'No need to suffer in silence'

Like Madam Chua, Mrs Agnes Tan also had a long journey of coping with persistent, unexplained symptoms.

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In 2005, she began suffering from daily migraines. Initially manageable with two paracetamol tablets a day, her condition gradually worsened. The migraines intensified and were often accompanied by nausea, affecting her mood and quality of life.

In 2007, she saw a neurologist, who attributed the migraines to the stress of juggling work, motherhood and caring for her late mother, who had dementia.

Mrs Tan later consulted a psychiatrist and was prescribed medication, but it did not help.

By her late 30s, she was taking up to eight paracetamol tablets daily, struggling to cope with the debilitating pain.

"The pain was so bad, I wanted to just bang my head against the wall. I had become nearly resigned to the fact that migraines would become a permanent fixture in my life," says the 52-year-old, who runs a construction business with her husband. They have four grown children.

SHE THOUGHT PAIN WAS DUE TO AGEING