hormonal condition; that it has long-term impacts; that it is psychological, dermatological, metabolic, reproductive and, beyond fertility, it goes into many other reproductive features. And it really has an impact on quality of life.' She says it's likely that the process to give it a new name will be completed this year – her organisation has opened a survey for anyone who wants to contribute. Another myth is that women with the condition have a significant 'excess' of testosterone. And PCOS does open up some interesting questions about gender. But, says Teede, the idea that testosterone is an exclusively male hormone is false. Plus, women with PCOS do not typically have elevated levels of testosterone; it's more that our bodies are not very good at dealing with it. We have much less of the hormone than most men. After my diagnosis at the ultrasound, I had a follow-up call with a nurse practitioner, where I was told simply that I should put up with my symptoms but come back when I wanted to get pregnant; because, of course, that is the only thing that young women aspire to. When I pushed, I was offered a drug named metformin, which is used to treat insulin resistance and diabetes. It wasn't explained to me how this drug works and why it would be useful for my specific case. But, I have since learned, insulin resistance – when your body struggles to regulate your blood sugar levels – is one of the hallmark symptoms of PCOS and triggers a lot of the other issues that people with the condition face. Teede, however, points out that 'every woman has a different problem and a different life stage that's most important to them, and it's about their interpretation'. Doctors should think holistically about treatment plans for women with PCOS and listen to their concerns. My own contrasting experience, though, is much more common, says Rachel Morman, the chair of the UK PCOS charity Verity: 'After 20 years of doing this work, I'm like: 'Why is this still happening?'' She had a similar conversation with doctors after she was diagnosed in the early 00s, with the added shock of being told that she wouldn't be able to have children at all. While it is true that about 70% of women with PCOS experience fertility struggles, after intervention that number drops significantly; the vast majority of women with the condition are able to get pregnant. Morman has three children now. It's also important for women to know that a lot of the risks associated with PCOS in pregnancy (such as miscarriage, gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia) are preventable. Before they start trying for a baby, women with the condition should have a full diabetes test and get their blood pressure checked, as well as aim for a healthy diet and active lifestyle. But when doctors tell us that PCOS is something we should be concerned about only if we want to get pregnant, that is extremely frustrating, considering the wide range of effects it has on our bodies. Morman says that while there is a lot more information available now than when she was diagnosed, some treatment options have become worse: hair removal treatments used to be offered on the NHS for women diagnosed with PCOS, but not any more. As Teede acknowledges: 'One of the reasons why people go to alternative sources of information is because they're not satisfied with what they get from the health practitioners.' Misinformation about PCOS abounds, and much of it is repeated by medical professionals. To help counteract this, Teede helped to develop the extensively researched international evidence-based guidelines for PCOS in 2023, which I now regard as the holy grail of information about the condition. Her team has also created an app called AskPCOS, which can help women to find the right treatment pathways. It doesn't cover everything, but it is thorough, uses up-to-date research and doesn't make bold claims about 'curing' PCOS, as some people do on social media. 'There are a whole lot of individual practitioners, most of whom are not actually practitioners, who are there for financial gain,' says Teede. 'The biggest challenge I have is the misinformation, and then associated with that, the harm that's done by denigrating actual evidence-based strategies. Which, in the end, does a disservice for women with the condition.' She is not wholly against what she terms 'complementary therapies' (ie supplements and diets), as long as women undertake them clear-eyed and unswayed by false claims. But she does not believe people will stop looking to these types of practitioners for support until there are more trustworthy medical repositories, alongside legal liability for people who provide misinformation. Having researched PCOS over the past year (though there's still much to learn), here's what I've tried: in terms of monitoring the metabolic symptoms, I've checked my blood pressure and had screenings for diabetes and high cholesterol. My levels were fine. I've come off my birth control (some types of pill can help with the symptoms of PCOS; this one didn't) and started taking a well-researched supplement called myo-inositol, which may help with insulin resistance. But I've since come off it because it made me dizzy, a known side-effect for some people. I get periods most months, though I did so before I was put on the pill in my teens, so this may not have affected my ovulation. In terms of cosmetic treatments, I have moved away from laser hair removal, which can cause women with PCOS to experience paradoxical hypertrichosis – the regrowth of darker hairs, seemingly stimulated by the laser. Instead, I have begun electrolysis, the only way to permanently remove hairs. I'm on a break from it as the treatment has been slow and moderately painful, causing breakouts that take weeks to heal. Thankfully, the acne on my face has never been severe, but I have got topical treatment for it from an online dermatologist and benzoyl peroxide from my GP. My body acne has taken longer to get under control; I had a private online consultation with a dermatologist, which cost me £100, and have found reasonably priced skincare products that mostly work for me (shout out to Cerave). The reason I am sharing this is not so that others with PCOS can attempt to mirror my journey. Everyone is different. For example, some women are comfortable with having visible facial hair. It is not inherently shameful and I hate that it is considered to be so. Instead, I am sharing because it shows how much time and energy I have had to put into dealing with PCOS. As it stands, all women with the condition need to go on a journey of evidence-based self-education, because it is unlikely that their primary care doctors will be able to adequately direct them, and there are very few accessible specialists. We have to test out treatments and cosmetic procedures – many unregulated – for ourselves, working through trial and error. Perhaps one of the biggest learnings I've taken from this year has been around mental expenditure. While we undoubtedly have to demand better treatment from our doctors, and ask them to seek out research, those of us with chronic conditions have personal choices to make. Even in an ideal system, where I could be supported on and off medication with all the necessary tests, I would still have to make a judgment call about how much time and energy to invest in 'managing' my PCOS. It is lifelong and incurable, and, for me at least, learning to live with it has become just as important as tackling some of the issues that it causes. That is not to say people with PCOS should give up – learn to embrace their facial hair or uncomfortable acne, or the more serious difficulties related to heart health or diabetes – but it does move it in my mind from a space of hopelessness to one of pragmatism. And it has allowed me to give myself a mental break. 'You do need to have at least four periods a year, because otherwise it's a higher risk of getting cancer of the womb, for example,' says Teede. She says that people with PCOS must go for an annual checkup, including blood pressure tests. 'But you don't need to carry that around permanently,' she adds. The other brilliant news is that, in the background, things are changing. A new study shows that awareness of the syndrome has grown massively in the past eight years. In the UK, there is collaborative work happening to make sure that the syndrome becomes a research priority, including an all-party parliamentary group. 'We'll actually have proper pathways for PCOS treatment, so hopefully that should improve standard of care,' says Morman. For me, I had my foray into the land of misinformation and I battled my way out of it. I have sought out community with other women who have the condition, and I'm taking steps to mitigate its potential effect on my fertility in the future. Most of all, I feel incredibly thankful that I have been diagnosed in an era where there are women like Teede and Morman who are fighting for the recognition and evidence-based treatment of PCOS. We are not at a loss. We are at the bright beginning.

