When 30-year-old surgeon Chidera first started tracking her periods three years ago, it was primarily a way to monitor her extremely painful symptoms, which were hindering her ability to operate on patients.
“I typically can’t stand up on the first day of my period and require a lot of heavy painkillers,” she tells me. “I’m not able to do very much, and obviously operating involves standing up for hours. So I was tracking my periods to know when to take annual leave, or take on activities where less standing is required, as it wouldn’t be safe to operate.”
