Ayruveda has the cure for PCOS

In the following article, our Ayurvedic Doctor, Vibhuti Rao has narrated one of the cases of PCOS which she encounters in her clinic on regular basis.
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Few weeks back, Vidhya (imaginary name), a 15 year old girl had come to my clinic along with her mother.  She didn’t speak much during the consultation.  Most of her symptoms were narrated by her mother.  Her mother said, ‘’ Vidhya does not have regular periods, sometimes the bleeding is more-lasts for 15-20 days and sometimes she does not get periods at all.  Now, from the last 2 months, she didn’t have her periods.”  I tried to ask Vidhya about her problem.  But she was very shy to say anything and only nodding her head for my questions in ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

  I wanted to get some detail history from her, but she was very quiet at all the time. ​ I turned towards her mother and asked if Vidhya had consulted any doctor before and took any medicines.  Her mother quickly replied disappointingly, ‘’we have tried everything and all the doctors. They gave some pills for this problem.  She was fine for few months But then slowly she started having other problems – hair fall, tiredness and now a days she has put on lot of weight’’. She showed me recent blood and ultrasound reports. Well, she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) last year and since then; she is on OCP’s (pills) to regularize her periods. I patiently heard all her problems.  I was not surprised by her complaints, but again I was thinking that ‘’why a young girl who just has started her fertile life (got periods recently) needs to suffer so much, when Ayurveda has all the preventive and curative measures for this problems.’’

                Ayurveda talks in detail about female related problems, their treatment and how a woman can restore her fertility and prevent all menstrual disorders.  Fertility is not required only to have babies but it is a very “core concept” of being a women.  It is more to do with a healthy life.  A women’s body goes through a lot of changes since her childhood and the very first change appears when she starts having her periods.  In medical terms it is called as ‘menarche’ and Ayurveda calls it – ‘Rajo darshanam’. Ayurveda suggest that from this time onwards, a girl needs extra care and support to look after her body, to be free from all kinds of menstrual disturbances.  Menstrual disturbance are the basically symptoms of any underlying pathology.  For example, when there is imbalance between ‘Doshas’ the body shows sign and symptoms of that abnormal Doshas.

    Doshas are stated as bio energies in the body which initiate, sustain and complete all the functions in the body, they are three – Vata, Pitta and Kapha, for easy understanding we can see them as – Vata – relates to wind and causes movements, Pitta related to fire and cause metabolic activities and Kapha relates to earth and causes formation.  Vata is considered as special one and so, in female body all the fertility related functions are governs by Vata itself examples – expulsion of blood during periods.  It is more to do with ‘Apana Vata’ – a subtypes of Vata dosha which is responsible for downwards movements. According to Ayurveda, health is a balance status of Doshas, in sort ‘being in Balance’ is Health – complete health.

               After listening to all the complaints as told by her mother, I examined Vidhya –checked her ‘Nadi’ and gave her medicines for one week and asked to come back next week.  Vidhya came back along with her mother after ten days.  This time, for my surprise, Vidhya, was very friendly to me and she was communicating with me very well.  Doctor, I got my periods; I am so happy and relieved, she said.’  Even in the college I told my friends and they were wondering why I should be so happy about having periods, which causes so much inconvenience during those 5-6 days of bleeding.”  I asked Vidhya further about if having periods is new to her.”  She said ‘I didn’t have periods since 2 months and before that also my periods were irregular. Since I got mature, I remember my mother taking me to different doctors and I started taking some pills which I had to take every day.  I got tired of using those and after 3 years I decided to stop them as I suffered with lot of side effects – she said,’’. It was good that Vidhya was narrating her symptoms, history and this time her mother was quite. 

Vidhya further explained that she observed lot of hair fall and it is very hard for her to lose weight, though she was not eating much. And then, she thought if Ayurveda could help her too as one of her relative was taking Ayurvedic medicine for the same problem. Now she wishes for regular periods naturally with no worry and without any pills. Further she would like to reduce weight. Clearly, Vidhya, is a case of ‘PCOS’ where she had cyst in the ovaries – suggested by USG reports, hormonal imbalance and had facial hair growth along with excessive weight gain.

