The 30-year-old sales and marketing manager from Buckinghamshire has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal imbalance in which women’s ovaries produce excessive amounts of the male hormone testosterone.
This results in the formation of small harmless cysts as well as symptoms such as excessive hair growth (known as hirsutism), baldness, erratic periods, weight gain, acne and fertility problems.
The condition, which affects one in ten British women, should not be confused with polycystic ovaries, which merely describes the appearance of small cysts on the ovaries. (Roughly 20 per cent of women have this condition with no effects at all and no problems conceiving.)
Women with PCOS have both the cysts and the symptoms caused by excess testosterone.
While Marianne is fortunate to have few of the symptoms, she is blighted by excess hair, which she says makes her feel utterly unfeminine.
‘As well as waxing my face every fortnight, I use an epilator on my abdomen,’ she says.
‘If I didn’t, the hair on my face and body, which is thick and very dark, would be grotesque.
‘Bill is sweet and maintains he doesn’t notice a thing, but it’s impossible for him not to see the hair growth.
‘I hate it. I’m fighting what feels like a losing battle against hair sprouting in places no woman should have it.’
The condition can run in families and Marianne believes a great-aunt had it.
‘She didn’t have children, and I remember her whiskery chin very clearly,’ she says.