NBC News

8 hours ago

• NBC News

Outside groups organize to form unbiased, independent vaccine panel

In the wake of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to shake up a key federal vaccine advisory committee, outside medical organizations and independent experts are looking for alternate sources of unbiased information and even considering forming a group of their own. A leading contender is a new group led by Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert and the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. Osterholm is launching the Vaccine Integrity Project at CIDRAP as a potential alternative to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. 'We've always just taken for granted that routine child immunizations and other vaccines would be readily available and that they would be supported by the public health system,' Osterholm said. 'Now that's in question.' Earlier this month, Kennedy fired all 17 members from ACIP, appointing in their place eight new members, many of whom have expressed vaccine-skeptical views or questioned pandemic restrictions. Kennedy himself has a long history of anti-vaccination activism. The American Academy of Pediatrics has called the new ACIP members a ' radical departure' from the committee's mission of protecting kids. ACIP holds a significant amount of influence over vaccinations in the U.S.; the panel is responsible for setting the childhood vaccination schedule and determining what vaccines are given free of charge under the Vaccines for Children Program. Its recommendations guide what vaccinations are required for attending public school and what shots insurance covers. 'The real risk is that families and patients may not have access to vaccines' if the panel makes changes to their recommendations, said Dr. Molly O'Shea, a pediatrician in Michigan. 'The ramifications are deep,' said Dr. Michelle Taylor, a pediatrician and the director of the Shelby County Health Department in Memphis, Tennessee. 'Any school system that is requiring immunizations for school entry is looking for those ACIP recommendations, either directly from the CDC, from the Department of Education, if they are filtered there, or from their local or state health departments.' CIDRAP is now consulting with multiple medical organizations and public health groups — including the AAP, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, the American Pharmacists Association, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, as well as insurance providers — to discuss vaccine recommendations. Insurance companies rely on ACIP's guidance on which vaccines to cover. But if enough reputable public health groups come up with recommendations different from ACIP's, Osterholm said those groups could sway insurance companies on which shots to cover. Although vaccination rates have been slipping in recent years, the vast majority of American families do vaccinate their kids. The CDC reported that 92.7% of kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year had received their routine childhood vaccines. Parents depend on guidance from pediatricians on which shots to give and when. Those pediatricians rely on CDC guidance. 'Pediatricians have one goal, and that's to keep every child healthy and safe in every community. That is what we wake up every morning thinking about. That is what we go to sleep thinking about at night,' said Dr. Susan Kressly, the president of the AAP. 'If pediatricians are not standing up for what children and families deserve and need, then who?' Some major medical organizations are voicing their concerns about Kennedy's anti-vaccine actions. The American Medical Association has asked Congress to investigate Kennedy's handling of ACIP. States are also taking action. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services defied the HHS declaration that the federal government would no longer recommend Covid shots for healthy children and pregnant women. 'The recent changes in CDC guidance were not made based on new data, evidence, or scientific or medical studies, nor was the guidance issued following normal processes,' the state's department of health wrote in a press release. The Illinois Department of Public Health criticized Kennedy's gutting of ACIP, saying on X that the secretary had a 'misunderstanding of how vaccine trials work.' ACIP's approach ACIP was formed in 1972 as an independent panel of experts to educate the federal government on vaccines. The committee —composed of experts including pediatricians, geriatricians, infectious disease doctors, immunologists and vaccinologists — has three regular meetings a year to pore over the evidence for new or updated vaccines. All meetings are open to the public and are streamed online. The panel may also be convened outside of those regular meetings. During the Covid pandemic, for example, the committee reviewed rare reports of a heart problem called myocarditis in some young men who'd had the Covid shot. The committee also recommended against the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine after it was linked to rare but potentially deadly blood clots. Recommendations from ACIP are usually adopted by the director of the CDC. But there isn't any CDC director at the moment. President Donald Trump's pick for the job, Susan Monarez, has a scheduled confirmation hearing in the Senate on June 25 — the same day Kennedy's new ACIP members will meet for the first time. As head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy is the ultimate authority and has the ability to override ACIP recommendations. He flexed this rarely used muscle in May by announcing — without any input from ACIP — that the Covid vaccine would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women. ACIP members have historically gone through an extensive vetting process to ensure their expertise. If members have conflicts of interest, they recuse themselves from votes. An HHS spokesman said its eight new ACIP members were thoroughly vetted, but not did not offer specifics. Two members, Dr. Martin Kulldorff and Dr. Robert Malone, were previously paid experts in trials involving Merck vaccines. Another, Vicky Pebsworth, served as an expert witness in a federal lawsuit brought by activists who sought to outlaw childhood vaccination mandates. The case was dismissed in 2021. Vaccine skepticism isn't necessarily a bad thing. 'True scientists ask critical questions in a way that doesn't presume the answer,' the AAP's O'Shea said. 'What has made America great, however, is our medical and scientific innovation. To undermine that is gravely concerning to me.'

