David Matthewman

Moontime began around midday today. I was cramping, and the herbal sanitary pads came in clutch. So so glad Instagram targeted me for these.

I've had an ultrasound done, and they found a fibroid sitting in my uterus. Getting the blood test to screen for PCOS proved more complicated because most major hospitals here don't have a PCOS package and add each test individually, which turns out prohibitively expensive. They all say they have a Gynaecology department but it's all pregnancy and childbirth, no menstrual health. This includes the hospitals that call themselves a 'women and children's hospital'. Hell, there's a whole hospital just for fertility and childbirth here, called The Birthplace. But nothing for menstrual health! It makes me so angry. Even the gynaecologist who diagnosed me, is one I consulted online because her specialisation is menstrual health whereas all the gynaecologists in my city specialise in fertility.

Since this is a fasting blood test I wanted to go to a hospital nearby. That didn't work out because they're obsessed with me giving birth when any woman who chooses to give birth does so for a much shorter span of her life than the span she spends menstruating!!!! *angry noises*

So I called Proactive For Her (through whom I'd had the online consultation with the gynaecologist who told me my periods are definitely abnormal). They said they only opened at nine, so I went and waited. Turns out they don't even have their own clinic space and they're sharing space with an IVF clinic (fucking fertility again). At least they have a presence in my city! I wouldn't have been able to get tested for PCOS if they didn't! They had a comprehensive PCOS panel for 5000 rupees. The other hospitals were charging 30,000 rupees because they didn't have an existing package and were adding each test individually!

No wonder so many women get told to just go have a baby whenever their periods are giving them trouble. It's because the gynaecologists telling them that haven't been trained for anything else. And it's not like the hospitals offer comprehensive testing, either.

What this experience drove home to me is that I never had the chance to get diagnosed earlier anyway because Proactive For Her only started three or so years ago, opened first in Bangalore and came to my city only recently. They do offer fertility and pregnancy related care, but they equally offer menstrual healthcare and women's sexual healthcare. They're the only gynaecologists I know here who screen for vaginismus, for instance.

Now I'm waiting for my report. Can't wait to get some answers!

On a lighter note (or more creepy note), Instagram is already targeting me for PCOS supplements. On the one hand I haven't been diagnosed yet, on the other hand I have a hunch I will be, on the third hand Instagram is sooo spying on me because it knows just from me mentioning being tested for PCOS aloud, on the fourth hand perhaps being spied on is worth it if it's serving me up useful information because I wouldn't know where to go hunting for supplements and this way I have all the choices in front of me, and on the fifth hand I use Instagram as a shopping and jobsearching site and not a social media one anyway so it's fineeee.