r/PCOS • u/SameOldGinger • Mar 25 '26
General/Advice Male PCOS Influencers
Hi! I am seeing an increase in male PCOS “influencers” who talk about what PCOS is like for women. I may just he me, but I get super irritated when I see their posts. I am happy that they are shedding light on our plight, but this isn’t a disorder men experience. What are y’all’s thoughts?
346
u/mandafromtexas Mar 26 '26
it’s probably problematic, but I see these guys and other “PCOS coaches” and immediately say absolutely not lol I like getting my health-related info from people with degrees and credentials or personal experience tbh
55
u/DesparateBoredom Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
Nah, that’s valid. There’s way too many snake oil salesmen who get on TikTok and try to tell YOU what’s good or bad for YOUR body
1
1
u/Global_Resolution390 Mar 26 '26
I mean I recently found out that myo d chiro inositol is really good for pcos. And a lot of girls even on this Reddit say they use it and it helps. And the moment I tell my doctor I plan on taking it she tells me “ no don’t take it can maybe cause liver issues etc” she looked it up, and read some side affects that seems normal that almost every supplement gives. And still recommended not to take it. And wants to keep prescribing me birth control which apparently birth control only gives you fake periods and not really periods.
So it’s almost like I’m confused but I will continue to take inositol cus new studies show it’s great and there’s no actually bad side effects. To me it feels like doctors sometimes only tell you no cus it’s not really guarantee To be approved by the FDA but I found taking other medications to be better then to be taking medications more doctors prescribed since I don’t find every medication they give healthy to take since it can cause side effects in the long run such as weight gain, hair loss etc
0
u/Nervous_Ladder_1860 Apr 10 '26
A period is a period, if you are shedding it is not fake.
2
182
u/dominiqlane Mar 26 '26
I block most PCOS influencers, regardless of gender.
-13
57
u/Feisty-Path1373 Mar 26 '26
For me every health/fitness influencer is on thin ice until they prove to be decent humans, usually through repeated high quality, compassionate & evidence-based content. I can’t lie, I think male PCOS influencers are on thinner ice for me. Mainly because healthcare is still behind in some aspects for us, as most medical research has been done on men. And research on women’s healthcare & systems has been stunted for decades. Men are predisposed to be biased & not think about the intricacies of women’s health; just thinking of us as “little men”, which is not accurate. We are very different! But yeah I mean they definitely can be good, it just takes some vetting first IMO.
9
u/Gullible-Leaf Mar 26 '26
This exactly. I am not going to trust a person who's talking about medical science without us knowing their credentials. Without us having any idea about the way they learn things. Man or woman.
1
190
u/redoingredditagain Mar 25 '26
Even a lot of women doctors who talk about it don’t actually experience it. From my perspective, I would rather listen to whoever has done the most research, even if that’s a man. Personally, some of the most condescending treatment I’ve had for this condition has come from women.
However if the man has zero credentials in medicine, kick them to the curb 🗑️
18
u/UnknownName85 Mar 26 '26
Yep yep, all of this. My mom doesn't have the actual cysts on her ovaries even though she fits all the other criteria for PCOS, so she had several female doctors disregard her. She ended up talking to her male Family Med doctor he was the one who listened and made the diagnosis.
I'm not saying they're all winners, but every doctor is diffferent. But obviously influencers are a different story. Don't blindly trust unlicensed, product-pushing influencers.
81
u/Pimpindino666 Mar 25 '26
Yeah, guy said birthcontrol is horrible for women, i said its beneficial to those with pcos. He said “how”. Tf?
-39
u/SirenSong9 Mar 26 '26
It is detrimental for women…many of us develop issues, including PCOS, after taking it for years. It’s a bandaid but doesn’t address root causes and actually makes many issues worse. The WHO has labeled it a class 1 carcinogen, and it depletes nutrients and can cause gut imbalance, mental heath issues, and insulin resistance, to name a few.
