Please share your physical and emotional journey with PCOS.
For me managing PCOS naturally was a long road of struggle. I experienced PCOS symptoms such as delayed mensuration, fatigue, unexplained weight gain just after I finished college in 2009. But I never paid heed to these symptoms, never did I know the term PCOS. My major symptom constantly remained acne & hair fall, and my derma would give me some medications which would help these symptoms subside. Till now I am not sure if those medications he prescribed to me were hormones or not! I did not ask my derma the questions I should have and just kept popping the medications in a hope for some magic to happen!!
In 2013 my symptoms were back with a bang! I was told I did not exercise enough; I did try to be more active and managed to get my periods once in two months, but my periods only became absent. I was prescribed oral contraceptives by my gynae and Due to its side effects, I could not continue the pill for a long time. My struggle to correct my mensuration continued! IT just got WORSE when you had absolutely no one who could understand my symptoms including my loved ones.
I hit a point when I was at my unhealthiest state. I had poor lipids, vitamin deficiencies, extremely high visceral fat & triglycerides, perpetual feeling of bloating, gut issues & frequent allergies. Every health practitioner I went to, told me to change my lifestyle and honestly, I did not know what that meant apart from changing my diet.
Your Weight loss Journey.
That is when I took Health in my hands and started my own research on what means to change a hormone friendly lifestyle. I started my journey with identifying my stress factors- for me it was predominantly my super hectic work schedule and absolutely no time for workout with really bad eating habits!
With a step by step approach I started switching to a plant based diet and managed my stress levels through daily Yoga! I worked on my sleeping routine to align it with my circadian rhythm and took help of natural supplements for some time under the guidance of my Gynae!
Slowly my body started to heal. I realised my body never liked that animal meat and was responding very well to the plant-based diet. I felt more energetic, lost weight yes, but most importantly I felt healthier stronger and happier.
All my symptoms started to disappear once
- I included an overall lifestyle change rather than addressing one PCOS symptom. I honestly believe that our body is magical, and it heals once you start listening to it! It has been a couple of years- I have not had Acne, my periods are regular, I feel healthier, and I know what works for my body!
A thought that I would leave you with – try understanding what makes you happy! Probably losing all that weight still might not fix your period.
Since PCOS is largely stress induced try introspecting where is that stress coming from and how can you eliminate it- it could be stress from your late-night working, unbalanced diet, unhealthy personal relationships, or body image issues. Work towards those elements that induce stress in your life and its okay to take Professional help!!
Hope my journey could motivate you and you could relate with me at some bits. Learning from my own experiences and from my current nutrition course that I am pursuing, I find it gratifying to help women reverse their PCOS naturally through Lifestyle changes. I hope to educate and create even more awareness about natural healing of this disorder!
