Hi, I’m the person behind Not Just Hormones.

I’m a third year medical student in the UK with a growing interest in obstetrics and gynaecology, and — maybe more relevantly to why this blog exists — a woman of colour who’s spent years navigating Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (recently renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, or PMOS) myself.

I started noticing the gap between these two parts of my life pretty early on. As a patient, I sat through appointments where I left with more questions than I walked in with, symptoms explained away in a sentence, and years of quietly Googling things at midnight because nobody sat me down and actually explained what was happening to my body. As a medical student, I started learning the science behind exactly those things — and realised how much of it is genuinely explainable, if someone just takes the time.

Not Just Hormones is my attempt to be that someone, for other people — and the name isn’t accidental. It’s a direct response to the number of times I, and so many women I know, have been told “it’s just your hormones” as a way of brushing off real symptoms instead of explaining them. Hormones do matter, more than most people realise — but “just” is the word that always stuck with me, like the explanation was supposed to be the end of the conversation, not the start of one. This blog is the start of that conversation instead.

This isn’t a personal diary, and it isn’t a substitute for your doctor either. It’s somewhere in between: information you can actually trust, written by someone close enough to the science to explain it properly, and close enough to the experience to know why it matters.

What you’ll find here:

This blog covers the full scope of obstetrics and gynaecology, wherever I can help. Not just specific conditions, but the things nobody explains clearly enough, from the science behind a diagnosis to what actually happens during a procedure you’ve been referred for, to questions you didn’t know you were allowed to ask. If it’s something a woman might sit in an appointment wondering about, it’s fair game here.

A note on who I am (and who I’m not):

I’m a medical student, not a qualified doctor, and everything I write here comes from a mix of my own studies, publicly available guidance from sources like the NHS and NICE, and lived experience — not clinical practice. Nothing on this site is personal medical advice, and it’s never a substitute for actually being seen by someone qualified. You can read more about exactly what that means on the Medical Disclaimer page. I’m also early in my journey to becoming a doctor myself, so think of this blog as growing alongside my training — I’ll always aim to be accurate, but I’ll also always be learning.

Want to get in touch?

Got a burning question you’ve never had properly answered? A topic you think deserves its own post? Spotted something that doesn’t look quite right, or just want to flag a correction? I genuinely want to hear it. This blog only gets better with input from the people actually reading it, so don’t hold back — head to the Contact page and get in touch. I’d love to hear from you!