When I got my first period, I lost a lot of confidence and focus, and I was left confused. Not only was I not empowered with information about my period, but I was confused by this weird sharp pain I would constantly get. For years as a teenager, I would complain to my family, teachers, and friends that I was on my period and had so many cramps. I would be physically crouched over in school, in basketball practice, and I never felt like my period was a good time.

As I continued in life, my period pain eventually got so much worse that I would be driving to the hospital in the middle of the night, sitting in emergency, curled in pain, yet still having to wait my turn. My parents constantly thought I had appendicitis, and even I was confused because there was such extreme sharp pain. I couldn’t even walk. My parents couldn’t help me up because if I moved even an inch, my stomach would hurt more. It really felt like I was handicapped, and I wouldn’t wish that moment on anyone.

I was really upset because I had an awesome job at Yahoo and missed so much work because of this period pain. I would be put on morphine and given Tylenol 3s, do pelvic ultrasounds, and wait for the doctor to tell me it was “just benign.” My family was confused, I was confused, my friends were confused. The doctors kept telling me this was completely normal, and I just had to routinely schedule pelvic ultrasounds and monitor my uterus.

Eventually this routine became my new normal, and I could even tell when the next hospital trip was coming. Throughout my cycle, I stayed healthy, followed great diets, sleep habits, stress-free protocols.. anything to help my reproductive health. But I still got the same period pains.

One day recently, I counted how many hours I was losing.

864 hours.

I was shocked. At that point, I knew that as a modern-day working woman, especially in a commission role, I couldn’t sacrifice this much of my life to my period.

I sought help from a naturopath who advised me on some oils. I tried them, and the funny thing was, there was no North American data supporting this as a solution in any clinical database. I was confused because I tried it and it worked… so was this a placebo?

Determined to really find out, especially because it was shockingly working and felt like a 100% improvement, I searched global databases. I finally found studies in India and China that referenced a reduction in pain with these specific oils, anywhere from 70–90%. I was so shocked. Essential oils weren’t new; they’ve been around for centuries.

Part of me was excited. Another part felt discounted thinking about how much of my 20s I had lost. Another part wanted to gatekeep this information. And another part felt guilty about not sharing it. But besides all of that, I still thought… well, it’s not really mobile or discreet. I had to let the oils dry, I had to put effort into it. I wondered if there was a way to put this on a cotton cloth so it wouldn’t ruin my clothes or bedsheets.

Later, I discovered that in Europe (they are light years ahead of us), Germany and France were transforming a lot of pill medications into transdermal patches. It got me thinking: what if I could infuse this, combine this… It’s basically the same concept as slapping on a pad in one second. That’s way better for me.

And that’s when Happy Cramps was basically born.

I was scared to share this with my peers and do simple beta tests, but eventually so many people were finding relief. Their excited messages, DMs, and videos made me feel like all the “discounts” I had in my 20s were finally being healed.

I’m here trying to help everyone who has period pain and make this accessible so you can use this as a toolbox too.