Woman builds app to help woman who had a breakdown after growing beard

Anji Sandhu has invented an app to help people suffering polycystic ovary syndrome after her good friend had to be sectioned over her symptoms.

Carrie, who doesn’t want to be fully named or pictured, went from a social butterfly to refusing to leave her home after struggling with male pattern hair growth.

Anji hopes the app will help other women

She was hospitalised after her mental health deteriorated significantly, leaving pal Anji devastated and desperate to help.

It was then the 44-year-old Glasgow law student came up with PCOS Buddy for women and gender diverse people.

The app targets symptoms of PCOS, which is a common condition that affects how a woman's ovaries work.

The three main features are irregular periods, excess androgen causing high levels of "male" hormones in your body, and enlarged ovaries which contain many fluid-filled sacs that surround the eggs.

Now three years later, Anji is gearing up to launch her creation which contains the world's first hirsutism tracker for women with PCOS.

She told the Glasgow Times: “I was inspired by Carrie’s story because I watched her go from a very extroverted and academic young woman to being unable to cope and isolated.

“When she told me she had been sectioned because she couldn’t handle the hair growth under her chin I just really wanted to help.

“The app helps people who are really left to their own devices when it comes to their symptoms.

“Lots of women I spoke to during my research made it very clear they don’t know how to alleviate their symptoms.

“PCOS Buddy will help their recovery by telling them when to exercise more, reduce stress, what nutrition might help, and target individual symptoms.

“This helped Carrie see a massive difference in her recovery so we hope it will do the same for other women as well.

“This is a social issue as over time these lower quality of life and lower life expectancy over the shame.

“I found a lot of the symptoms marginalising which make people feel excluded and judged, so I really want to break down the PCOS stigma with my app.”

Polycystic ovaries contain a large number of harmless follicles that are up to 8mm in size, according to the NHS. The follicles are underdeveloped sacs in which eggs develop.

In PCOS, these sacs are often unable to release an egg, which means ovulation does not take place.

It's difficult to know exactly how many women have PCOS, but it's thought to be very common, affecting about one in every 10 women in the UK.

The exact cause of PCOS is unknown, but it often runs in families.

It's related to abnormal hormone levels in the body, including high levels of insulin.

Now PCOS Buddy will use a bespoke wellbeing algorithm and artificial intelligence to predict future health.

This allows users to predict flare-ups and prepare to tackle their symptoms before they become unmanageable.

Anji is now looking for people struggling with PCOS to trial her invention alongside Aberdeen Medical School to gain valuable feedback.

You can volunteer to join the trial by visiting pcosbuddy.com ahead of the official launch later this year.