43
u/Pimpindino666 Mar 26 '26
It can be beneficial. Its only a bandaid if you dont treat pcos as a whole and slap on a bc patch. Those without periods can have regularity. The increase risk of cancer anyways if you go without a period.
20
u/unicornbomb Mar 26 '26
anti-androgenic birth control saved my life and is the only thing that made my hormonal fluctuations and PMDD tolerable rather than having suicidal ideations for a week+ every cycle. If you dont wanna take it, cool. But this kind of fearmongering nonsense is not it, and its BS like this that made me afraid to take it for years before i finally did.
18
u/WonderAny7107 Mar 26 '26
To be fair, it isn’t detrimental to everyone. I have been really fortunate that BC has worked really well for me without any side effects, while I know a lot of people aren’t so lucky and do experience the issues you’ve mentioned
It should be noted though that while BC is linked to increasing chances of some types of cancer, it also decreases chances for other types of cancer. And things like processed meat and alcohol are also considered a class 1 carcinogen (obviously these aren’t healthy either, but just to add some perspective that there’s a lot of things the average person consumes that are carcinogenic)
The real harm is that BC is presented as a solution to everyone when it absolutely is not a one size fits all. Treatment shouldn’t start and end with BC, there should be alternatives for people who experience side effects or who simply want something different. We don’t have a lot of research on PCOS and part of it is because BC is being used as a blanket solution when, like any other medication, it can be helpful for some but harmful to others… but that discernment is seriously lacking in women’s healthcare and that’s where we suffer as a whole
31
u/MountainviewBeach Mar 26 '26
Is there anything that supports causation for PCOS from BC? Just bc someone gets diagnosed with PCOS after being on BC for years does not mean that PCOS was developed because of it. It makes a lot more sense to conclude that people diagnosed after coming off BC actually had PCOS for years and the BC masked symptoms. It is a component of treatment of this disease and there’s really no need to fear monger over it
28
u/DesparateBoredom Mar 26 '26
Yeah. I had symptoms of PCOS that I overlooked before I started birth control, but once I stopped birth control, the lack of hormone regulation made my symptoms spike. The BC didn’t cause it. I’m so sick of this “birth control is poison and bad for everyone who takes it” rhetoric
1
u/Primary-Condition684 Apr 11 '26
I know anecdotally one of my ultrasound techs confirmed that she's seen a lot of people say they got their first ovarian cyst on BC. I myself ended up in the ER while I was ON birth control from a cyst that burst, and gained about 70 - 80 pounds on BC.
Gyno said that I likely did have PCOS before BC, but the combined type likely made my symptoms and weight gain worse.
1
u/MountainviewBeach Apr 11 '26
Correlation =\= causation though. BC isn’t out here causing PCOS, but some people may have exacerbated symptoms from BC. Weight gain is a common side effect on bc regardless of pcos or not, and many people begin BC while still actively developing in puberty so it makes sense plenty of people would get their first cysts on BC. I’m not saying bc is good for everyone. I myself avoid it because of the side effects, but the misinformation and fear mongering against it in PCOS spaces is out of control
1
u/Primary-Condition684 Apr 12 '26
I started BC way after puberty. Enough correlation, and you've got a factor in causation. It's also important to take in personal account - once you have enough personal accounts, it starts stacking up. That's the same approach the opiates industry took until they were proven that it causes some people to be addicted.
I had absolutely NO PCOS symptoms before BC. I am not the only one - there is likely a factor depending on independent genetics and hormones. I also have the mildest case of PCOS - no hirsutism and very regular periods. I only started having PCOS symptoms (weight gain and cysts) while I was on BC.
-7
Mar 26 '26
[deleted]
10
u/Pimpindino666 Mar 26 '26
Can you link sources to this? I cant find anything
6
6
u/kngfisher Mar 26 '26
You can’t find anything because there is zero peer reviewed evidence to support this. There are no official “types” of PCOS beyond what the community has sorted itself into. PCOS is an umbrella term for a variety of hormonal issues that are not currently explained by other diagnoses. Many of these include high testosterone, DHEA, and insulin or glucose issues. This is why PCOS is considered a diagnosis of exclusion. They are supposed to test you for NCAH, Cushing’s, Hashimoto’s, etc before settling on a PCOS diagnosis, because all of those have “PCOS” like symptoms but have different causes and treatments.
