PCOS Advocacy Opportunities for Every Woman [Podcast]
“I feel like my body has let me down, like I’ve let myself down. Sometimes, I feel broken. I feel embarrassed. But I realize that sometimes, you have to outweigh those fears with the fact that your story has to be told, because your story makes a difference. Everything that you do to raise awareness, to get involved, makes a difference.”
-Ashley Levinson
Women who are seeking a diagnosis for PCOS will, on average, see two to three doctors before they get a diagnosis. Even after diagnosis, women with PCOS are simply told to lose weight, take a pill, and go on their way. That’s not ok. We deserve better care. Our daughters, sisters, and friends deserve better treatment. Ashley Levinson is a well-known PCOS advocate and joins the podcast to talk about the challenges facing women with PCOS and how we all can advocate for better research and education. Listen as we discuss:
- Issues such as the importance of early diagnosis and post-pill syndrome
- Self-advocacy at the doctor
- How to begin advocating & get involved
- PCOS Awareness Month & World PCOS Day
All PCOS Diva podcasts are available on 
Resources mentioned in the podcast:
- PCOSGurl on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- PCOS Challenge website
- Worldwide PCOS 5K walk and run
Ashley Levinson has been a PCOS Patient Advocate for over 18 years serving her mission to bring more awareness to a syndrome that affects so many and is often misunderstood and dismissed. Her advocacy includes online campaigns #Heart4PCOS and #LemonFaceChallenge which have run over the past three years and engaged thousands online.
She has a background in healthcare as an orthopaedic surgical first assist and certified medical assistant and has served as a PCOS Program coordinator for Drexel PCOS Center and volunteer, executive director and advisor to many PCOS, Chronic Illness and Women’s Health Organizations. She has and continues to advance awareness through social media campaigns, articles, podcasts and blog posts and has made multiple appearances on television ncluding Discovery Health’s Mystery Diagnosis to advance education about the syndrome. Recently Ashley joined PCOS Challenge in Washinton DC to lobby for legislation to bring more funding and awareness to PCOS.
Transcript:
Amy Medling: So, this podcast is going to be airing right before PCOS Awareness Month. And I just did not want September to go by without drawing some attention to the importance of PCOS awareness and advocacy. And who better to bring on as my podcast guest but Ashley Levinson, who has been a PCOS patient advocate for over 18 years, serving her mission to bring more awareness to PCOS, which affects so many, and is so often misunderstood and dismissed. And her advocacy includes online campaigns like Heart For PCOS, which happens in February, and the Lemon Face Challenge, which goes on in late spring, early summer. And I participated in both of those advocacy campaigns. And Ashley is just, she amazes me, and I’m just so grateful to her for all that she does for the PCOS community. And I just wanted to share her mission and her message with listeners of the podcast, so you’re in for a real treat as we chat with Ashley over the next 30 minutes or so. So welcome, Ashley, to the PCOS Diva Podcast.
Ashley Levinson: Hi, Amy, and hello, everyone. Thank you so much for having me on. I’m really excited about this, to talk about advocacy and how people can get involved, because that’s really an important aspect of PCOS and living with PCOS, is getting the support, getting the awareness, and getting the outreach that all of us really want and need. So, I’m so totally excited about doing this with you.
Amy Medling: So, you are a PCOS Diva. You know, you live, and I see you at conferences every year. And we were together at the Advocacy Day. And you know, you’re living with PCOS and doing so much for women to help make our lives better, and help us to thrive with PCOS. Can you just share your story, and what brought you to this place of really being a champion for us?
Ashley Levinson: Absolutely, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my story. I started out, I think, like many women with PCOS do. I started recognizing that things weren’t right with my body and the way my body was responding. I actually was diagnosed at age 13, although at that time, I didn’t know, and the doctors didn’t know it was PCOS. I was having irregular menstrual cycles. I was experiencing acne, and I’d have some hairs popping up on my chin here and there. And I would say, “Mom, I think something’s wrong. Look at these hairs on my chin.” And I remember when my mom, you know, she would say, “Oh, my goodness. Women get hairs on their chin. Just get the tweezers, pluck it.” And we really didn’t think much about it until I started missing my menstrual cycle, going months on end without having it. And then when I had my menstrual cycle, I would almost hemorrhage when I had it. And at that point, my mother said, “I think we need to investigate this further.”