During puberty lot of changes happens in a body as some are, considered as very normal being a “process of puberty.”  Such as irregular periods, mood changes, changes in the breast, Acne “ etc.  Irregular periods however, considered as it takes time to set them alright and so people ignore the irregularities in menses, which is now considered as a big health problem.  Onset of PCOS has been suggested in early adolescent age (14-15 years) and some research in India suggest that young girls living in cities are more prone to develop PCOS than the girls living in rural areas.  As some girls are maturing at very early age such as at 10 years age, the irregularities in periods- especially having excessive, or no periods are more likely to be associated with the history of diabetes in the family. Or also, if you develop PCOS, you are highly likely to get diabetes, high Blood pressure and other metabolic disorders which affect the fertility.  Today, almost 10% of the young girls are suffering from PCOS and there are chances that these girls may pass the PCOS to their children in future.

In summary , If your mother had PCOS, in your family is diabetic, if you live in city and moreover, you don’t do any physical activity and are obese, then, it is the ‘time’ to take control over your health through Ayurveda.

Ayurveda believe in the prevention of the disease. For the menstrual disorder not to occur, Ayurveda suggest that before the onset of periods itself you need an extra care to prevent all the symptoms of PCOS.  Also, once you get your first periods you need to provide a good care to yourself during those bleeding phase.  Watch out what you eat and do.   Walking, yoga, or any physical activity is must for 20 minutes daily.  You can choose to avoid high sugary and refined diet and follow a healthy Ayurvedic diet to stay healthy specially Ayurveda talks about a particular care during those ‘bleeding days’, I think which has almost vanished as women today is more outgoing and required to shoulder the work load.
Ayurveda is very unique medical system which has few grounding principles. Such as is the foundation of ‘Dosha’ principle in diagnosing and treating a disease. And so, when Vidhya came to my clinic, I didn’t came to a conclusion about her diagnosis as ‘PCOS’ just by seeing her reports, as suggested by previous doctors and according to her reports.  I took an Ayurveda approach in diagnose and treating her condition.  It is well known that PCOS has no definite definition and the causes of it are still unknown in modern science moreover managing the symptoms is the only option the science offers. 

Using OCP (oral contraceptive pill) is a common treatment for PCOS until you want a pregnancy.  And when you want a pregnancy you are asked to withdrawn from these pills.  The truth is, by taking OCP’S you suppress the normal phenomenon and functions of the body and you get ‘fake periods’ as you stop taking tablets at the end of the month.  So your body and brain learns ‘Not to function’ at all.  You just take the synthetic hormones.  Moreover, there is no guarantee that once you leave them pills, you will get your periods naturally or you will fall pregnant. In many cases, a woman does not get her periods for another 3-4 months after getting off the pills. It is well known that women with PCOD have high infertility rates and finally they find no option other than going for IVF.  It is all very complicated and there is no actual cure for PCOS in modern medicines.

Promotion of a disease is one of the aspects of Ayurveda.  In Vidhya’s case, I treated her to bring the balance back among Doshas.  Firstly, gave her one of the Panchakarmas (detox) which took the excessive Doshas out from the body and cleaned the body thoroughly.  Then I started giving her Ayurvedic formulations based on her history of symptoms and Doshas imbalance.  Vidhya wanted to have regular periods without taking those OCP’s and wanted to lose weight moreover wanted a healthy by where her healthy brain can function normally and naturally as it should be. And for that she came to the right place and I could say ‘she is not too late to recover’ with Ayurveda.

I remember one of my patients getting permanent cure from PCOD, however it took almost a years for her to see ‘No cyst’ in her scan – a normal USG.  The only thing she could say was – ‘it was beautiful, how symptoms by symptoms got relieved one by one’ .She didn’t want to have a baby that time but wanted to have ‘No-PCOS’.  Later, after 6 months, I heard from her that she is expecting.  Well, I was very happy for her. 

​ Here, I want to explain that if you are diagnosed with PCOD or PCOS, you should not delay coming to Ayurveda, as most of the patients do, they only come to Ayurveda with a long history of being on pills or just getting off the pills or with 1-2 IVF failed.  And here comes the role of Ayurveda in presenting and early management of PCOD.  You needn’t to live with this disorder; you can have healthy periods with Ayurvedic medicines.