Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Family, Parenting and Religion
The Difference a Name Can Make

The Difference a Name Can Make

Last updated on: May 13, 2026 at 12:05 am by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

The Difference a Name Can Make 2026-05-13T00:05:15-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A smiling ceramic pig. That last year of Catholic school, I got called "pig" by my classmates all the time as if it was my name.

image via Pixabay

Have you ever thought about the way changing a name can change your whole perspective?

If you follow medical news at all, you might have heard that a consensus of health organizations has changed the name of the chronic illness that up until yesterday was called poly-cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

The sickness formerly known as PCOS, is now called ‘polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome” (PMOS). There’s no change in the official list of symptoms, the treatment or the diagnostic criteria, just the name of the illness. It’s still the same incurable life-ruining gigantic grab bag of symptoms, caused by a slight imbalance of hormones that’s sometimes hard to pick up on a blood test. This condition used to be called poly-cystic ovary syndrome because its most visible symptom was a collection of dots that showed up on an ultrasound of the ovaries– which we now know are not really cysts but arrested egg follicles. One of the symptoms of PMOS is that the body tries to ovulate at the usual time every month and can’t; it pushes and pushes on the eggs, so to speak, but they often don’t come out of the folicles in the ovaries when they’re supposed to. This causes infertility, which is bad enough, but it’s far from the only symptom.

PMOS is not a disease of the ovaries. It’s an endocrine disorder which affects every single part of the body, ovaries included. Female bodies always produce a small amount of androgens like testosterone, but if you have PMOS, your body produces a bit too many: a small hormonal imbalance that wreaks havoc. That imbalance causes anxiety and depression, hair loss and hirsutism, acne, crippling fatigue. It causes extremely painful ovulation; irregular, painful periods; and if you manage to get pregnant, you’re at great risk for miscarriage and just about every pregnancy complication. PMOS causes severe weight gain from the tiny bit of extra testosterone fighting with the estrogen in the body, and it also causes insulin resistance that contributes to the snowballing weight gain as well as type 2 diabetes. PMOS puts you at risk for heart disease and a host of other dangerous conditions. The cause of the imbalance seems to be genetic. There is no cure. It’s hoped that, along with the name change, there will be a change in perspective on PMOS now. Doctors and the public will stop treating the syndrome like a disease that just affects the ovaries, and recognize that it’s a serious illness which can ruin a woman’s entire life.

My longtime readers know that I was diagnosed with PMOS in late 2020, just before Christmas, at the age of thirty-six.

Before then, my constant struggles with severe fatigue and muscle pain were misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia, and there was no explanation at all for my other symptoms: the anxiety, the high cholesterol, the weight gain no matter what I ate, the irregular cycles and infertility. I was presumed to just be a bad person, ever since puberty when I started to get fat. I can’t even tell you how many doctors, family members, and total strangers informed me I was lazy and greedy and just needed to go on a diet.

I will never forget when a handsome boy I had a crush on at the Catholic elementary school referred to me as “a big fat pig,” when I knew he was in earshot. Many people called me “pig” after that. That last year of Catholic school, in the fifth grade before I had my breakdown and started homeschooling, I got called “pig” by my classmates all the time as if it was my name.

My whole family also got in on the act. My siblings delighted to call me “pig,” “fat pig,” and “fat, clumsy oaf.” They liked to snicker when my mother mocked me in front of them and put me on diet after diet with no results. She was mortified by me, and she let me know it. My extended family got in on the act as well. I remember overhearing my mother talking on the phone with my grandmother one day, after Granny mailed me a pretty flowered dress to wear for my Confirmation. “Oh yes, it’s a tent, it’s a great big tent of a dress. But it looks nice on HER.”

That’s only one of the reasons I told my family I didn’t want to see them anymore after I moved to Steubenville.

After that, I got sicker and sicker, and then I got a host of new names. As the fatigue, and the referred pain from the ovaries shooting up and down my back and legs, got worse and worse, and I had to stay at home disabled by my illness, a lot of people called me a hypochondriac. They accused me of faking my dizzy spells for attention. At one point I found some relief in an expensive mixture of herbal remedies that gave me a bit of energy, and I was accused of making that up and called a grifter. The herbal remedies had a great big dose of kola nut in them, and the caffeine that gave me the illusion of energy eventually led to a crash and even worse symptoms, and I got called irresponsible for trying herbal remedies. That pattern of trying things to get healthier, being mocked for them, and giving up, went on for years. I think that’s a pattern that almost everyone with chronic illness can relate to.

Eventually, I got my diagnosis of poly-cystic ovary syndrome. There’s no cure for the syndrome, but there are treatments. I had the type of PCOS that responded well to ketosis, so I’ve been in ketosis almost every day for years now. That keeps my blood sugar steady and stops the progression of the insulin resistance. It managed to get me down out of plus sizes, which doesn’t make me a better person, but it’s certainly convenient when I go clothes shopping. And it gives me energy. I am usually not bedbound with terrible unexplained fatigue. I’ll never be thin, and trolls still mock me for being so fat now and then. But my sickness isn’t spinning out of control anymore. It’s stable.

Now my sickness has a new name.

I don’t have poly-cystic ovary syndrome. I have polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome. The name doesn’t really change anything, and yet it does. I don’t have a disease that primarily messes up my ovaries, with all the other symptoms playing second fiddle. I have a complicated endocrine disorder that has been a challenge for my entire life. And I’ve learned to cope with it.

I am not a pig. I am a chronically ill person. I wanted a great big Catholic family with seven children, and I ended up with one wonderful child who means the world to me. I am still processing my grief, but I’m getting there. My symptoms are under control, so I can exercise and have a better life. I know what it’s like to be tortured by name-calling, so I’m very careful to break the cycle and just teach normal, non-stigmatizing, healthy eating and exercise habits to my child. Adrienne and I go to the rec center together and lift weights for fun, and then we cook dinner together afterwards. I didn’t get the life I planned on, but I’m learning to like my life. It’s gotten better every year since I’ve gotten away from the people who only thought of me as a pig.

That’s just one example of what names can do to a person, and how changing a name changes everything.

What about you?

Have you ever had a change in your name, or the name of something about yourself, that changed your whole perspective on life?

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows an d Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, donate to “The Little Portion” on paypal or Mary Pezzulo on venmo

Family, Parenting and Religion

Health, Fitness and Religion

Previous Post

May 10, 2026

Where You Are, There is God

Next Post

May 13, 2026 The River, the Kingdom, the Cliff

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"You're talking about supercessionism, the idea that Christians "replace" the covenant that the Jewish people ..."

Alex

Yes, the Old Testament is About ..."

"Oh I'm sure it did."

Mary

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

"For what its worth, it seems like the whole thing originated from Pete Hegsith speaking ..."

Evil-Striker

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

"You may be right. A war and its aftermath are different than day-to-day governance. Still, ..."

Mary

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Titus, what did God do when his kindness and love appeared?

Select your answer to see how you score.

He established his church He destroyed his enemies He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit He sent his Son