So she took me to an OB-GYN, and we explained what was going on. And the response, which so many of us get, especially when you’re a teen, is, “Oh, you know, sometimes girls have a hard time growing into their hormones. It’s nothing that you should worry about right now. I’m going to give you the birth control pill.”
So basically, he put me on birth control pills and said to me, “This will help with getting the hormones regulated.” And I said, “Well, is there anything else that I need to do?” “No, no, no. Just stay on the birth control pill. And I tell you what, when you’re ready to get pregnant, come back and see me, and we’ll talk then.”
At the time, I didn’t know how significant that was, and how much that was going to impact my life later on. And before I move on with my story, I just want to point that out as a keynote, that girls as young as 8 can start showing signs of PCOS; age 11, even show more signs; and then when they first start to menstruate, can see irregularities. Don’t ignore that, and don’t accept the simple term that people use, “Oh, it’s just hormones. It’s nothing. It’s being a teenager,” because that’s when we really need to pay attention and get these girls help, because it’s going to prevent a lot of the long-term consequences, the earlier you get diagnosed.
So, I did what the doctor said, and I stayed on the birth control pills, and got married, and was married for five years. And I remember it clearly. It was New Year’s Eve, 1999, and my husband turned to me and said, “I think it’s time to start a family.” And I said, “I think that’s a fabulous idea.” I went off the birth control pills. Within a three-month period, I put on over 100 pounds, and I started noticing symptoms coming back with a vengeance. I had acne. I started getting dark skin rings around my neck, on my knees, on my elbows. And I kept trying to scrub, and scrub, and scrub, and it wasn’t going away. You know, just overall, I had fatigue, all this stuff was happening. And I said, “This is so weird. I don’t know what’s going on.”
I went to my general practitioner and explained to him. And he said, “Oh, honey, it’s stress. You know, you’re probably stress eating, and not even realizing you’re doing it because you’re trying to get pregnant. And you know, sometimes people put a lot of stress on their bodies and themselves because they’re trying to conceive. And I think that’s what your issue is.”
Amy Medling: Yeah, and I just was going to just chime in for a second. I recently interviewed Doctor Jolene Brighten, and she is the leading expert on the post-pill syndrome. And this is very typical of a lot of women with PCOS who come off of the pill, and like you are describing, your symptoms come back with a vengeance. And the weight gain and the insulin resistance really kicks into gear.
Ashley Levinson: Yeah, I seriously thought I had some rare disease. I blew up, and there was no explanation. I didn’t change my diet, which I didn’t take in a lot of calories. I was exercising. And up until that point, you know, I yo-yoed up and down with my weight, but I was never significantly overweight. So, to go from having it semi-under control, to all of a sudden, and I hate using this term, but I think it’s the best way to convey how I felt, I felt like I was almost like Quasimodo at the time, just because my appearance completely changed.
So, I went and talked with three or four more doctors, because I was unhappy with my original general practitioner’s assessment. And I was getting pretty much the same thing, “Oh, well, you know, your body’s adjusting. You’re coming off the pill. You’re trying to get pregnant.” I’m not getting a menstrual cycle. I’m still gaining weight. I’m still having facial hair. How does that explain me trying to get pregnant? “Oh, you know, it’s just the body adjusting. Give it some time.” Finally, I went to a fourth doctor, and that’s something else that I think is a key point. Most women who are seeking a diagnosis for PCOS will, on average, see two to three doctors before they get a diagnosis. That needs to change.
So, I saw this doctor that had just finished his fellowship. And I went into his office, and I said, “You know what?” I said, “I’ve seen a couple doctors, and I figured I’d try something new. So, here I am. I’m going to tell you my story. And when you’re done, please try to control your eyes bugging out and looking at me like I’m crazy, like everyone else does.” So, I told him my story. And he got bug-eyed. And he’s like, “Give me a minute,” and he walked out of the room; came back in with a textbook from medical school. Opens up the textbook and says, “Here, right here. Read this.” There it was, four little letters, PCOS. “That’s what I think you have.” Okay, what does that mean? And he said to me, “I’m really not sure. I don’t know much about it, but I’m willing to learn with you.”
He pointed me in the direction of a reproductive endocrinologist. And the reproductive endocrinologist said, “You have two choices. You can either try to control the PCOS, or you can try to get pregnant. You can’t do both.” Well now, in today’s world, we know that that is different, and that often, when we treat the symptoms of PCOS, a lot of other things will start falling in line. So, I went the route of doing infertility treatments. And I was fortunate, and I did get pregnant with my daughter, but it was a very difficult pregnancy. I had gestational diabetes. The first three months, I had to take progesterone just to maintain the pregnancy. So, it was difficult, but we got through it. And she’s here. And she’s 17 years old now, so that was a blessing.
