I have really bad periods: Shruti Haasan

Brut India

Hair “in parts we don’t want hair”... bloating… pain. Shruti Haasan tells Brut how she manages her PCOS symptoms.

Transcript

00:00It's always been a huge battle since I got my first period.

00:04I used to faint in school from pain and dehydration.

00:07And I still have friends who are like,

00:09oh, why is it so bad for you when I get my period?

00:11I just feel a bit hungry.

00:13And that's when they said, oh, wait, you have PCOS.

00:15We can see them in the scan.

00:17And you can't every time go and tell the director and producer,

00:20I don't know how to explain this to you, but I have really bad periods.

00:23Hi, this is Shruti Haasan for Brute.

00:30It's something I got diagnosed with when I was 26.

00:53So it's something I've lived with for over 10 years now.

00:56I didn't actually realize because I also have

01:00something called endometriosis and dysmenorrhea.

01:04So I was already having my whole bag of troubles,

01:08so to speak, to deal with on a monthly basis,

01:11including trying out different birth controls

01:14and then having the side effects of that.

01:17And birth control, not as a pregnancy preventive measure,

01:21but just to control pain, regularize periods.

01:24And so when I went in, it was just a regular ultrasound,

01:29which is part of checking my endometrial lining, really.

01:32And that's when they said, oh, wait, you have PCOS.

01:35We can see them in the scan.

01:37And my response was like, ah, great.

01:39One more thing to add to this list of complications.

01:43Periods.

01:44And it's not just the blood loss.

01:46I have extreme bloating associated with PCOS,

01:49like severe water retention and bloating.

01:52I also, some months more than others,

01:56have the issue of hirsutism, which is like excessive hair growth

02:01in parts we don't want hair, you know, it makes my monthly cycles

02:07quite painful as well.

02:08I had to change my entire workout routine because PCOS

02:12related weight gain was huge for me, like really huge,

02:17as well as making dietary changes and

02:20cutting out things like from my life, like alcohol and caffeine really helped.

02:25I am now for the past, I would say, over seven years on medication,

02:32especially for PCOS.

02:33There isn't a cure for PCOS.

02:39I've never had a fun day since the day I started my period.

02:43It's always been a huge battle since I got my first period.

02:48It was always a huge battle because of the copious amounts of pain.

02:53I used to faint in school from pain and dehydration.

02:56And I still have friends who are like,

02:57oh, why is it so bad for you when I get my period?

03:00I just feel a bit hungry.

03:01And I'm like, I wish, I wish, you know, because honestly,

03:05my journey through

03:08periods and menstruation has always been really,

03:11really challenging from my very first period.

03:14It's especially troublesome when I have to perform on stage

03:18or do a scene that requires a lot of strenuous physical work.

03:22And you can't every time go and tell the director and producer,

03:27I don't know how to explain this to you, but I have really bad periods.

03:30So it's been character building in the sense that you fight

03:34through the pain every month to get your basic day done.

03:39And I used to just pray that my shoots get cancelled on the first

03:42and second day of my period so I can just bed out and

03:45and like zone out and go through the pain.

03:48You know what I mean?

03:49I don't know about other jobs, but I do know that it is very complicated

03:52in my line of work to be able to say

03:56I'd like that period leave because it's just too many factors.

04:01When you're making a movie, it's lakhs or crores of rupees.

04:04It's 500 extra some day.

04:06It's other actors dates.

04:08Mostly I just grit my teeth and go through the storm, so to speak.

04:16A lot of women live through and with PCOS.

04:20A lot of women, a lot of women were like, my God, I've been suffering

04:25with all of this. Thank you for talking about it.

04:26But what was really sweet was

04:29I was on a apartment group and for the building that I live in.

04:35And a father on that group was like, oh, thank you for talking about this.

04:40My daughter suffers from PCOS and I'm so glad someone's talking about it.

04:44So that was really sweet.

04:45And it's also really nice to see a dad be supportive of something like this.

04:49Usually it's like this great divide between men and women

04:52and not just in society, but in parenting as well.

04:55You know, so I was really glad to see that it's being discussed.

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