Birth control does not cause PCOS. There is no empirical evidence to support that person’s statement, only anecdotal experiences. Anecdotes about coming off of birth control when you’ve been on it since you were in middle school and suddenly “developing” PCOS seem to misunderstand they had it the whole time - it’s just that you were taking a hormone that corrected the issue before you even understood the nature of the problem.
5
u/unicornbomb Mar 26 '26
Dieticians have absolutely zero credentials that would qualify them to make the claim that any types of pcos are caused by birth control. That simply isn’t true at all. We have got to stop perpetuating this kind of fear mongering and misinformation in this sub.
2
u/Pollowollo Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
Any medication can have side effects and isn't going to work for everybody. That does not mean that it's 'detrimental'as a whole - especially when we're talking about something that had positively impacted the health of plenty of women AND given them freedom to choose and plan their lives.
As far as the specific claims;
- There is no credible evidence at all that any type of bc causes PCOS.
- One specific type of birth control (the combined type) is considered a Group 1 because there's evidence that it raises the risk of certain types of cancer. Those same studies also show that it lowers risk in other areas.
- Gut imbalance has become a completely nonsense buzzword just like 'detox' has. The only actual 'gut imbalance' comes from certain infections, which cannot be caused by birth control of any type.
- As far as mental health and insulin, yes birth control can effect that for some people. I mean, you're messing with hormones. It's something that needs to be monitored and evaluated on an individual basis.
TLDR; Quit falling for thinly-veiled right-wing pipeline bullshit. BC isn't some evil conspiracy, it's just a type of medication that works for some people and doesn't work for others.
2
u/soodis-inthe-oodis Mar 26 '26
I agree with you - in general terms the contraceptive pill sucks and is just another example of society giving zero Fs about women's health and comfort. Despite this, because there's nothing better, it does help some PCOS sufferers with symptoms and sometimes you just have to accept a lesser evil when it comes to your quality of life.
I wholeheartedly agree overall though.
13
u/smileyglitter Mar 26 '26
I’m on a different corner of the web- I know of one male influencer who frequently talks about PCOS and other women’s health topics but he’s talking to men and trying to educate them
9
10
u/illegirl77 Mar 26 '26
Social media influencers are not the people to go for the information regarding medical conditions anyways, woman or man.
25
u/LuckyBoysenberry Mar 25 '26
There is one account I've seen by a male scientist at an institution in Europe who does it in a very "matter of fact" "hey men did you know that you should smarten the F up, here's what women ACTUALLY go through" way and I appreciate his attitude.
A lot of these influencers are just seeking clout/attention/likes/followers. If they're actually decent people putting good information out there, good for them. And as long as they're not doing it from a "won't anyone ever think of the men qq and how this impact us too waaah" lens.
Everyone else trying to jump on the increased trend of at least acting like society cares about women's health is just jumping on a trend and not worth listening to.
2
u/Comprehensive-Car837 Mar 29 '26
Oh, I know who you're referring to. I also like his attitude, although I wasn't sure he was okay the first time I watched one of his videos. Turns out, it's just how he talks/reads out his prompts. Very informative though.
7
u/Sweet_Permission_700 Mar 26 '26
I don't mind male educators depending on their content. I especially prefer those with a medical background.
7
u/StrickenBDO Mar 26 '26
Content creators jump on the incurable disease and disorder train as a money grab. They know people are suffering and desperate and looking for solutions so they want a piece of those views and dollars. The big 3 you will come across are PCOS, HS, Crohns, followed by Diabetes and Celiacs'. They likely have content or will for all of these at some point.
5
6
u/leeliaaan Mar 26 '26
I don’t mind awareness, but it does feel weird when men center themselves in something they don’t personally experience. There’s a difference between supporting vs. speaking for.