After that, I decided I was going to get healthy with PCOS. And I saw an amazing doctor, and at the time, really was one of the pioneers, Doctor Katherine Sherif in Philadelphia.
Amy Medling: Yeah, who wrote the forward to my book. She’s awesome.
Ashley Levinson: She is just amazing. Both her and Doctor Minassian started recognizing that women were showing similar symptoms. And the two of them were really working on women’s health conditions, and doing research on heart issues, and started noticing this trend. And they created the first multidisciplinary center for women with PCOS in Philadelphia, so I kind of lucked out with that. And they approached it with medications, lifestyle changes, and exercise. And I started seeing a change, because people were listening to me, and were taking notice to what was going on, and giving me the proper resources and tools that I need, which is another thing. A lot of times, women will go into doctor’s office. And the first thing that they’ll hear is, “You have PCOS. Lose weight.” Okay, great. That’s wonderful. I’d love to lose weight, but you have to tell me how, and you have to give me the help to do that.
So, to me, anyone who goes to a doctor, who gets that automatic, blasé response, doctors are no different than any other service provider. If they’re not providing you with what you need, you don’t need to stick with them. You don’t need to use them. Research, find people that know what they’re talking about, because that’s the only way that you’re going to get the help that you need. So, I started getting my symptoms under control, lost 60 pounds, and surprisingly, got pregnant again with my son. And again, the key point in this is, because my body started to become healthy, and started responding to proper management, things started to fall into place. And I was able to get pregnant again.
Through all of this, I had a really difficult time with understanding things and find people that knew what PCOS was. I went on the internet. I Googled. I looked everywhere. And back in 1999 and 2000, there was relatively no information out there; and Amy can tell you, because she’s been around, doing this about as long as I have. I did find one organization that had support, and I joined them right away. And the more that I talked to people and saw the experiences that people were going through, the lack of information, the dismissiveness, it stirred up almost an anger in me. Why should anybody who has an issue be brushed under the rug? And I think that’s what spurred my 18 years of advocacy; the fact that I didn’t want anyone else to ever go through everything that I went through. It’s not necessary. In this day and age, we have enough information and resources available that if we use them, no one woman should be left undiagnosed. And the unfortunate fact is, even in 2018, it’s estimated up to 70% of women with PCOS are undiagnosed. That needs to change.
And the one thing that I did was, Doctor Katherine Sherif asked me to come on and do Mystery Diagnosis with her. And I did a segment on PCOS, and from that point on, started getting responses from thousands of women. “Oh, my gosh. I have these symptoms. I’m experiencing this. I can’t believe someone else is out there describing my life.” And I was afraid when I did it. I was over 300 pounds. I still had a lot of the same issues with acne, the acanthosis nigricans, which are the dark skin patches, the hair on my chin. And honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was to be in front of potentially millions of people, showing myself. For me, still, I feel like my body has let me down, like I’ve let myself down. Sometimes, I feel broken. I feel embarrassed. But I realize that sometimes, you have to outweigh those fears with the fact that your story has to be told, because your story makes a difference. Everything that you do to raise awareness, to get involved, makes a difference.
And that’s where I am today, here, trying to continue to make a difference, and encouraging other people to overcome their fears and share their stories; because until we do, other people aren’t going to understand what it is or what we go through.
Amy Medling: Yeah. And I think we really resonate. I mean, listening to your story, and I don’t think I’ve heard the whole thing like you just told it, I mean, I heard so much of my story in yours. And it just really resonated. And then what I felt, too, is we both have daughters, right? And that’s what really led me to do the work that I do, is not wanting my daughter to come of age with PCOS, God forbid, she inherits those PCOS genes, and they express themselves. I don’t want her to experience the confusion and the darkness that I did. And I know you feel the same way.
