Friday, February 3, 2017

Update on PCOS and just venting


It has been two years or so since I've been diagnosed PCOS. Overall, I went through some trials and errors to cater to it. The main issue that was associated with the condition was weight gain and difficulty losing the excess weight. At first I thought it's just me not exercising enough or eating healthy enough that causes my weight gain, but after reading on people's experience on forums and recording my own daily habit, I see that I would have to go through other options to become healthier.

Birth control pills were prescribed by my gynaecologist to regulate my period. During the consultation with my gynaecologist, he advised to exercise more regularly so I joined a gym for the first time. I don't know if it's the pills or my metabolism has gotten slower, I actually ate "healthier" and exercised more after I've seen my gynae. But for some reasons, I suddenly gained a lot weight. Even though I was exercising 4 to 5 days a week and eating low fat stuff all the time, weight kept on going up and it was very frustrating.

It was only recently that I've joined PCOS groups on facebook and start reading more articles on it, seems that a lot individuals recommend a low carb high fat diet might benefit. Before this, I stopped taking the pill and opted for depo provera as birth control instead. It is common for people on the depo shot to have light period or sometimes get none at all. I quite like this side effect, because I've always experienced severe lower back pain when I'm on no birth control or when I'm on the pill. So that's a plus. And also, I've changed my outlook on life, I try to be more positive and ignore what people say to me. Especially my parents, ever since I started taking the pill and gained more weight than I've did before, my father says the most vile and cruel things, he would say I'm a failure and say I'm so fat, I don't do this and that that's why I've become such a fatty. And on days I experience severe back pain that nurofen or other pms medications doesn't help, he would say I am faking it and am being lazy. Now, usually I don't live with my parents, I came to Australia to study and now am looking to apply for permanent residency. So the parents would come and visit, but they would stay longer than normal parents, that is around 3 to 6 months at a time. Well, applying for permanent residency is not exactly an easy thing, it's doable but requires some work. Since that I am under 25 years old, the points that i get is lesser than people aged 25 -30. To apply for australian permanent residency, if you study or work something thats under the skilled occupation list, you are eligible to apply. And you get points for your age, english test, and other conditions. So, for the english test I've achieved the basic points needed for a skill assessment test and a 10 points towards the PR application. Now I'm on 60 points which is the minimum required. But because so many people are applying under the category im in a.k.a. migrating as an accountant, I need more points to be competitive or else my application would take ages or even more than a year for it to get processed and approval. For me to do so, I'd need to get extra points either from getting a higher score on the english test, or wait for my birthday and do extra courses. Currently my english test, IELTS, out of a maximum score of 9 i have a score of 8.5 in reading, 8 in speaking, 8.5 in listening and 7.5 in writing. So that means I am considered as having proficient english as I've got at least 7 in each band score. I'd need to achieve a superior english level, which means I have to get at least 8 in every category. Easier said than done, but I'm working on it and will be fine eventually. I'll stay strong and fight on. Am also taking a mandarin-english interpretation course to add points for my application, should be fine :)