Daily Mirror

a day ago

• Daily Mirror

'I tried new exercise routine for one week and it changed my life'

Many people practice yoga for its physical and mental health benefits. One woman has shared the 'mind-blowing' results she experienced after practicing yoga for just one week. A woman who practiced yoga for just one week was in awe of the transformative effects it had on her life. Yoga, a discipline that merges physical, mental and spiritual practices, is renowned for promoting both physical and mental health. Today, we celebrate International Yoga Day, an event that "celebrates the physical and spiritual prowess that yoga has brought to the world stage", according to National Today. Globally, people participate in daily yoga practice, with classes available in person or online. Yoga, believed to have been around for centuries, is recognised as a method of connecting the body, mind and soul. Alizée Charet shared her personal experience of practising yoga in a TikTok video. ‌ She revealed: "This is what happened after doing one week of yoga, one week only. It can change everything in your life. ‌ "It has changed mine, it can change yours, I'm telling you." Alizée confessed that her initial attempt at yoga, following a YouTube video during the pandemic, didn't go well and she vowed never to try it again. However, driven by a desire to increase her flexibility, she gave yoga another shot. She claims that just one week of 15-minute daily yoga sessions will result in noticeable improvements in flexibility. She further explained: "Your body is gonna literally release in [a] position that [in] the first session that you did you couldn't do." After just a week of practicing yoga, Alizée noticed her body becoming more flexible and felt compelled to continue. She explained that it "feels so good because you see your body becoming stronger." The new yoga lover added: "Mentally, it's mind-blowing. I didn't know I was capable of doing these things. "It's so empowering, guys. You feel great. Also, we tend to stick a lot of emotions in our body and yoga is movement so you're gonna flow and everything is gonna kinda get unstuck." ‌ She said that yoga will teach you how to "release" as it's "all about breathing" and connecting your breath with your body. Alizée further noted that yoga will help you learn to be patient and loving with yourself when faced with a challenging yoga position. ‌ The yoga enthusiast admitted that she was "getting so frustrated in the beginning" but then realised "it's ok if you're not there yet." She encouraged trying again, whether that's in one week or months, promising that you will see progress and it feels "amazing" both physically and mentally. Yoga has had such a transformative effect on Alizée that she admits to being "addicted", even growing to love the downward facing yoga position she initially hated. She urges her TikTok followers to give yoga a go, emphasising that it's "not only for the skinny and wellness girls" but it's "for everyone." Yoga incorporates physical postures, breathing methods and meditation. It provides a range of physical and mental health advantages, such as enhanced flexibility, strength, balance and it also aids in managing stress, anxiety and depression, and can improve sleep quality.