Ashley Levinson: I did. And interestingly enough, talking about daughters and PCOS, my daughter, Hannah, who is now 17, also has PCOS. So, for those of you who don’t know, and it’s not a horrible thing, there is a 50% chance that, if you have PCOS, that you could pass it on to your daughter, which I did. And it’s nothing to feel guilty about or to feel bad about, because the one thing that I have on my side is the fact that I went through it. And I know what needs to be done, so she has that support system. And as a result, she’s been extremely vocal about the condition. She advocates, herself. About a year and a half ago, she actually went with me to one of the Advocacy Days in Washington, DC. And at 16 years old, this kid addressed Congress, and health staffers, and was able to tell her story because she had that support. She had that security.
Ashley Levinson: And that’s something that I think all of us desire, and need, and should strive to do as a community, to unite, and support, and make sure that no one feels like they’re in that dark room, and they can’t get out.
Amy Medling: Yeah. And your daughter is very impressive. I had the opportunity to meet her in April at Advocacy Day. And it’s so awesome to see such a young person being so brave and sharing her story. And you know, she owes that to her mom, I think, for inspiring her. So, let’s talk about advocacy, and ways, you know, if you’re listening, and you feel like you need to share your story and make a difference, how can you get involved?
Ashley Levinson: There are so many ways to get involved. The first thing that I always tell people is, very simply, share your story. And it doesn’t mean that you have to post it all over social media. It can start small; friends, family, coworkers, someone that you feel comfortable with. The more, again, you talk about it, and you explain to them what you’re going through, the easier it’s going to be for them to understand what it is, what PCOS means, and how it impacts your life. I think one of the biggest issues is, a lot of us feel if we start describing these symptoms, which a lot of us attribute to being less than feminine, that people are going to start judging us. But I’ve found the opposite. The more that I talk about it and people understand what I’m going through, the more accepting they have been of the issues that I have, and trying to help, and trying to help spread awareness.
So, we have to give ourselves a little more credit, and give the people in our lives a little more credit, that when we give them the opportunity to understand, that they will be there to support us. Get involved on social media. There are so many outlets. There are groups. There are advocates. There are websites, like Amy’s amazing website that has a wealth of information, resources, tools. There are all of these people out there that are taking time to talk about this, to offer people information and help.
So, utilize those resources. Just make sure they’re the right resources. Again, I’m not a big fan of going on, and Googling a condition, and, oh, that’s it. You have to find the right resources, the people that know what they’re talking about. And when you do, you’ll start to find that things are going to fall into place, and you’re getting the proper information, which means you’re getting the proper healthcare. There are also numerous campaigns that go on throughout the year. September is the biggest month, because, of course, it’s PCOS Awareness Month.
So, you need to look on social media or on the websites for organizations that are doing the work for PCOS. And there are quite a few of them. I’m heavily involved with PCOS Challenge, but there are a ton of organizations, and a ton of ways to get involved. This September, we have one thing coming up. It’s the first time that we’re doing it, and I’m very excited about it; World PCOS Day, which is really going to unite our sisters and patients around the world that have polycystic ovary syndrome. It’s going to include people putting pictures up on Facebook with flags from different countries, people sharing videos-
Amy Medling: And how do you do that? Well first of all, tell us what day it is. And how do you, if you want to put a flag up, which I did on my Facebook profile, how do you do that?
Ashley Levinson: Okay. So, it’s just a Facebook campaign right now, but you would go to Facebook. And we are getting ready for World PCOS Day, which is September 1st of this year. And you would go to your profile, and go to your profile picture. And you will click on your profile picture. And when you do, it gives you an option to add a frame. So, you go to “add frame,” and at the top, there is a search bar. And in the search bar, you put in “World PCOS Day” and your country. Like in the USA, you would put in “America.” And it will come up with the overlay with the flag for your country. And then, all you do is add it to your profile picture, and you are representing PCOS in your country.
And a couple other things that are going to be going on are, we are going to have buildings around the world lighting up for PCOSWe are going to have-
Amy Medling: …in teal, lighting the color teal for PCOS?
Ashley Levinson: Lighting the color teal. We have buildings, and bridges, and landmarks around the world that are going to be lighting up for PCOS awareness. We are going to be doing a bunch of other, numerous events that we’re going to be listing on our Facebook pages, on Twitter, on Instagram. So, I ask people to continue to look into these different social media outlets, under PCOS Challenge, to see the events that we are going to be doing for that period of time.
Also, we are going to have a PCOS Awareness Weekend, which is September 22nd and 23rd, which is going to be held in Orlando this year. This event, to me, is so pivotal, because it’s an opportunity not only for women to network with each other, but to get educated about PCOS from leading experts. So on September 22nd, at the Orlando Museum of Art, we are going to have a one-day symposium, which is going to have leading experts talking about different topics of PCOS. We’re going to have a panel that’s going to discuss advocacy and ways to get involved in the community. We are also going to have events in the evening, where everyone can network with one another.
