Page 5 - February 2020 Issue Forensic PDF

India Has A PCOD Problem – 5 Women Share Their Stories

obesity… Then, there is
P further stress and depres-
C sion,” she says. What Dr.

O Coelho describes is a re-
S lentless cycle: hormonal

imbalances triggering
A weight gain, anxiety, and
W PCOS that contributes to

A further hormonal imbal-
R ances that make living

E healthy a mammoth task.
N Ayesha and Nairika both
E tell me of another unique

S Photo Courtesy of google.com struggle for women with
S ings of disappointment myself… I was borderline PCOS: the inability to

when she was unable to bulimic. I reached a point have a successful preg-
2 lose weight. where I was harming my- nancy.
0 self,” she says recalling

2 A 2013 study conducted the countless nights she Ayesha says that the
0 by The Iranian Journal of has cried herself to sleep. thought of needing to get

Reproductive Medicine Nairika says her gaining pregnant by the age of 30
(IJRM) found that women 15kgs in six months trig- to have the best chance to

who suffer from irregular gered dangerous eating deliver children is a huge
menstrual cycles are more habits. “I started starving source of anxiety because

dissatisfied with their bod- and purging... My skin it feels like an unneces-
ies and have lower levels became grey and brittle. sary, self-imposed dead-
of self-esteem than those My hair started falling line. Nairika tells me that

who don’t. out… My mother would her doctor offered medi-
sit with me for two hours cation that would make

So it’s unfortunately un- after I ate to make sure I her menstrual cycle more
surprising to hear that wouldn’t purge,” she tells certain, “but he said, ‘If
Sarah Patil, a 20-year-old me. you want to be a mother,

student in Mumbai, devel- it’ll affect your chances,’”
oped an eating disorder af- Dr. Coelho says, “Stress she says.

ter she was diagnosed with causes an unhealthy life-
PCOS. “I used to starve style, which results in

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