10 years old- passed out and fell down the stairs at primary school a couple times. Extreme stomach cramps and embarrassing pool of blood was my introduction to “womanhood”.

Never thought anything was “wrong” with me, in the Caribbean, heavy periods ( backpain, headaches, heavy bleeding and mood swings/ real,real miserable) are an important part of growing up!

11-16 years old- this is where my love for over the counter drugs was born! Beralgin, panadol pm (my personal favourite), ibuprofen (I called them smarties), paracetamol… you name it, I had it!

One evening in question, I had an after school activity, I was fine. Suddenly, some pain come from out de blue! Man, I open three packs ( yes… i said 3 packs, therefore 6 tablets) Panadol pm, push couple tables together and went fast asleep until the unbearable pain was over. Luckily my best friend was accustomed to form of pain management and waited out the time with me.

3rd form – My mother was always concerned about how bad my periods were. The doctor gave me an ultrasound and said I had some cyst and they should go away eventually. He also wanted me to go on birth control but my mother refused because she had her own reservations.

UWI – Let’s just say, I was always bigger than everyone else in primary and secondary school. The weight really started to go up, probably gained between 100-150 pounds during UWI.
UWI was probably one of the darker times in my life. I was always a confident big girl but here is when I started to realise how out of control my hormones and weight gain was. Emotions would go from 0-100 real quick! Sucidal thoughts, emotional outburst! I also lost a lot of friends because I was just too much to deal with.

Working girl- My mother begged me to go to the doctor again. I say beg because at this point I thought doctors were useless. My pain was very real and they never took me seriously. Reluctantly, I went. The GP I went to, refered to me to a gynecologist. Had my first vaginal ultrasound and Dr. MAN was NOT gentle! After the 3 second examination he turns and says, ” You have PCOS, look all these black holes are the cyst!”

That was the end of the explanation. He gave me a prescription for metformin and I left! Google them answered my questions. A girl should never have to turn to google.