How Self-Care changed my life: My journey with PCOS

I was 10 when my menstrual cycle started, pretty early as compared to the standard but never really bothered thinking about it. By the age of 17 I had started putting on a certain amount of weight. My mom thought it was normal at this age cause most girls have fluctuations in their body when their menstrual cycle begins and also because I was pretty thin my entire childhood.

PCOS symptoms

PCOS symptoms

PCOS symptoms

As the months passed by, I experienced many changes in myself, my cycle became irregular, from once a month to once in 15 days. This was followed by unbearable pain during my menstrual cycle, hair fall, vomiting and continuous weight gain.

Slowly it started affecting my productivity at school. I had to skip school for a couple of days every month, pop in painkillers like candy and used to vomit my guts out. The weight gain had also made me insecure and self-conscious at times as I had never seen myself that way before.

PCOS symptoms

PCOS symptoms

That’s when my mother started researching and found out about PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). The first myth that I’d like bust here is that PCOS is not a disease, it doesn’t mean you’re sick. Instead it’s just simply all about self-care. PCOS is the red signal to revamp your lifestyle and daily self-care habits.

Despite visiting multiple doctors and taking medication when there was no change, I realized that PCOS isn’t something that’ll disappear by taking medicines, it will keep recurring if you don’t follow a strict self-care routine.

Self-care habits that minimized by problems by 90%:

1. Eating right:

Just like how self-care is important for your skin, hair and face, it is equally important to keep a track on what food you consume. Curating healthy eating habits will not help you control PCOS but also avoid future major health ailments such as diabetes, obesity. With the increasing craze for junk food it becomes difficult to inculcate these habits but creating a self-care checklist and ticking off your goals each day will help you go a long way.

PCOS diet quinoa

PCOS diet cinnamon water

PCOS diet chia seed pudding

2. Working right:

PCOS leads to weight gain and weight gain leads to PCOS. Which means that it is extremely difficult for a person with PCOS to lose those extra pounds. In my experience, no other medicine will give you the results that a regular workout will. You don’t have to lift weights or run on the treadmill for an hour. You can do any form of activity that focuses on your pelvic muscles, calms your mind and helps you shed those extra kilos. It could be jogging in the park or swimming or practicing yoga. Keeping a strict track on my weight and practicing pelvic muscle exercises has helped me drastically.

PCOS workout yoga

PCOS workout pelvic exercises

PCOS workout swimming

3. Thinking right:

Healthy eating habits and exercising is something that everyone will tell you. But self-care isn’t only about your body. What most people do not talk about is the impact of PCOS on your mind. Controlling PCOS has a lot to do with your mental self-care, what you think, what you feel and what you absorb from your surroundings. PCOS causes severe mood swings, it makes you cranky and irritable. It reduces your productivity and the will to do anything at times. Stress is a major enemy of PCOS.

PCOS impact on mental health

how to tackle PCOS

Which is why it is so important to look after yourself and think right. Create a self-care routine which gives enough importance to your mental health. Meditate, practice breathing exercises and exhale out all the negativity and stress from your mind. No medicine and no trick will do this job for you.

Create a self-care journal or planner through which you can track your goals. Even if you do not have PCOS, it is extremely important for every woman to look after her body, mind and soul so that there are no red signals in the form of PCOS. Self-care can enhance your emotional health and improve your self-esteem which in turn will help you cope with the impact of PCOS on your mind.

After having PCOS since 9 years, as I write this today, I have managed to lose 15 kgs to get my weight in control, I try to follow a healthy eating pattern on most days with very occasional junk food (which is completely fine!). But most of all, I make sure to not let any menstrual cramp, mood swings or irritation waver my mental peace. I make it a point to stay strong and calm despite the pain which is still unbearable at times and last but not the least I follow a self-care planner to try and make sure that I can minimize the stress as much as possible and focus on my body & mind.

I would love to urge every girl to try and practice these basic things as a part of their self-care routine and would love to discuss about the same in our self-care forum.

I have also attached a PCOS self-care planner for the week which I follow to keep a tab on my daily progress. It can also be used by people who want to avoid the risk of having PCOS.

PCOS self care planner

You can also download self-care apps like Cure to monitor your cycle, eating pattern and your mood swings. This app will help you predict your next due date and keep you well updated for planning important events in the coming month.

This self-care app and the planner have helped me monitor how far I’ve come every week and has proven to be very useful to remind myself that self-care is indeed a priority and not a luxury. Click here to open Cure.

Lastly, the most important way to self-care is to smile and be happy, so don’t forget that! Hope you find this helpful!

P.s. The items in the PCOS planner are just an example of what food you should intake and what activities you should practice. All these items should be coupled with your daily food intake.

PCOS Weekly Planner.pdf

Download PDF • 32KB