At the age of 14 (1989), I had severe menstrual pain and began to seek for diagnosis since I ended up in hospital every month. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me and felt weird. All my friends go through their menstrual cycle with no hassle yet I was in so much agony. Period pains was normal, I was told, and if I seemed to suffer more than most, it must be because I had a “low pain threshold”.

My mother (the late Comfort Berkoh) would panic when the time of the month got closer because of the pain I had to go through. At the time she was frustrated because all we were told was menstrual pain is supposed to hurt and it was normal. I went through series of x-rays and scans and was told I had cysts over the years. I was diagnosed with dysmenorrhea (painful periods) and put on pills, but I was still in pain. I dreaded going to the hospital every month because the nurses would insult me and say my mother was pampering me. My pulse would always go up the minute we go there. It was a real struggle.