Questions patients ask

Call or WhatsApp +91 98207 39032, or use the Book Appointment button on this website. The consulting clinic is on Andheri-Kurla Road in Andheri East, next to Holy Family Church, and consultations run Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Urgent requests are accommodated wherever possible.

Yes — online consultations are available over WhatsApp and video call. These work well for second opinions, going through lab or scan reports, and follow-up visits. Anything needing a physical or internal examination requires a clinic visit.

Four: Surya Hospital in Santacruz West, Criticare Hospital in Andheri East, Cloudnine Hospital in Malad West, and Apollo Hospitals in Navi Mumbai. Deliveries and surgery take place at whichever of these suits you best, so patients across the western suburbs and Navi Mumbai are covered.

English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. You are welcome to consult in whichever you are most comfortable with — being able to describe a symptom precisely matters more than most people realise.

Fees vary depending on which hospital or clinic you are seen at, so please call or WhatsApp +91 98207 39032 to confirm before your visit. You will be told the amount upfront rather than at the counter afterwards.

Bring any previous prescriptions, scan reports and blood test results you have, plus a note of the dates of your last few periods and any medicines you take regularly, including supplements. If you are pregnant, bring every scan report from this pregnancy.

Yes. Dr. Poonam Nautiyal is registered with the Maharashtra Medical Council, registration number 2006062792. Her qualifications are MBBS from Lady Hardinge Medical College, DGO, DNB (Obstetrics & Gynaecology), and MRCOG from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, UK.

Book your first visit as soon as you get a positive home pregnancy test, which usually works out to around 6 to 8 weeks from your last period. That first visit confirms the pregnancy is in the right place and developing, gives you an accurate due date, and starts folic acid and other essentials.

A pregnancy is high-risk when something raises the chance of complications — diabetes or high blood pressure, thyroid disease, twins, being over 35, or a previous miscarriage or caesarean. It is managed with more frequent visits, extra growth scans, closer monitoring of blood pressure and sugar, and a delivery plan agreed well before your due date.

Yes. Painless delivery uses an epidural, which blocks the pain of contractions while you stay fully awake and aware. It is safe for the baby and does not affect the baby's heart rate or development. Dr. Nautiyal actively supports normal delivery and works with experienced anaesthetists for epidural pain relief.

Often yes — it is called a VBAC, or vaginal birth after caesarean. Whether it is safe for you depends on why the first caesarean was done, the type of scar you have, and how this pregnancy is going. It needs to be planned in advance and delivered somewhere equipped to act quickly if needed.

The common early signs are irregular or missed periods, weight gain, acne, excess facial or body hair, and difficulty conceiving. PCOS cannot be permanently cured, but it controls very well — for many women, losing 5 to 10 per cent of body weight alone is enough to restore regular ovulation, with medication added where it is not.

In everyday use in India, yes — the two terms are used interchangeably. Strictly speaking PCOD describes the appearance of multiple small follicles on an ovarian ultrasound, while PCOS is the full syndrome of irregular ovulation plus hormonal changes. PCOS is the term used internationally.

Get it checked if you soak through a pad or tampon every hour for several hours, pass clots larger than a rupee coin, bleed for more than seven days, or feel breathless and exhausted — that last one usually means anaemia. Heavy periods are common but they are not something you simply have to live with.

It is worth getting checked, though the cause is often straightforward. Thyroid problems, PCOS, stress, significant weight change and approaching menopause are the usual reasons, and most are easily identified with a blood test and an ultrasound.

Laparoscopy is usually considered for unexplained pelvic pain, endometriosis, ovarian cysts that are not settling, fibroids needing removal, or as part of a fertility assessment. It is keyhole surgery through cuts about a centimetre wide, so most women go home the same day or the next.

Yes. Modern hysterectomy is a safe, routine operation, particularly when done laparoscopically through small cuts. Recovery is typically two to three weeks rather than the six weeks that open surgery takes.

No, as long as your ovaries are left in place — and in women who have not yet reached menopause, they usually are. Hormones come from the ovaries, not the uterus. Your periods stop, but you do not enter surgical menopause.

Yes, and you should never feel awkward asking for one. Second opinions are a routine part of this practice, and sometimes the outcome is that the operation you were told you needed turns out not to be necessary. Bring your scans and reports with you.

Once a year, even if you feel completely well. That annual visit is how a Pap smear, breast examination and pelvic check actually happen — and it is how cervical cancer gets caught at a stage where it is still entirely curable.

Between 9 and 14 is ideal, before any sexual activity begins, and only two doses are needed at that age. The vaccine is also approved and worthwhile for women up to 45, given as three doses. Pap smears still continue on the usual schedule after vaccination.

Around 13 to 15, or earlier if her periods are very painful, very heavy or very irregular, or have not started by 15. A first visit is usually just a conversation and an external check — no internal examination is needed for most teenage concerns.

Come anyway, and say the thing you are most embarrassed about first. Discharge, pain during sex, leaking urine when you cough or laugh, itching, low desire and bleeding after sex are all ordinary, common things gynaecologists hear every single day — and most of them are straightforward to treat once they are said out loud.