The PCOS discourse in India is changing, and it’s about time

For 2021’s Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Awareness Month, India sees a surge in dialogue about women’s health as well as the first summit by PCOS Club India dedicated to the ‘cyster-hood’

When 28-year-old Noor Shukla (name changed to protect privacy) decided to deal with her Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), one of her extended family members ushered her to an acquaintance who was an Ayurvedic specialist. Instead of offering empathy and holistic guidance, he told Navneet that she was ‘disgusting’, ‘fat’, that she ‘has no shame’, and that she ‘better help herself.’ Eleven months later, Navneet tells MetroPlus she is far too traumatised to speak openly about PCOS. “I had already been to a couple of doctors at that point and I experienced very little empathy or understanding. People do not understand the difficulties of living with PCOS,” she says over the phone from Pune, as she works 14 hours a day as a marketing executive for a food aggregator. This work routine, she says, flared up her PCOS.