WUNRN
INDIA-KASHMIR - POLYCYSTIC OVARY
SYNDROME CAN AFFECT FERTILITY - ISSUES OF CONFLICT & STRESS MAY RELATE
By Aliya Bashir -
WeNews Correspondent - August 29, 2012
Decades of conflict and political uncertainty in the
Two years
after her wedding and still not pregnant, the 26-year-old visited a
gynecologist, who diagnosed her with polycystic ovary syndrome, an endocrine
disorder that can cause women to stop ovulating, gain unusual weight, develop
irregular periods or skin problems and grow abnormal facial and body hair.
Hussain
struggles to describe how people ridiculed her in her community in
"An
infertile woman is generally viewed as incomplete with a notion of having a
curse bestowed for some misdeed," she says tearfully.
Dr. Ashraf
Ganaie, an endocrinologist at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences,
says plenty of other women share Hussain's problem amid the decades-old
conflict and related uncertainties of life in the
He says an
unpublished study that he supervised attributed 90 percent of infertility cases
in the valley to polycystic ovary syndrome and related diseases, 5 percent to
premature ovarian failure and another 5 percent to other stressors in life.
"In
the last few years, we have received more than 150 women who suffer from
premature ovarian failure," he says.
Clinical
psychologist Iram Nazir says that stress can negatively affect women's hormonal
levels.
"Due to the decreased insulin sensitivity after any bad experience, there is a rise in the glucose level in the body, which in turn stimulates increased insulin production and raises noradrenaline levels, a stress-related chemical released during emotional upsets," Nazir says.
A Stress-Related
Link
Nazir
links these rises with polycystic ovary syndrome. He says that the syndrome is
a major precursor of infertility in which ovaries develop multiple small cysts
and fail to produce hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle.
"Women
suffering this disorder don't have regular periods due to the elevated insulin
levels that stimulate excess androgen production by the ovaries, and thus they
may be unable to ovulate and become pregnant," Nazir says.
The stress
of a decades-old conflict and political uncertainty in the
A 2006
study by Doctors Without Borders, "Prevalence of PTSD in Conflict-Hit
Kashmir," attributed the high rate of miscarriages among women in the area
to post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder caused by a shocking and
upsetting event.
The study
also found that out of 63,000 patients who visited the
According to Hussain's medical reports, a traumatic incident during her childhood is still engraved in her mind. Her anxiety over conceiving a child likely increased these stress levels, which may have together triggered her polycystic ovary syndrome.
Lasting Effects
In 1992,
several years after conflict broke out in Kashmir, Hussain was returning home
around 1 a.m. with her father and uncle after attending a marriage ceremony in
the valley's Baramulla district, about 40 miles from Srinagar. She says that a
group of nongovernmental soldiers stopped their vehicle and ruthlessly beat her
father and uncle. When she tried to stop them, the army also attacked her until
she lost consciousness and suffered multiple injuries.
"Those
scars are still fresh in my mind," she says. "On that night, I was
lying unconscious on the road [un]til morning. Some villagers came to my rescue
and dropped me at my home."
Her father
and uncle disappeared. Hussain says that for many years, she and her family
searched police stations, but found neither one.
Doctors
later diagnosed her with major depressive disorder due to the incident and
prescribed her medication for several years, which she took until she got
married.
The news
of her infertility sucked her back into her earlier depression, Hussain says.
Feelings of guilt and unworthiness came back.
After
fertility treatments failed, she faced in-laws who blamed her for not being
able to conceive.
"My
husband was a lone son among four sisters," she says. "Everyone in
his family was demanding his second marriage without divorcing me. I was silent
and said nothing because I was held responsible for no fault of mine. My
in-laws made me so ashamed that I felt like killing myself."
She says
her family always supported her, and her husband did at first.
"Initially,
my husband supported me," she says. "But then due to the stigma of
infertility, he slowly withdrew his support."
She
suggested in vitro fertilization or adoption, but she says he rejected both
ideas.
"He
was adamant about having a natural baby," she says.
Hussain
says she became so stressed about her in-laws' demands for a second wife that
she divorced her husband and returned to her parents' home.
She is
currently on medication to regulate her mental health as she struggles to cope
with her inability to conceive and also grieves for her past losses.
Adapted from original content published by the Global Press Institute. Read
the original article here.
All shared content has been copyrighted by Global Press Institute.
Aliya Bashir reports for Global Press Institute's