'Faint, Puke, Be Rushed To Hospital': Shruti Haasan Recalls Painful Periods

Shruti Haasan is among the few celebrities who have unabashedly spoken about their long-term battle with Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) and endometriosis. "Work out with me. I've been facing some of the worst hormonal issues with my PCOS and Endometriosis," she wrote in the caption of an Instagram video she shared in June 2022.

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In a recent episode of Soha Ali Khan's All About Her podcast, the actor recalled how painful her periods used to be in school.

Shruti Haasan On Painful Periods

"I got my first period at the age of 13," Shruti revealed, adding, "And my mum was really sweet about it... I could see her waiting with bated breath, and then the cramps kicked in almost immediately within two hours. She was like, 'I am so sorry. You got it from me.'"

Shruti Haasan recalled having this conversation with her mother, Sarika. She added that her mom was conditioned to accept the "worst cramps" because they were natural. She also shared an incident with her classmate, who told her that she only felt hungrier during her periods, while Shruti used to experience severe cramps.

"I wanted to kill her," she said, adding, "I would be at school, faint, puke, get rushed to the hospital and be put on IV fluids and painkillers every month because of my period cramps." The actor shared that she was anaemic and underweight as well. Menstruation was just a "really debilitating" thing in her life.

She recalled that it used to be impossible for her to get through cramps on movie sets when she was dancing or performing action stunts. "I was going to the van, puking, taking really strong painkillers, the ones that would make your brain foggy. It was just horrible," she shared.

Shruti Haasan was consulting with Dr Dhrupti Dedhia in 2020 when she went on birth control pills, which cut the pain by 60%. She had tried birth control pills before, but they didn't work out well. They either made her feel bloated or "really emotional".

"I almost passed out on the stairs because of the pain," the actor recalled, speaking about a time when she had moved to Hyderabad from Mumbai, was living alone and was not on any birth control pills during the pandemic. She was scared that she might hurt herself because of the cramps. Then Dr Dedhia suggested a different non-hormonal OCP, which helped Shruti Haasan manage the pain a little better. But it came with its own set of side effects, one of which was delayed periods, and it could also lead to ovarian cysts.

The doctor revealed that the actor was ready to work with her and continued with regular check-ups to ensure that the pill helped her and did not harm her in any way.

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