Tuesday

PCOS and Indian Women - PCOS affects nearly 35% of Indian Women

 As some of you might know, I come from an Indian background. I was shocked to find out nearly 35% of women in India have PCOS. It is a no brainer why we would have got this as health awareness is very less in India. Our diet is full of refined foods and sugar and there is no sign of this epidemic slowing down. Though we have one of the largest PCOS population in the world, we don’t have any support groups to share our experiences.

When I was thinking about the reasons for our PCOS epidemic, our lifestyle comes to my mind. Typical of Indian families, many of us are not encouraged to do exercise or instructed to follow healthy food habits. The worst part is Indian doctors don’t think of PCOS as an issue, because it is so common. Even after I came to Australia, I was following typical Indian diet. My diet mainly consisted of parboiled rice, maida and refines wheat flour etc. The symptoms I had related to PCOS were acne and irregular periods. I never did exercise and don’t feel like doing it anyways. Luckily, I became aware of PCOS as one of my colleague’s girlfriend had it. As I had acne, I pretty much concluded even before getting my blood tests that I have PCOS.

For anyone reading this, please be aware that getting diagnosed with PCOS is not an easy thing. i.e. When you go to a doctor for irregular periods , they might just prescribe you BCP’s. Though 70% of women with irregular periods have PCOS, you might not get diagnosed for that in your first consultation. Most women get diagnosed with PCOS, only after they consult the doctor for infertility.

If you have adult acne or anyone you know has it, get diagnosed for PCOS. It is vital to get diagnosed and treat it appropriately to avoid the risks of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. If you have family history of PCOS or diabetes, then your risks of getting PCOS is higher. Regarding diet, try to consume as much whole grains a possible.

I was able to change my diet and get rid of my PCOS symptoms such as acne and irregular periods. It tried cutting rice from my diet and it helped with my cravings. My diet typically contains Low GI bread and whole wheat flour rotis as my staple. Whole wheat flour is full of fibre. It releases energy slowly into your body and thus helps Insulin Resistance.

The rest of my diet consists of items such as avocado, which are easily available in Australia. To help with irregular periods, I consumed carrot and beetroot juice. Your body must be capable of detoxifying the toxins, beetroot being a blood purifier helps heavily with it. Carrot juice helps your liver in eliminating those toxins.

Try consuming lot of legumes and pulses, as they are high source of protein. Try consuming hot water whenever possible, as the fat deposits get released with hot water. Avoid deep fried foods from restaurants.

Exercise regularly. If you can’t join a gym try to do skipping at home. Start doing it for 5 minutes and slowly increase it to half an hour. You can do it while watching TV, so you don’t have to allocate a special time for it.:)

Also, d-chiro-inositol can be used to treat women with PCOS. As it is quite expensive to buy it online, you can try having buckwheat. Buckwheat is a rich source of DCI and it helps with the PCOS symptoms greatly. Buckwheat is also know as kuttu in Hindi and Papparai in Tamil.

I am a big fan of Buckwheat flour dosa..I will post the recipes soon....:)

In addition to making lifestyle changes I also took the Insulite PCOS system and False Unicorn Root in the month I  got pregnant naturally. Both are bit costly supplements but it worked in my case.

If you have been told by doctors that getting pregnant is harder and suggested the IVF path start making these lifestyle changes I see whether it makes any improvement in your symptoms(i.e. regular periods, less acne etc..) . If your PCOS symptoms improve with proper diet and eating habits, then there is a real possibility you can get pregnant naturally.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are absolutely right. In our Indian diet we consume white rice, white fours, idli, dosa etc in our daily routine. Even doctors do not prescribe any diet plan. After coming to US even I cae to know abt many diet plans.

Anonymous said...

Pls give few more diet plans if ts possible.

Anonymous said...

Hello priya
this is a good read. I am from India and I am 34 years single.I was diagnosed with PCOS 2 years back. My doctor prescribed some zinc tablets and told me to have them for 1 month and discontinue it as it might cause a problem later on after marriage to conceive.I am not taking any medicine now but I have some symptoms like weight on abdomen area,tummy,hair loss,stomach bloating. I have read about Apple cider vinegar helpful in PCOS treatment. what is your opinion.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much Priya ji, it encourage me to maintain dieting plan. I am planning to visit doctor soon to diagnose PCOs.

Vineetha said...

Eagerly waiting for the Buckwheat flour dosa recipe. I wonder what the malayalam name for buckwheat is. And is it advisable to take Insulite PCOS system and False Unicorn Root without consulting a Doc?

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Anonymous said...

hi,

you done a geat thing , getting this blog started on PCOS. most people are absolutetly unaware of it and the side effects.

however just a point, acne is one of the more minor side effect of the disease, there are other major concern points of this disease.

Anonymous said...

Hi priya
I am very happy to finally see a blog about indian woman with pcos. I suffer from pcos for past 10 yrs and tried various western medical approaches but recently I have started Ayurvedic treatment and diet and have noticed lots of positive changes. I would love to read more buckwheat recipes from you. I shall also post few buckwheat recipes that I am aware about . Your doing a great job providing all this information. Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Hi I am suffering from PCOS....culd u hep me

Anonymous said...

ty for the information.

seems like now I complete background of what I am actually suffering from.

Anonymous said...

can u tell me d name of buckwheat in marathi or hindi,

Anonymous said...

I am in Indian girl moving to Australia soon. I have been prescribed Metformin drugs...I exercise 5 times a week and eat healthy. So in Australia what medicine would the doctor recommend? I am moving to Sydney and would you know a good OB or Gynecologist that I can consult in Sydney? I will be getting married in Nov and in Dec I will be moving there. any suggestions?

Priya said...

Hi there, Buckwheat flour is called kuttuk atta in Hindi..

Priya said...

I think in Aus they prescribe Metformin as well but only if you have Insulin resistance....I am afraid I can't recommend any Ob in specific...If you ask the locals after you move in that might be your best bet...

Isha said...

Thanks Priya for the insightful blog ! I am 23 and suffering from PCOD since a year and a half. There is one more thing that i would like to share with you all, including 2 cups of spearmint tea in your daily diet will give you good results. Spearmint is known to reduce the free flowing androgens from the body and also relaxes the mind. Greentea is also very helpful in PCOD as it keeps the blood sugar level controlled and acts as a catalyst in weight reduction !! I have tried these myself and got positive results !

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