Why Did I Have Cramps and Stabbing Pain?

Searching for an answer led not only to relief, but also to a mission to help others.

- ALISSA LINK, AS TOLD TO LORA SHINN

As a child, I always loved mysteries like the Nancy Drew series, but little did I know that as an adult, I'd be solving mysteries within my own body.

It was easy to overlook the initial warning signs. As a competitive swimmer from ages 8 to 18, I was in the water for up to three hours each day. Stomach cramps would pop up occasionally, but they were easily dismissed-perhaps I'd swum too soon after a meal. At age 14, bouts of fatigue and joint pain began to set in. At first, doctors worried that I had mononucleosis. Tests revealed that I didn't, but they uncovered heightened inflammatory activity in my blood.

When I got to college, I experienced more academic stress than I ever had before. About three or four days before an exam, I would be attacked by stomach cramps. After the test, they subsided, only to come back as the next exam neared. Then cramps started cropping up before my period and after meals, along with other symptoms including diarrhea and constipation.

COULD IT BE A CYST?