Briana Nicole Henry Opens Up About Her PCOS Diagnosis
Becoming a parent is a wonderful blessing, but navigating those first few years of your child’s life can be extremely difficult. Recently, GENERAL HOSPITAL alum Briana Nicole Henry (ex-Jordan) opened up about the journey she’s been on since her daughter, Coda, was born on February 28, 2022. And in the heartfelt Instagram post, the actress was brutally honest about the struggles she’s been dealing with.
Henry began her post by admitting that she doesn’t like looking at photos of herself that don’t include her daughter. “She’s felt like a safe space I can hide from myself,” she confessed. “From the part of me that feels so sad and distant from this body I find myself in 14 months after birth.”
Sharing that “there’s been a lot going on in my heart and head space,” the former GH star then explained that she’d found it extremely difficult to bounce back to her pre-pregnancy body. At first, she gave herself grace as she had just experienced the miracle of pregnancy. But as time went by, Henry began questioning how to navigate all those changes in a body she no longer recognized as her own.
Eventually, she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, a common hormone problem that affects many women of childbearing years, when Coda was a few months old. “Which on top of everything I’d been through, felt like even more of something to think about and process that I didn’t have time for,” she wrote. “I’m still wrapping my head around it, to be honest. Confused because I don’t have a lot of the symptoms of someone who has PCOS, thankfully, but I’m learning there’s a spectrum. Like everything right? There’s a spectrum.”
As a result of her PCOS, Henry hasn’t been successful in losing her pregnancy weight, and while she’s working with professionals and has support in her journey, “it’s still hard. It’s hard to prioritize my health in the face of this new transition into motherhood.”
By opening up about the challenges she’s faced as a new mother, Henry hoped to let other parents “struggling with finding themselves again” know that they are not alone. “I told my husband that I feel most beautiful with Coda,” she added. “She has no concept of beauty, she just knows I feel good and safe to her. I’d like to adopt that philosophy. I’d like to be able to make myself feel safe, truly safe.”
Before signing off, a vulnerable Henry allowed to give herself still more grace moving forward. “Here’s to still moving through the mess,” she concluded. “To healing. To accepting. To nurturing ourselves.”
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