Living with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI)

Hello!

My name is Sophia, and I’m a 20-year-old college student living with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). Over the past year, I’ve undergone seven egg retrievals, navigating hormone injections and recovery while balancing college deadlines, heavy lifting in the gym, and a relationship.

Introduction

So here’s something I never thought I’d be typing out: I’m 19 years old, in college… and I’ve been diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI).

If you’ve never heard of that before, welcome to the club, I hadn’t either. Basically, my ovaries decided to clock out early, and that’s led to a lot of conversations and treatments I never imagined having this young.

To be super clear up front: I’m not trying to have a baby right now. I’m just trying to pass my classes, eat three real meals a day, go to the gym regularly, and figure out what I actually want to do with my life. But having POI still hits hard, because it changes how I think about the future, about my body, my hormones, and what people expect from someone my age.

Most people in their teens or early 20s don’t even think about their fertility. And honestly? They shouldn’t have to. But when you’re told things like “You might not be able to have biological kids later” or “You should consider freezing your eggs now,” it throws you into this weird in-between space. You’re too young for all this… and yet, here you are.

I started this blog because I felt alone with it. Google was terrifying. Instagram didn’t really show anyone who looked or lived like me. And talking about infertility as a teenager or young adult just feels awkward, like people assume you’re either exaggerating or just being dramatic.

But this is real. It’s confusing. It’s emotional. And it deserves to be talked about.

So I’ll be writing about all of it: hormone treatments, mood swings, doctors who don’t take you seriously, dating while dealing with this, body image, awkward convos, and the moments that just make you go “wtf is my life right now?”

If you’ve been diagnosed with POI, or something similar, or if you just want to understand what this is like, I’m glad you’re here.

This space is for us.