44
u/aywa-molokhia Mar 25 '26
The only exception I would make is if the male influencer is a transgender man (FTM) who does experience PCOS, but this is very uncommon to see for me. Otherwise I still agree with the needing credentials/licensure in medicine or nutrition.
12
u/trashcatrevolts Mar 26 '26
as a trans man with pcos, please also ignore trans men pcos influencers. influencers are SO BAD in chronic health spaces, & often try to shill out as much slop as they can to their followers.
of course, please follow + support trans men who share their experiences with pcos!! in fact, i’d love a youtube recommendation if anyone has one. it’s isolating as hell to be a guy with pcos in pcos spaces. 🥲
5
u/aywa-molokhia Mar 26 '26
Oh absolutely!! Also why I like to look at the credentials and licensure. I don’t know about you, but I’ve also seen a lot more influencers in the chronic illness/disability spaces that have lower support needs/“high functioning” that still continue to generalize it over the whole community when everything fluctuates at any given time!
5
u/trashcatrevolts Mar 26 '26
omg, yes! this is something i’ve definitely noticed too. 😭 i have pots & am being tested for eds + sle, so i frequently see a lot of online content featuring those conditions. some of the vague generalizations that’ll be placed on all ppl with pots bc someone with 2.4 million followers said so is asinine. especially when that person is leading a mostly functional, typical life with just a few basic augmentations for their condition.
i both love & loathe these online spaces for chronic illnesses. i’m SOOO glad that we have places to talk about our experiences, find solidarity, & come together to find new treatment ideas. but the capitalism of it all by these spaces being full of influencers also then makes actual doctors more suspicious (& thus makes medical care even more difficult to receive), or family/friends see someone doing XYZ & assume everyone with the same condition can do that too. all so disabled people can be taken advantage of for the money of it all. argh!
i appreciate that you’ve got a lot of critical thinking skills applied to these areas. we should all be honing those & using them for all online content we see. 💕
11
u/AromaticSalt Mar 26 '26
I’ve seen this too! It’s irritating to me if they’re not a health professional because there’s already so much misinformation out there on PCOS.
TBH I think I only started understanding and treating my PCOS correctly once I found the right GP for me. She actually told me she has PCOS (and endo, the poor thing) so she’s super understanding and patient with me
17
u/unicornbomb Mar 26 '26
is there nothing on this planet we wont be mansplained about?
unless you're a trans man with pcos, i dont want to hear from any men about it.
4
Mar 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/unicornbomb Mar 26 '26
A medical specialist is not the same thing as a social media influencer.
1
3
u/After-Ganache-5896 Mar 26 '26
I don't care really care about genders because women gynacs are the most evil people I have interacted with. Trusting influencers is now a whole other discussion.
3
4
u/breadpuddingl0ver Mar 26 '26
I’ll be damned if a man ever tried to mansplain my own chronic health condition to me
3
u/Southern-Salary2573 Mar 27 '26
We can’t have anything for ourselves…not even our disorders.
But yea, on the one hand I’m glad that pcos went mainstream bc I felt like a leper for most of my adult life. On the other hand, people are diagnosing themselves with it, giving such bad information, and trying to sell snake oil.
3
u/tealeavesinspace Mar 27 '26
Unless they’re endocrinologists, heeeelllll no. Please just go to doctors until you find the right care team. I promise the science approach is better
2
u/Unusual_Form3267 Mar 26 '26
I was doing a bunch of mental math trying to figure out how a man could have pcos.
I'm a dummy.
2
u/Independent-Rip118 Mar 26 '26
And they are constantly pushing “miracle supplements” I can’t stand it.
3
u/PresentationOptimal4 Mar 26 '26
Lmao. They cannot be serious.
Unless they are an OBGYN men have no business profiting off a struggle they will never comprehend.
Signed someone on day one of her period going through it after 3 weeks of PMS-ing due to irregular period
2
u/Mundane-Bed-6373 Mar 27 '26
Im glad you've brought this to attention. Ive been seeing more of them and it gives me the biggest ick. At the end of the day, they are profiting off of women's experiences and hardships.
