As a part of Women’s Day Awareness Campaign, Netmeds.com, brings you a first-hand account of Vaishali Sharma, a 25-year-old graphic designer by profession, who has been dealing with PCOS since her teens.She likens her life to a river, that changes the stream very often just like her thought process driven by hormones.

For the ninth time, I frown looking into the mirror. ‘This black is too black’, I say and toss the t-shirt on to the pile of clothes I’ve tried in the last thirteen minutes. I smile looking at the Bhandej dupatta on the ground that’s curled up like a kitty’s tail. I throw on my trusty blue jeans and a t-shirt with a hole shaped like the Northern star and rush out of the house, to catch my cab, hoping no one notices the astronomical phenomenon on my left sleeve.

I don’t have time to whip up my usual breakfast, burnt toast and shards of frozen butter; I wonder what people even mean when they say smooth as butter. Skipping breakfast reminds me of how mother dearest would stuff my face with food before I take off to school like a whirlwind, I’m sad now. So, I post a picture of a bowl of dal that I clicked on my mom’s red-oxide smeared countertop; ‘Aesthetics Matter’, I am impressed with myself.

I look out of the cab, wondering what it would feel like to live in a place with no traffic, and start my daily ritual of searching for new things on the windows of the matchbox-esque houses in the housing board colony. 3 new pots on the counter of door #1204, the geraniums on #1207 are withering; I wonder if they forgot to water it, nothing has changed in #1211 for the past seventeen months, a plastic bag in 1214...a mug in 1215...a bird sits on 12...Why is the cab not moving? I question myself...I adjust my jeans and think about joining a Zumba class while trying to pluck out the unruly baby hair that has showed up unannounced above my Ruby Woo lips.

‘My body is changing’, I whisper. As always, my mind wanders and I end up thinking about rivers and how they change over the course of time. How they start off as stream and run into creeks, gallivanting through forests, serenading through hills and finally reaching the cities to be destroyed. I can’t stop drawing similarities between the rivers and my life. Our rivers are feeling the brunt of this organized chaos that we call urbanization. Is my body bearing the brunt for my bourgeois way of life? Is everything a sign? The rowdy hair on my lip, my hips making their way to freedom from my jeans, my mood exhibiting the navras every nine seconds-Are these all signs that my body is being held captive by my choices?

 A river, Am I?

What Is PCOS?

1 in 5 women are affected by a lifestyle disorder infamously known as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS. Medical practitioners have attributed this syndrome to our rapidly changing lifestyles. This syndrome brings with it a plethora of inconveniences.

It begins due to our lifestyle choices and it can be controlled only with changes in our lifestyle; just like the state of our rivers.

Common Symptoms of PCOS:

Irregular Periods:

Women with PCOS get fewer than eight periods a year.

Heavy Bleeding:

Periods are heavier than the regular cycle.

Hirsutism:

Most of the women with PCOS have excess hair growth on the face, neck, and belly.

Acne:

Due to hormonal imbalance and oily skin, acne outbreak is very common.

Weight Gain:

More than 80% of women with PCOs are overweight or obese.

Darkening Of The Skin:

Dark patches on the skin especially in the neck, groin and under the breast.

Headaches:

Hormonal changes may cause a headache.

Hop on to www.netmeds.com for all medicines related to PCOS, a big value for your money!