My ovaries have blisters, literally... oh, and welcome to my blog! 😜

                                      

    Hello everyone! Welcome to "The Wellness Bot", my blog about health, wellness, and all that in between! I am Dr. Kavya Galle Kankanamge Botejue I’m a (relatively) new mom and this is my journey towards becoming a healthier and better version of myself. I love doing research-based improvements on my lifestyle, diet, and health and I’d love to share with you guys, what I find! 

    All of this started when we were trying to conceive, a couple of years ago. I had got to a certain point in my career and so had my husband, we had done a bit of traveling together, we were married for a couple of years and we had our own place, so we were finally ready to have one of those little crying poop-machines (babies🙄). We had been trying for a couple of months and at one point I actually thought I was pregnant, as I was late. However, to cut a long story short, I was found to have a condition called PCOS, short for polycystic ovarian syndrome (blistering ovaries, somewhat like blistering barnacles, as captain Haddock, says all the time😎). These tiny blisters in my egg factory could cause hormonal imbalances and mess with most systems of my body. The OBGYN who saw me at that time told me that I shouldn't worry as having PCOS didn't mean I was infertile but that it'll just be harder for me to conceive than someone without PCOS. He told me to lose the weight, and honestly, I wasn't even overweight and I had never really been overweight ever in my life and this statement got to me. I didn't take it too seriously as I didn't realize the gravity of the disease despite being a medical doctor; "doctors are the worst patients" they say, and there may be some truth to it. 

    So I went on, blissfully ignorant, still on my journey trying to conceive, without making any major changes in my lifestyle. A few months went by, and I had one of the worst experiences in my life when I was studying for my final MD exam.

    I had the most painful, worst period in my life, or I thought that was it, but sadly it was a very early (2-3 weeks after conception) miscarriage, too early to even call it a miscarriage, it was called a "chemical pregnancy". I didn't even know I was pregnant but I was devastated for the child I lost, who could have been mine. I had no idea that the loss of a child who didn't even have a heartbeat, who was probably merely the size of a rice grain at that point, could have such a profound impact on me. When I started reading about it, I found out that women with PCOS have poor quality ova (eggs) which can cause early pregnancy loss. It was only then I realized that how much of a bummer PCOS was. 

    1 in 10 women are affected by PCOS and the sad thing is you may not even know you have it. Despite going through six years of medical school and acing it, it didn't occur to me that I could be having PCOS. My periods were irregular since my teen years and my mom used to say that it was like that for her as well and that it's a normal thing in the family. However, my sister's cycles worked like clockwork and I was just too busy or ignorant to question mine. I always had trouble losing belly fat,  I always had a small pouch no matter how thin I was. I blamed it on the "fat" genes from my father's side and went on to wear some kind of body contouring shapewear which would give the illusion of a flat stomach.  

    The point I'm trying to make here is that PCOS can be elusive even to the most trained eye as you may not even notice the changes in your body and you may not even know these changes are abnormal. There is quite a wide spectrum of symptoms and it can affect you in various possible ways from untreatable acne to ungodly amounts of facial hair to loss of hair on your scalp. 

    I finally decided to focus all my energy on beating this disease, my way! I got my hands on all the research I could find and discovered a wealth of information. I tweaked my diet and lifestyle and we conceived naturally within a couple of months of these changes. A lot of my friends and colleagues have reached out to me about my special diet and the changes I made. I thought it will be amazing if I could share this information with all of you! 

    I got into the habit of making research-based choices when it comes to my own life, in addition to the evidence-based medicine I practice, thanks to PCOS. So thank you blisters! You opened my eyes to a world of wellness and you also led me to "The Wellness Bot"! I also learned to turn the worst into something good! Hence, I feel I have a duty to the universe to share my story with you guys! I will be bringing you guys a series of blog posts and videos. Let me know if you want me to talk about a specific topic! I will do the research for you! 😊

Have a happy, healthy day! 

Peace and love, 

Kavya