And then on Sunday, September 23rd, we are going to be having a PCOS 5K walk and run. Now, the thing that I love the most about this event is, not only is it our biggest fundraiser of the year, and I’ll explain why that’s important in a minute, you don’t have to be in just Orlando to do it. It can be done virtually, so people can run, walk, anywhere in the world. You can have friends, family, coworkers. You can even do it by yourself on a treadmill. The point is just to get involved, to make a difference any little way that you can. So, there are a bunch of teams that you can join, or you can create your own team. And it’s just a great way for the community to come together in one day.
Now, I was talking a little bit about the fundraising. And it’s important because organizations like PCOS Challenge, although a lot of us can’t see it, can’t see behind the scenes, there’s a lot that goes into creating these events; World PCOS Day, PCOS Awareness Weekend, the PCOS Advocacy Day, where we actually went to Washington, DC. Amy, you were there with us, as you said. We were able to talk to legislators in the Senate, in the Congress, to let them know that PCOS is a public health issue. It is a priority. It needs to be a priority. We have a magazine that comes out a couple times during the year. All of these things are to help women. We also, we have grants. Amy does a PCOS Diva grant, you know, to help people cover the cost of things that insurance doesn’t cover. All of this takes time and takes money. So, we need people who volunteer and who get involved.
Amy Medling: Yeah. And I just wanted to kind of give a shout-out to PCOS Challenge for what they’re doing for a PCOS Diva, who wrote to me and told me that she’s just been denied insurance coverage because PCOS was her preexisting condition. And so, who could I turn to, to help me help this PCOS Diva, but PCOS Challenge? And the folks there are working with this woman to see what they can do, legally, to help with getting the insurance that she needs. And PCOS shouldn’t be an existing condition that you’re denied health coverage.
So, you know, not only is it awareness efforts, and advocacy efforts, and education, but also helping women when we need somebody we can turn to in our time of need like that.
Ashley Levinson: Absolutely. And you know, it’s funny, because it’s not just insurance. Probably about 10 years ago, there was a woman that reached out to me. She was up for a position as a diplomat, and went through the entire process, and was ready to go. And at the last minute, she was denied because she had polycystic ovary syndrome. And they said that where they would send her, that they couldn’t give her the proper care, which is not true. She had a doctor that she was seeing regularly. She had her medications. She wasn’t taking insulin, or had anything that needed to be managed closely.
So, we got involved in a campaign with legislators and with doctors, and wrote letters, and wrote more letters. And bottom line, she got the position eventually. But the fact is, people are being denied insurance. People are denied work because they don’t understand the condition. And again, unless we all get involved, unless we all unite, unless we all talk about it, that’s going to continue to happen.
Amy Medling: Yeah. And I just, you know, sometimes it can feel overwhelming. You know, we’re all dealing with our own health, trying to manage our PCOS. And the thought of going to DC, and the cost of going to Washington, or going to Orlando, it can feel overwhelming. But I think what I want to do is just encourage you to do what you can from where you’re at. And writing a letter to your congressperson, and PCOS Challenge has templates for that on their website; donating $5, you know, the cost of what it would cost you for a grande latte at Starbucks, and donate that to the PCOS Strong team, which Ashley and I are involved in for the walk on PCOS Challenge; or you know, organizing a walk in your own community, or just putting the overlay on your Facebook page for the month of September.
Chance are, somebody that you know has PCOS, and doesn’t even know it. I know that it used to be 1 in 10 women have PCOS. And now, that number, you know, I keep seeing, increased to 1 in 5. Maybe you can speak to that, Ashley, because I know you’ve been looking at a lot of those statistics.
Ashley Levinson: Yeah. The statistics right now, that they feel pretty secure with, are one in five women worldwide with PCOS. But I’ve recently been speaking to some doctors, and you can actually even see this on my Twitter feed, that are estimating that it can be as high as one in three women right now. That is significant. You know, it’s a growing epidemic. And again, we’ve got to get a handle on that. And it starts with each of us saying, “This isn’t right. This isn’t happening anymore. I’m not standing up for this.”
Part of the healing process is investing in healing. And that means investing part of your time, again, to ensure that the right resources are out there, so we get the proper care.
