PCOS! Weight Gain & Hair Loss! Opposite right?

First of all, I want to credit the above picture. It was from some renowned Indian Facebook page and the quote is said by actress Nithya Menon. Well, it might be relatable to many people and also got related here in my blog that's why I am using it. 

In my last blog, I talked about journey of mine being overweight, body shaming done by others,eventually leading to my poor confidence. There could be many reasons for weight gain and today I am gonna talk about mine. Well, I myself got to know about this two years ago. And I am still in the dilemma somehow.

I have PCOS which stands for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, also people say its PCOD i.e. Polycstic Ovary Disorder. I don't know about you but when I heard about the word PCOS for the first time from my doctor, (not the full form) I thought it was some kind of fancy thing. My doctor said, "You have PCOS" and I was like(in my head) "Wow! whatta cool name to hear! What is that?" but when she said its a disorder I didn't feel cool anymore. What should I expect? I had never heard of it ever!! Our school education didn't teach us that on HPE!! They didn't teach about PCOS/PCOD, hormonal imbalance and anything.

I got my first period when I was in class 7. I still remember the date which was 2067, Baisakh 25. It was Friday and my school was closed due to long educational or any other strikes. Who like periods right? I was also angry, scared because I have to bleed every month for the rest of my life until menopause. I have to put some stupid things inside my underwear, I have to have pain in stomach every months although I haven't eaten anything bad! I have to walk properly although I can't because of that stupid thing on. I have to be careful and I can't touch anybody and anything. I used to pray everytime when I am having period as "please don't let my another period come soon" although all the women in my house and around me used to tell me it's good and it was happening for good. Who cares! I didn't like it, I want it to happen late! And you know what, I thought God heard my prayers and I never got period on time. It used to be always late, more late but never precisely on 30 days till date. But little did I know, it was never meant to be a blessing but a curse which I used to think as blessing and it never had happened because of my prayers which I thought got fulfilled. 

PCOS is a hormonal disorder common among women of reproductive age. Women with PCOS may have infrequent or prolonged menstrual periods or excess male hormone (androgen) levels. The ovaries may develop numerous small collections of fluid (follicles) and fail to regularly release eggs. It's symptoms are Missed Periods, unwanted hair in the face, chest and other places like men, weight gain and obesity, excessive hair loss from the scalp. There are a lot of long term complications included type 2 diabetes, heart disease, infertility, and ovarian cancer (Source : Google) Damn! Scary right? You know what is more scary?? People with PCOS have this disorder by birth and it wasn't inherited from anybody. It's not even a disease and its just a hormonal imbalance in the body that is never curable but can be controlled only. Well, whatever I told just now is not told by my doctor. I knew about all this from Internet and I so always hate my country, it's health systems, education system and doctors for not including this serious issue on school books.

I got to hear about PCOS when I was 19 years old and I am 21 now. I am saying "hear" as I still don't want to say I know it fully because whatever I know might not be true enough too. As I have already told above, I enjoyed not getting period on time. You might be thinking how did I ended up checking about it. There came some point in my life when I knew "I am not overeating ever, I am not too much lazy as people think I am" and still I wasn't losing any weight. And also period was forever late. So there was this time when people used to say, "you might have some problems so that you aren't bleeding on time, you're gaining weight and you're not losing any". They suggested to just check once and there's nothing wrong to do that once. So that's how I ended up to just check it once. That's how I went to a hospital to visit a gynaecologist. There they asked me about my history of monthly cycles and I told I wasn't having regular periods often. The doctor might have guessed my imbalance looking at my body weight for my age and my missed periods, however suggested to have a thyroid test. I did that and it was normal. She also suggested to have a ultrasound test of my abdomen. I did that too. The reports came, everything was normal but I had a polycystic ovary. I was known with the term 'cyst' when I was in school. I know it has to be taken out by surgery or by the medications. So I asked my doctor "Do I have a cyst?" but she said, "No you don't have it (touch wood) but you have PCOS and its a hormonal imbalance, that's why you are not having periods and many girls have this" I got scared thinking what the hell is this now? She furthermore said "it can't be cured completely but can be treated and controlled. If it is not controlled, you can't have baby in future leading infertility". She asked me what do I study and I said honestly. She later told me to Google about it to further know about it, prescribed me medicines for 6 months which will help me get periods on time and asked me to come after 6 months. I was clueless, confused and scared. I couldn't ask anything because I was scared and I didn't know what to say. I thought that medication would control. She even said that medicine could cure for some people. The medication was a oral contraceptive pills and I then had it for few months as I was told by the doctor. 

