At 14, an age when most younger women start to discover magnificence and trend tendencies, Anshula Kapoor was caught up battling Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). The insecurities that stemmed from the bodily signs of this hormonal situation, made her teenage years worse, pushing her right into a cocoon. As a public determine who’s open about her PCOS wrestle, Anshula has typically addressed the challenges she confronted and the way she overcame them. In a modern interview with Well being Pictures to mark PCOS Consciousness Month, the daughter of filmmaker Boney Kapoor has spoken in regards to the position her mom and gynaecologist performed in serving to her cope with the unwanted effects of the medical situation. This additionally highlights the necessity for extra ladies to assist ladies going by way of well being points, moderately than stigmatizing them.

“I used to be recognized with PCOS after I was about 14 or 15 years previous—inside the first couple of years of getting my interval. The bodily signs have been the toughest to return to phrases with, not to mention start to beat,” Anshula says in an electronic mail interview.

Anshula Kapoor: I had a thick moustache and hair round my double chin

For the uninitiated, PCOS is a hormonal situation that primarily impacts ladies of reproductive age. On this situation, the ovaries have a tendency to supply an extra quantity of androgens or male intercourse hormones, resulting in quite a lot of signs. A girl might expertise heavy or scanty durations, delayed or frequent durations, extreme facial hair progress, zits or oily pores and skin, extra hair progress on the face and physique, hair thinning or baldness, and belly weight acquire, amongst others.

In Anshula Kapoor’s case, the signs have been no completely different.

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“First, there was the relentless weight acquire, and second, the extreme facial hair. I immediately had a really thick moustache and a number of hair rising round my double chin. Being Punjabi, I naturally have a number of physique hair. However earlier than PCOS, most of it was focused on my sidelocks. After the onset of PCOS, I began sprouting rather more facial hair and didn’t know methods to deal with it. Waxing and threading was painful,” says Anshula.

She additionally had heavy, irregular durations, possible occurring as soon as each two to two-and-a-half months. “After they did come, they might final for about 15 to 17 days, with such heavy bleeding that I typically couldn’t get off the bed or go to high school. I had no vitality and would bleed by way of each pad I wore. These have been among the struggles I distinctly keep in mind,” recounts the 33-year-old.

Anshula Kapoor on the significance of PCOS assist for girls

What helped her immensely was the bodily and emotional assist of her mom, late Mona Kapoor who died following a most cancers battle in 2012.

“I used to be extremely grateful to have my mother with me throughout that point as a result of she helped me settle for that facial hair wasn’t the tip of the world. She used to inform me it was okay if I didn’t wish to endure the fixed waxing and the boils that got here with it. She reassured me that having extra facial hair than my greatest good friend didn’t make me any much less of a woman,” shares Anshula in an empowering message for girls who face an identical battle.

Earlier in 2024, India noticed UP Board Class X examination topper Prachi Nigam face the trolls attributable to extreme facial hair and weight acquire, linked to PCOS. It dropped at mild the insensitivity ladies with hormonal points typically should face. As per the World Well being Group, PCOS impacts an estimated 8-13 p.c of the reproductive-aged ladies. Nonetheless, the signs could be managed by way of way of life tweaks, medicines and fertility remedies. Round 70 p.c of the affected ladies stay undiagnosed worldwide, highlighting the lack of expertise round this well being difficulty.

For Anshula Kapoor, the burden acquire was tougher because it got here coupled with intense cramping, decrease again ache, thigh ache, and extreme bleeding. “I don’t assume I might have gotten by way of these days with out my mother’s bodily presence and emotional assist,” she asserts.

Consciousness helped me handle PCOS higher, says Anshula

What additionally helped her was discovering a gynaecologist who took her considerations significantly, was light, and understood what she was going by way of. “My mother’s gynaecologist grew to become mine as nicely, and he or she was probably the most kind-hearted medical doctors I’ve ever met. Sharing all my PCOS struggles together with her made coping with it a lot simpler. She knew that I wanted to grasp the science behind what was occurring, so she defined each blood check and symptom intimately,” she says.

“Even when she prescribed treatment for my insulin resistance, I understood precisely why I wanted it and what should be blamed for the problem. Because of my mother and my gynaecologist, understanding my signs and why some bodily unwanted effects have been extra outstanding than others, made it a little bit simpler to handle, even when I couldn’t utterly overcome it,” provides Anshula.

How PCOS affected Anshula Kapoor’s psychological well being

On the subject of PCOS, folks typically negate the psychological well being affect that coping with the signs can have on a girl. Some years in the past, it was not even mentioned as a lot.

Of her personal expertise, Anshula Kapoor shares: “In the course of the first few years after being recognized with PCOS, I don’t assume psychological well being was a complication for me, no less than not at the moment. I don’t consider we absolutely understood that PCOS might have psychological well being implications. After I was recognized, there have been many different components affecting my psychological well-being, however it was much less associated to PCOS and extra about my mother making an attempt to make sure that our life wasn’t scarring me too deeply. My introduction to a therapist wasn’t attributable to psychological well being implications of PCOS however moderately to assist me address every little thing else occurring in my life on the time.”

In hindsight, Anshula says that it wasn’t till a lot later, in her mid-20s, after being recognized with main despair and generalized anxiousness, that she realized there had all the time been an intrinsic hyperlink between PCOS and her psychological well being.

“This connection wasn’t actually mentioned again after I was recognized. As science has progressed and analysis has been performed, we’ve now linked the 2. Being obese, or ‘fats’, trying a sure method—these components had a major psychological well being affect as a result of they affected my physique picture and self-confidence. I didn’t wish to exit, didn’t really feel snug dressing in most silhouettes, and solely needed to cover my physique. This led to me withdrawing from social life fully,” she shares unfiltered with Well being Pictures.

On Instagram, Anshula shared earlier how she would typically sit by herself, eat by herself, cry to herself and undergo sleepless nights over the necessity to all the time suck her tummy in or put on dishevelled garments to cover no matter she might. Anshula admits that elevated hair fall additionally had a psychological well being affect, affecting her physique picture additional.

“At the moment, having open conversations with my mother, who really understood me and didn’t brush my emotions apart, and her serving to me discover sources, actually helped. Lots of the compounded points brought on by PCOS, I started to handle in my late 20s, due to my therapist,” she says.

Now in her 30s, loads has modified about Anshula Kapoor. She is happier in her pores and skin than ever earlier than, and is having fun with her journey of self exploration, self love and self-worth. What makes her extra inspirational is the truth that she continues to share classes from her transformational journey together with her lakhs of followers on social media, making an attempt to affect constructive change as a physique positivity and psychological well being advocate.