Body positive influencer Anshula Kapoor talks about her struggle with PCOS and how her family’s support helped her deal with the physical and mental symptoms of hormonal health issues.
At 14, an age when most young women start exploring beauty and fashion trends, Anshula Kapoor was caught up in her struggle with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). The anxiety arising from the physical symptoms of this hormonal disease worsened her teenage years and caused her to become trapped. As a celebrity who has been public about her struggle with PCOS, Anshula has frequently spoken about the challenges she faced and how she overcame them. In a recent interview with Health Shots in celebration of PCOS Awareness Month, the daughter of film director Boney Kapoor spoke about the role her mother and gynaecologist played in dealing with the side effects of this condition. This also highlights the need for more women to support, rather than blame, women who suffer from health issues.
“I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 14 or 15, within a few years of starting my period, and the physical symptoms were the hardest to even accept, let alone begin to overcome,” Anshula said in an email interview.
Anshula Kapoor: I had a thick moustache and a double chin
For the uninitiated, PCOS is a hormonal disorder that primarily affects women of reproductive age. With this disorder, the ovaries tend to produce too much androgen, or male hormones, which leads to a variety of symptoms. Women may experience heavy or light periods, late or frequent periods, excess facial hair growth, acne or oily skin, excess facial or body hair growth, thinning or balding hair, and abdominal weight gain.
In Anshula Kapoor’s case, the symptoms were similar.
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“First, the weight gain was relentless, and then the facial hair started to thicken. Suddenly, my moustache grew thicker and I had a lot of hair growing around my double chin. Being Punjabi, I naturally have a lot of body hair but before PCOS, most of it was concentrated in my sidelocks. After I developed PCOS, the hair on my face started growing back and I didn’t know what to do with it. Waxing and threading was painful,” says Anshula.
She also suffered from heavy and irregular periods, occurring once every two to two-and-a-half months. “When my period came, it would last for 15-17 days and the bleeding would be so heavy that I often could not get out of bed or go to school. I had no strength and even when I wore pads, blood would leak out. These are some of the struggles I remember clearly,” the 33-year-old recalls.
Anshula Kapoor tackled her PCOS symptoms with emotional support. Image Credit: Instagram | Anshula Kapoor
Anshula Kapoor talks about the importance of supporting women with PCOS
What helped her a lot was the physical and emotional support of her mother, the late Mona Kapoor, who passed away in 2012 after battling cancer.
“I am so grateful that I had my mom by my side during those times. She helped me accept that facial hair wasn’t the end of the world. She would often tell me that it was okay if I didn’t want to endure waxing and the breakouts that come with it. She reassured me that having more facial hair than my best friend doesn’t make me any less of a woman,” says Anshula in an empowering message to women facing similar struggles.
Earlier this year, in India, Prachi Nigam, who had topped the UP Board Class X examinations, was harassed due to the excessive facial hair and weight gain associated with PCOS. This highlighted the insensitivity that women with hormonal issues often face. According to the World Health Organisation, PCOS affects an estimated 8-13% of women of reproductive age. However, symptoms can be managed through lifestyle adjustments, medication and fertility treatments. Around 70% of affected women remain undiagnosed worldwide, highlighting the lack of awareness about this health issue.
For Anshula Kapoor, the weight gain was even more difficult as it came with severe cramps, back and thigh pain and excessive bleeding. “I don’t think I could have made it through those days without my mother’s physical presence and emotional support,” she asserts.
Awareness has helped me manage my PCOS better, says Anshula
What helped her was finding a gynaecologist who took her concerns seriously, was kind, and understood what she was going through. “My mother’s gynaecologist became my doctor too, and she was one of the most compassionate doctors I’ve ever met. Opening up to her about all my PCOS struggles made it so much easier to cope. She explained all the blood tests and symptoms in detail, because she knew I needed to understand the science behind what was going on,” she says.
“When I was prescribed medication to treat insulin resistance, I understood exactly why I needed it and what the problem was. My mom and my gynaecologist helped me understand my symptoms and why some physical side effects were more pronounced than others, which made it a little easier to cope with, if not overcome completely,” adds Anshula.
How PCOS affected Anshula Kapoor’s mental health
When it comes to PCOS, people often downplay the impact that dealing with the symptoms can have on a woman’s mental health. A few years ago, it wasn’t even discussed as much.
Talking about her experience, Anshula Kapoor said, “I don’t think the initial few years after being diagnosed with PCOS were a mental issue for me, at least at the time. I don’t think we fully understood that PCOS could cause mental issues. When I was diagnosed, there were many other factors that impacted my mental health but it had nothing to do with PCOS, but rather to do with my mother trying to stop our lives from hurting me too deeply. I saw a therapist not because of the mental issues of PCOS, but rather to help me deal with everything else that was going on in my life at the time.”
Around this time, Anshula and her brother Arjun Kapoor were dealing with the emotional turmoil following the separation of their parents, Boney Kapoor and Mona Kapoor.
Looking back, Anshula says it wasn’t until much later, in her mid-20s, when she was diagnosed with severe depression and generalised anxiety disorder, that she realised there was an inherent link between PCOS and her mental health.
“When I was diagnosed, there wasn’t much discussion about this relationship. As the science has advanced and more research has been done, we now know that the two are linked. Being overweight or ‘fat’ and looking a certain way – these factors affected my body image and confidence and had a significant impact on my mental health. I didn’t want to go out, I was uncomfortable wearing most silhouettes and I just wanted to hide my body. This led to me completely withdrawing from social life,” she told Health Shots candidly.
Anshula had previously shared on Instagram that she used to sit alone, eat alone, cry alone and have sleepless nights with the constant feeling that she has to tuck in her belly or wear baggy clothes to hide everything. Anshula has admitted that the increased hair loss has also affected her mental health, which further impacts her body image.
“What really helped me at the time was having an open discussion with my mother, who really understood how I was feeling and didn’t ignore me, and then she helped me find resources. A lot of the compounding issues caused by PCOS started to resolve in my late 20s, thanks to a therapist,” she says.
Anshula Kapoor looks back proudly at her transformation. Image Credit: Instagram | Anshula Kapoor
Now in her 30s, Anshula Kapoor has changed a lot. She is more comfortable in her own skin than ever before and is embracing her journey of self-exploration, self-love and confidence. What makes her even more inspiring is the fact that she continues to share the lessons she has learnt from her transformation journey with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, seeking to effect positive change as an advocate for body positivity and mental health.
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