I used to be the life of every party. Owambe, aso-ebi, birthday, wedding. I was there, dancing, laughing, eating small small from every table. That was me.

Then something changed, slowly. It started with bloating after meals. I would eat a normal plate of rice, and within thirty minutes, my stomach would be so tight and swollen that I had to loosen my wrapper under the table. I started feeling shy, like everyone was looking at me.

Then it moved beyond bloating. My toilet visits became a serious struggle. Some days, nothing at all.

Other days, straining and pain before anything would come. By the third month, I had quietly stopped attending events. I told people I was “busy.”

The real reason was simple, I was scared of my own stomach embarrassing me in public.