By all accounts, Sylvia* had been a normal child with a normal childhood. She hardly had physical ailments and had never been hospitalised. She spent a few days in bed, in a dark room, with measles, and that had been the extent of her experience with illness. After her thirteenth birthday, her life changed, profoundly. It took a turn for the worse with t he onset of puberty, a precursor for a life marked by severe and debilitating pain, every month. The pain was so severe, her legs and hands trembled, her jaw clenched, her hands balled into fists, her appetite disappeared, dark circles framed her eyes, she suffered nausea, vomited, had diarrhea, lower back pain, could not concentrate at school, at work, on anything, but the pain. Without pain medication, she would lie on her bed, on her stomach, and groan tonelessly, like a wounded animal, for hours on end. It consumed her being, entirely, and affected her outlook on life. Dysmenorrhea* is the medical term for '&#