Amy Medling: Yeah.
Ashley Levinson: And you know, you were even talking about things you can do online. You know, something as simple as even re-posting some of the posts that you see that come out from organizations, or experts, or advocates, can go a long way. Just put a, you know, you don’t have to necessarily tell your own story, but you can share other people’s stories. And that, sometimes, can make a huge difference.
Amy Medling: Yeah, and I can speak to experience. When you are dealing with a condition where you feel like you’ve lost so much control over your life, and you’ve lost power over your body, for me, going to that day in Washington, DC, and yes, it was a commitment in time and money to get myself there, and put myself out there; but meeting with these health legislators that are driving health policy, I came home just on a high. I was so empowered to have been able to share my story, to tell people that, you know, the National Institutes of Health, like their funding for PCOS, what is it, Ashley? It’s like, is it .1%?
Ashley Levinson: Yeah. The NIH has designated 0.1% of funding towards research, education, and outreach for PCOS. That is atrocious.
Amy Medling: Yeah. And when I was educating these legislators that one in five women have it, and .1% of the health funding, they were blown away. And it’s up to us to spread that news, so that we can get more funding from the government for PCOS. And we’re even, just to declare PCOS as a national health awareness campaign as the month of September, that’s kind of what we’re pushing for right now; and writing letters, and signing the petitions that Ashley puts out on social media. It doesn’t take much to sign a petition.
Ashley Levinson: No, no.
Amy Medling: Yeah. We really need your help, and I promise you, you’ll feel more empowered after doing something.
Ashley Levinson: You know, that’s a great point, and one that I missed. And it’s pretty amazing and pretty significant. The petition that we started, we’re trying to get it to 50,000 signatures by the end of September. Right now, we are at 27,000 signatures. That is 27,000 people who have signed a petition in support of more funding, basically telling the NIH, “It’s time. We need this funding. We need the research. We need the resources.”
Anybody who wants to really get an idea about what PCOS is, and how profoundly it affects people, go to the petition. Read the comments of these women who are so desperate for someone to listen to them and to do something. I promise you, you will need a tissue box when you do, because I read it daily, and I am astounded by the outcry that I see, and that I hear on a daily basis.
So, if anybody wants to go and sign the petition or read it, it is simply PcosStrong.com, will link you right to the petition. You can sign it. You can read it, and really get a sense of what this is all about, and why we need to do what we’re doing.
Amy Medling: All right. So Ashley, why don’t we sort of wrap this up with some call-to-actions. If somebody wants to do something, you know, after listening to our podcast, where can they start? Give us some call-to-actions.
Ashley Levinson: Call to action; go on social media. Look at PCOS Challenge. They have a listing of events. You can go to any of my feeds on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, which is just simply P-C-O-S-G-U-R-L, PCOS girl. And what we’re asking are for people to get involved in World PCOS Day, just simply click on your profile picture and upload a flag for your country, supporting PCOS. Throughout the month of September, PCOS Awareness Month, wear teal. Put up posts on Facebook about, “This is PCOS Awareness Month.” Get together with friends and family, and walk and run for the PCOS 5K, which is September 23rd. Register to get educated about PCOS for the symposium, which is September 22nd.
You will see, again, numerous posts coming up online, through the websites and through social media, that will direct you on all of the events, and all of the ways that you can get involved throughout the month.
Amy Medling: Awesome. And Ashley and I will be there at the PCOS symposium and walk. So if you are there, please, please come over and introduce yourself, and say hello, and let us know that you listen to the podcast. Love to give you a big hug. And Ashley, I just want to thank you so much for making it. I’ve been wanting to have you as a guest for the longest time, and I’m so glad we connected. And I just want to thank you for the work, the important work that you do for all of us.
Ashley Levinson: Thank you so much, Amy. And big hugs and big thanks right back to you, because your voice is only outshined by how big your heart is, and your love for this community, and for all of us, is just amazing. And I thank you, and I am blessed that you are a part of my life and the lives of all these women, because you really do make a difference every single day. So, thank you.
Amy Medling: Oh, gosh. Now you’re going to make me cry. Thank you. It was beautiful. And really, ladies, just do something. I tell you that you will really feel empowered, and you’ll feel like a PCOS Diva after you do. And I look forward to hopefully seeing you at one of the conference events. And I look forward to being with you again soon on another podcast. Thank you.
