Problematic PCOS- Part - I

Anwesha Chatterjee, Trainer, MNC, Yoga Please student since March 2022

I was in the carefree years of innocent adolescence before I faced this chronic condition. My menstrual cycles began at the right time, quite early in the onset of teenage. With practical advice from mothers, hush-hush discussions in girls’ schools, and more elaborate explanation of the menstruation process in biology textbooks, we learn it is normal biological functioning for women. I got accustomed to it, but the trouble began a couple of years later.

My cycle became erratic and inconsistent. Consulted a gynecologist; completed a string of hormonal tests and ultrasonography of the uterus. I was diagnosed with a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). Tiny balls were adorning my uterus like a pearl necklace. Yes, that is the explanation in the sonography report. I soon realized changes in my body.

• The most noticeable thing was the impromptu weight gain.

• The cycles remained erratic.

• There was unwanted facial hair growth. Needlessly, it was the most embarrassing thing for girls.

• The intrusive thoughts, anxiety, and overthinking got planted in me. It haunted me now and then; I had to struggle to fight it.

• Lack of energy for anything, feeling drained even after waking up from sufficient sleep.

• Inconsistent sleep patterns.

• Profuse hair fall. The volume thinned rapidly in the first couple of years of PCOS.

Later, after discussing with doctors and reading about the condition in women’s health magazines, I realised that the symptoms and experiences vary in differing degrees; generally, PCOS causes problem periods and infertility issues.

There is a lot of openness about this condition, at least in urban spaces. Thanks to the literature on social media. It was quite a daunting issue to deal it; back then in the early 2000s.

There is no medication to treat it; lifestyle changes like engaging in regular activity for fitness, refraining from junk food, etc help. I learnt it the hard way in successive years through trials and errors. But all that, in the next part.