Key ideas from Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi

• 90% of women with PCOS, the leading cause of infertility, are never diagnosed despite affecting 15% of women - Dr. Aliabadi
• Painful periods are not normal and often indicate endometriosis, which takes doctors 9-11 years to diagnose on average
• Every woman should know their AMH (egg count) by age 20 and freeze eggs before 30 for optimal fertility outcomes
• PCOS has four distinct phenotypes, making diagnosis complex - patients can have regular periods and still not ovulate 70-80% of the time
• Insulin resistance drives 80% of PCOS cases, requiring metformin, inositol supplements, or GLP-1s rather than just birth control
• 50% of PCOS patients also have endometriosis according to Dr. Aliabadi's clinical observation over 25 years
• Women should calculate their lifetime breast cancer risk using the Tyrer-Cuzick tool - if 20% or higher, imaging starts at age 30
• Pelvic ultrasound should be mandatory in well-woman exams but most gynecologists don't perform them due to training gaps