Clinical Resource
How PCOS affects desire and fertility – and what can help
Learn what support can you get if you have PCOS, low sexual desire, but high desire to get pregnant.
Colette Harris
Women's health communications specialist
Colette is passionate about closing the gender health gaps in research, access to information and authority, and helping women feel more confident coping with health challenges. She wrote the first book for women about PCOS in the 1990s, having been diagnosed herself aged 23. She has edited national health magazines, been Head of Health Content for national charities including the British Heart Foundation, and has created self-management programmes for people with long-term conditions in collaboration with health psychology specialists.
"Discrimination is built into our research, healthcare and self-management advice, and I've been fighting to change that ever since I struggled to get a PCOS diagnosis."
Do you have any specialist interests?
So many! PCOS, endometriosis and perimenopause/menopause due to personal experience. Heart health, asthma, gut health, mental health and migraine because of family and friends - and the fact that women experience these conditions more or differently to males but the evidence needs to catch up.
Why are you passionate about women's health?
Females are half the world's population, yet medical trials and research has so many gaps about female physiology, including hormonal differences. I am relieved and shocked that UK GPs have had mandatory women's health training since 2024. Recently I had a young male GP tell me menopause has nothing to do with heart health – yet all the evidence says it does. This needs to change.
What one piece of advice would you give to our audience?
Get to know your body, your rhythms, what's normal for you - so that if you notice any changes you can talk to your GP to find out what's shifting. But be aware that if normal for you means being in pain or unable to take part in daily activities or work, then it isn't necessarily 'normal' in general. And it's worth speaking up – even if you talk first to other women in online forums from a trusted charity to give yourself the confidence boost to see your doctor.
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