Nidhi Singh is the founder and director of PCOS Club India, a PCOS-specific wellness platform, and a nutritionist. Channelling her own lived experience with the condition to empower others like her, her aim is to create awareness about PCOS. Read on for part I of her interview with URLife.

 

 

What was your inspiration behind starting PCOS Club India? Tell us a little bit about the journey.

By now we know that PCOS doesn’t have a cure, and it took me months and years to realise that diet is only a tiny part of lifestyle modifications! Not just the way we eat or what we eat, but also, factors such as stress, sedentary lifestyle, and the environment can take a huge toll on hormonal health.

I realised that if someone who is newly diagnosed with PCOS can get all the credible resources at once, then the journey of women from the initial diagnosis to the road to recovery and healing would be much faster.

After pursuing a corporate career for 9 long years in the field of finance and consulting until 2020, I took a leap and stepped on the mission to help more and more women with PCOS. The most important principle for me is that I will never recommend any information or any resources that I wouldn't use for myself. Secondly, it's important to always back up the information with research or science.

My desire to spread awareness and educate people led me to pursue a nutritionist course and a few courses based on the latest PCOS guidelines from Monash University, Australia. The knowledge that I gained helped me curate content with the most recent research and science on PCOS. Together with this and with help of many health experts, we curated our flagship PCOS Jumpstart gynaecologist-approved program and 3 FREE self-help tools that empower you to make informed decisions about your PCOS management and not struggle for years like me to find the best and most validated resources.

 

What are some of the most common queries you get on your platform regarding PCOS?

People leave comments under our posts and talk about how they have cystic acne, hair fall, hirsutism, abdominal weight gain, anxiety, depression, and mood swings— and they are clueless about what they can do to fix the problem. Some women are handed birth control pills as a 'solution' and are asked to come back when they're ready to conceive. We need to understand that this is not the right approach for every individual—we need more than the band-aid fix. PCOS is a very individual condition and its management requires an individual treatment approach. A universal prescription of hormonal birth control pills isn't the one-size-fits-all solution—not everyone may need it.

So many of these individuals talk about how PCOS has had a drastic impact on their personal and professional lives. Something that we commonly see is that, firstly, these women are struggling to make sense of what is happening to them. Secondly, they are desperate for some support from their loved ones. Things are changing now and we have been getting DMs from men who are trying to understand what they can do to help.

 

Related Story: How To Manage PCOS With Diet And Exercise

 

What are some signs of PCOS that people might not be aware of?

Some signs of PCOS that people might not be aware of include:

• Insomnia
• Sleep apnea
• Mood swings
• Hyperkeratosis (thickening of the outer layer of skin)
• High blood pressure
• Hidradenitis suppurativa (skin condition involving painful deep-seated lumps in areas like armpits and groin)
• Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver disease.

 

Source: Studies published in Nature and Science of Sleep, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, World Journal of Gastroenterology

 

Individuals with PCOS are also 4 times more likely to have disordered eating behaviours. They also have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

 

It can be tricky to lose weight with PCOS. What’s the best way to go about it, in your personal experience?

Our approach at PCOS Club India is to advocate for early diagnosis, intervention, and treatment and help women manage and heal their PCOS holistically and through alternative methods. We want to reduce the dependency on conventional medicine and methods—instead, we focus on sustainable, do-able lifestyle modifications. Additionally, consuming supplements or nutraceuticals that have been proven to alleviate PCOS symptoms can help individuals achieve results much faster and improve egg quality, insulin sensitivity, etc.

 

Source: 2006 study published in Best Practice & Research: Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

 

What are some other conditions associated with PCOS?

Some other conditions associated with PCOS are insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome. Individuals with PCOS are also at risk of developing mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, OCD, etc.

 

Related Story: A 15-Minute PCOS Workout You Can Do Anywhere