After some months, from other people I came to know that medicine was waste of time and effort. It cured my missed period temporarily but it didn't cure my pcos and I was also having many side effects. I wasn't losing any weight, was having more hairfalls. Eventually, I stopped using that, my irregular period again returned back. After few months, I joined gym and lost some few kilos. I wasn't following any strict diet plans but I was doing good exercises not enough to lose more weight but my irregular period problem was slowly dissappearing. I was having periods every month. I was happy. I continued gym for three months and stopped because of my personal circumstances. I believed it was gone forever and won't come back now onwards but I was wrong. It was my fault that I took it light heartedly. 

PCOS is not something to be taken in a light manner. It is a complex disorder. I am glad that I got to know about it sooner. I am sure there are many young girls who have it and don't know about it yet. They are living their lives cheerfully like I was living by not having periods every month. Also, there could be many women who are married but don't know they have PCOS and aren't able to conceive. Their is also another superstition as "your irregular period will vanish away if you get married". I am not a biology student and a medical student but I think that's not how PCOS works. There are also many ill minded people in our society even the educated but ignorant one who thinks PCOS as a infertility when it is not. Periods are irritating but also beautiful. Now I understand that having period regularly is a healthy lifestyle and not a curse. I blame myself for being so ignorant because even after knowing about it I didn't take it seriously. If I hadn't quit the gym and continued it, I would have achieved my desire weight and controlled PCOS by now. But today, I am writing this blog in the middle of the night where I am already not bleeding for 4 months due to PCOS, having excessive hairfall, obesity, unwanted hair on my body, lots of mood swings, anxieties, awful dreams, scared of many complications that could happen, confusion to consult with another doctor and scared of every things that's circulating inside my head. I wish I had been serious earlier. Well, it's never too late for nothing but it can be late and more complicated when things get stucked about your health. So we really need to be worrying and alert but not panicked. 

Lastly, to all the people who got little bit idea about this thing through my blog or wherever you heard it. Please be kind to woman from your family if they have it. As we all know, we are still unaware of it. Many people don't know about this and don't talk about these things but I know many women in nepal have it. It's just our lack of knowledge we termed it as a disease and infertility but it's not. It's just a hormonal imbalance. Just like every other reproductive issues we get to listen everywhere, pcos should also be normalised, talked and made to be discussed in school levels. If we are taught about this, we would know about this. Girls would be interested in health, safety and hygiene eventually leading to regular period cases. And to all the doctors, we pay to visit you, we pay to know about what happened to us. Please don't send us back confused by saying "You can Google it!" If we had to Google it then why to visit hospital? Google even prescribes medicines right? PCOS can be controlled and mine was controlled temporarily with exercises and cardios for few months. It was mine ignorance that I quit just because I got lazy and prioritised something else more. But I know now, no any excuse is going to work for you when you want your good health. Hence, if you have it too or if anybody you know personally have it too, Do regular exercise, follow pcos friendly diet, be free from PCOS and encourage others too. I wish all the ladies who are suffering from it gets cured soon because it was not your fault to have it at beginning 😉🙏❤️

To an extended #PennedBySumuu Journey, CHEERS!!! 

Have a great time ahead. See yaaa soooneesttt!!!!