Why does PCOD go undiagnosed?

Why Does PCOD Go Undiagnosed?

PCOD is like a giant sinkhole trying to swallow a majority of women in India. Lack of awareness or a tendency to ignore symptoms often leads to PCOD going unnoticed until the symptoms are too far along and the effects too dire. That’s when most PCOD tests are done, and by then, the journey back to normalcy looks difficult. Not completely undoable, but difficult.

So how can one be more aware of PCOD and ensure they’re getting tested for it at an early stage? Here are a few reasons why PCOD goes unnoticed:

Non-Specific Symptoms: Common symptoms such as irregular periods, acne, and weight fluctuations could be the culprit here. Make sure to consult a good doctor before coming to a conclusion whether it’s just normal.

Lack of Awareness: Both the general public and certain sections of the medical community sometimes lack concrete knowledge about PCOD and could ignore it.

Normalization of Symptoms: Humans, as our natural instinct, would not like ourselves having any problem in our body and could easily consider irregular periods and weight fluctuation very normal.

Stigma and Societal Pressures: You know the social pressure, right? Women might hesitate and avoid understanding the actual problem.

Misconceptions about Fertility: PCOD is often thought to only affect fertility, which means women who aren’t planning to have a baby may not realize they have it until later.

Now that we’ve looked at a few reasons why it goes unnoticed, let’s look at the kind of tests one can do to ensure they get tested for PCOD diagnosis:

• Ultrasound: This test examines whether you have any cysts or any abnormalities ( for ovaries and uterus) 
• Blood Tests: This test measures levels of hormones like testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and insulin.
• Pelvic Exam: This test conducts a test of the existence of cysts near the pelvis region

PCOD is often missed in Indian women because it has many symptoms, not everyone knows about it, and common signs are seen as normal. There’s also stigma and wrong ideas about having babies. To fix this, we need more people to know about PCOD, teach doctors more about it, and talk openly about women’s health. Finding PCOD early and getting help quickly is important. We need to do more to help women with this problem.