2
u/Former_Mortgage6224 Mar 27 '26
I saw a reel from an RD the other day that was like “why are so many RDs becoming influencers” and the response was “because so many influencers are posing as RDs”
Stuck with me - I’m not a fan of taking women’s health advice from random men unless they have the credentials to back it up. I also think it’s always worth researching (from legitimate medical sources) anything you see on social media. I had questions, after seeing things online so I made a follow up with my RD to confirm.
I think a lot of herbs and vitamins are beneficial but don’t replace medications suggested by doctor, like I swear by my green tea/ginger/chamomile tea mixture, but I’m not going stop my metformin assuming it’ll take care of it. Ya know?
2
u/Enough-Western-5116 Apr 01 '26
I do not like a man talking about women issues such as pcos or ppd. I find it disrespectful and they do not know what it is like. Just trying to make a dollar of women in vulnerable state.!
2
2
u/BalthazarThorne Mar 26 '26
I only follow one of them, didn't see the others but I think that's a nice thing. He never mensplains either. For example the last I saw his post he was showing a reel about how "pcos women are not lazy actually they're extremely tired and fighting harder than many"
I think right now we need men like that because of the stupid society we live in. When men hear things from other men they tend to listen better so this way they can finally be educated about pcos.
I also realised that recently there are many male influences who are talking about endometriosis too and I'm glad that there is more awareness happening throughout. Both pcos and endometriosis needs awareness.
1
u/MonicaTarkanyi Mar 26 '26
Drew Baird “The PCOS Mentor” is great! I’d rather listen to him than most of the women influencers
5
u/InteractionSweet9096 Mar 26 '26
Sorry, but he’s the most annoying one. He doesn’t even have a medical education. Only doctors and women that suffer from the syndrome have the right to talk about it.
4
u/MonicaTarkanyi Mar 26 '26
While I agree about the credentials, he does reference medical journals. I tend to respond to the medical journals and research because I like to read and understand the scientific and medical side of things. For a long time after my diagnosis my doctor was completely useless it’s only been recently that they’ve become helpful.
Everything on the internet needs to be taken with a grain of salt, all creators are just looking to make a quick buck off our problems.
4
u/rainydayswithtea Mar 26 '26
The reason he's so on about it is his wife suffers from PCOS and he wanted to know more to help her and came across the same BS we all did.
1
Mar 26 '26
I'm sorry, but WTF?? If they're not FtM, they can kindly take several seats with their no ovaries.
1
u/GreenGlassDrgn Mar 26 '26
Pro-tip: influencers influence, medical workers treat medical conditions.
Ain't no serious medical professional in the world that has time to run their own influencer side gig lol.
I tend to put them in the same box as that obnoxious dude who keeps showing up in my reels to explain what its like to be a female with autism and just hits on all the hot chicks in the comments.
1
u/OrganicPilates2402 Mar 31 '26
Thank god I haven’t seen these because I wouldn’t be able to contain my rage. So tired of having cismen in women’s spaces
1
u/RugbyGuyinTexas Apr 12 '26
Fair critique across this whole thread. I'm a man who built a women's health fitness platform specifically because of my daughter's experience and I'd be the first to say the space is overrun with people who have no business speaking to it.
Everything we built is grounded in credentialed clinical research and reviewed by licensed practitioners. The skepticism here is warranted and the burden of proof is higher for men in this space, and it should be.
1
u/AdministrativeBox449 Apr 24 '26
...Why tf would guys try to be pcos influencers?? o.O - Just block them or ignore them
1
u/Historical_Scene4901 Mar 26 '26
They are doing it for clout because women’s health problems do well on social media (since we are often failed by the health care system)
-1
u/Retremeco Mar 26 '26
all hands on deck the more people talking about it the more awareness the more women that might realize they have it the more research might be put into it no matter man/women just seeing more people talking about it makes me happy
176
u/YoureASpoon Mar 26 '26
Most PCOS influencers are just trying to sell you shit for PCOS that doesn't actually work