Thanks to some recent research on women’s health, it is becoming easier to manage PCOS with pharmaceutical drugs and lifestyle changes. These changes promote hormonal balancing, weight loss, and low-carb diets for more significant results.
PCOS is not only poorly understood and treated but also the treatment and management come with extensive medical costs. Trying to manage PCOS is made complicated and expensive by the myriad of doctor visits, pregnancy checks and alternative therapies that might be needed.
PCOS is difficult and expensive, and survivors may need to see an OB/GYN or endocrinologist. From an expensive disorder to live with, PCOS is can overwhelm your finances: Living with PCOS is difficult not only on an emotional level but also financially.
Due to many forms of body-shaming, fat-shaming, slut-shaming both inside and outside the doctor’s office, it can deeply affect a woman’s self-image and impact her quality of life.
Where do we place the gendered nature of PCOS research and its effect on women’s relationship with money? PCOS is seen as more of a fertility and cosmetic issue than a metabolic, hormonal disorder that can never leave the body but can only be controlled. But adequate research and a changed narrative around the disease can help reduce the pressure of spending on women and allow them to live a healthy, full life.
Managing PCOS with medical assistance
Those who suffer from PCOS, they require regular medicines to control blood sugar, hair loss, excess androgens, and rising blood pressure. Recreational costs of medical costs quickly increase costs.
Hormonal birth control, the most commonly prescribed medicine for PCOS, usually costs between 150 to 300 in India.
PCOS supplements
The affect of PCOS on skin causes acne breakout for many and this requires women with PCOS to be able to manage their acne, but sometimes the control of this disorder can be difficult let alone expensive. Skin clinics monetize on this and skin treatments for acne vary from Rs. 3000 to upto a lakh depending on the type you choose.
Surgery
If you’re living with cysts, doctors may recommend surgery to take care of them, adding yet another expense. The standard recommended treatment for PCOS is taking birth control pills, but due to the high rate of side effects women experience when taking them, they can’t be considered a “treatment” so much as a way to manage symptoms.
Foods that can be considered ‘diet’ foods
With personalized diet plans and customized treatment plans tailored to PCOS treatments, many patients are pushing their medical expenditures to the limit. I interviewed an Indian woman who was mistakenly diagnosed with PCOS, encouraged her to spend Rs. 20,000 on a 3-month weight-loss treatment.
The estimated cost of living with PCOS is over Rs. 80,000 a year due to unhealthy lifestyle choices, lost wages and other related issues.
How the Gym has Accelerated Success for Women with PCOS
Weight gain is the most common symptom of PCOS and also the worst because it takes a toll on the person’s mental health, affecting their self-confidence. Joining gym for weight loss to spending on various other weight loss treatments, and diet supplements do not come easy. First and foremost, losing weight with PCOS itself is an uphill climb.
Clothes for people with larger bodies is not only difficult to find but also expensive. Brands understand the demand and tap on that.
Living with excess body/facial hair or Hirsutism
Some of the most commonly used treatments, aside from medications is body hair removal and hair growth treatments. PCOS usually manifests with excessive hair growth due to excess androgen hormone and, when left untreated, can lead to severe acne and larger than average body hair. Treatment comes with a price tag. A PCOS sufferer would need to go for a full-body wax once a week at Rs10k/month
This might not sound vain but it can end up depriving women of their confidence by requiring you to visit salons more often than other women.
Permanent laser hair removal is not only expensive but something only the privileged can access. Costs can start from Rs. 5000 onwards for a body part. Also, we need to talk about the skin darkening and pigmentation or Ascaris Nigricans which is another side effect causing dark skin around folds like the neck, inner thighs and underarms. All these treatments come at a cost which are not easy for all to bear.
The health, wellness, and beauty industries are booming, but they are taking advantage of women with PCOS. As a result, these industries are rolling in moolah because their lives are limited to spending more money on prescriptions, doctors’ appointments, PMS-related items, getting haircuts, laser or IPL treatments for hair growth, etc.
PCOS not only poses challenges to affected women but is brutal in all aspects, not just in terms of physical health. We ignore the social narrative of PCOS, which hurts by putting more pressure on women who are hesitant to continue trusting themselves with their bodies.
“How to pay for infertility treatments?”
It has been found that PCOS is also difficult to live with, as it can lead to expensive medical treatments. Researchers are encouraged to look into the reproductive side of PCOS by giving more grants.
In 1970 the fertility rates in India were higher than that of America, but nowadays infertility is becoming an expensive disorder. Though some doctors say there aren’t nearly enough fertility clinics in India to withstand increasing demand for both pharmaceutical and surgical treatments, there are more and more fertility clinics springing up by the day in the country. Fertility treatments are expensive and cost-prohibitive for many people around the world.
Some agencies do provide health insurance, but there are many conditions and claims that need to be satisfied for eligibility.
