Article March 3, 2003 Issue

A woman's prayer breaks her cycles of suffering

By Ethel Baker

WHEN I WAS in my late 20s, I began having pain with my menstrual cycle. It was occasional—not every single month. The pain was slight to begin with, but over the course of a few years it became more and more pronounced and intense, until it was nearly unbearable. I became increasingly frightened about it.

I was studying Christian Science all this time, and I had been used to dealing with all kinds of difficulties through prayer. But I was not approaching this particular problem in that way. Over and over again, I put up with the discomfort and just weathered the pain. I think I was just accepting pain as part of this cycle, and as part of being a woman.

Later the pain increased to the point that on a number of occasions I actually fainted and became ill, and was laid up for a couple of days at a time. This became quite routine. As the symptoms grew worse, my fear increased. I felt stymied . . . and anxious. I would go through this for several days each month, and then for the rest of the month I would be fine.